Where are you staying on your wedding night?

[Haven]

Where are you staying on your wedding night, especially if you already own a home together?

FI and I are in the process of buying a house which happens to be less than two miles away from our wedding location. (We''ve just had it inspected, so keep your fingers crossed for us!) We won''t be leaving for honeymoon until a couple days after the wedding, and my parents are hosting a large day-after brunch for all of our out-of-town guests and close friends and family, so we can''t go far.

SO, where would you stay if you were us? Would you get a hotel room, or just stay at home? It seems silly to get a hotel room *just because*, doesn''t it? Or will we be glad that we did?

 

[MoonWater]

Well, if we get married at the location we''re thinking of, which is only 2 blocks from home, we''ll likely spend our wedding night in our own bed.

 

[enbcfsobe]

Haven, we are in the same situation.
We are not planning on staying together the night before. As of right now, one of us will be staying at the hotel and one of us will be staying at home -- we haven't decided which one. Whoever stays at the hotel will probably share a room with their sibling, which makes sense, since his brother is his best man and my sis is my MOH. We may actually both stay at the hotel the night before, and we are planning to stay there on our wedding night as well.
It seems silly, because we live so close (the hotel is closer to our house than our offices are, and we walk to work!), but I think we'd both like to spend the extra time with our families, esp. since his fam is from out of town, and to avoid any logistical issues the day of. The parents are hosting the brunch the day after at the same hotel. We've asked to be put on a different floor from our guests, and we got a nicer room. I think particularly because we already live together, we'd like to separate ourselves from that to give the day a greater sense of being different from all other days. Plus, while we love our house and our neighborhood and our cats, I think it will be good not to leave our wedding and go back to exactly the same thing we come back to every day after work. And to not have cats climbing into bed with us on our wedding night (or the morning after)!!! Not having our house be our initial getaway, we also don't need to worry about wheter it is clean and straightened, etc. We are doing enough hosting for the weekend without having to deal with that. We'll have someone come in while we're away so that its nice when we get back, but its one less thing to worry about leading up to the big day.
I don't know exactly when we're leaving for our honeymoon. Hopefully it will be the day after the wedding, but if not, we'd probably go home and stay in the house until we did, but we'll still stay in the hotel on our wedding night.
Good luck on the house -- hope everything goes smoothly!!

 

[happy in love]

Well, that ALLL depends...
If my house was still going to look like "wedding central" with supplies and boxes and such littering the dining room, I think I might choose to stay somewhere else! But, if it actually looked like my cute, clean, uncluttered home did before this magical engagement I would gladly stay in my own comfy bed!

Either way, we are getting married away from home, and decided to splurge (a little) on a room for the night. We both think it is kind of silly to spend a lot on a room we will hardly be in, but we both know that we probably wont stay somewhere that nice for any other reason.

 

[karasue91]

We are still trying to decide on this too. I think we''ll end up getting a hotel room, mostly because our house has been turned over to my mom and her family, so there won''t be any room for us anyway!!

I think we''ll stay at one of the hotels where we have blocked rooms too, I would like to stay in this cute, artsy hotel but it''s all the way downtown and the hotels with the room blocks are close. Plus we are having a shuttle to get the guests back to the hotel, so it will be easier.

We are having the same kind of setup, an after-wedding brunch hosted by FI''s parents. Are you doing a gift-opening too during the brunch? We aren''t, but I''ve had several people ask if we are. I had never even heard of such a thing before all this wedding crap, amazing how many things you are "supposed" to do, even if you''ve never seen anyone do these things at any wedding you''ve ever been to!!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

My FI and I will be moving about an hour from the location a month before. We are spending the night before in a guest bedroom in my parent''s basement. We are spending the night of at a B&B nearby that I love. Even if we were still in town we would still spend that night in the B&B I think.

 

[mimzy]

our location is about an hour from where we live, but we are going to take a limo from the reception site back to our(!!) apartment afterwards. we''re doing it mainly because we aren''t living together or *anything* before we get married, so we wanted our first nite together to be at our new home (even though it''s really just my apartment that he''ll be moving into!), and not in a random hotel room that we''ll likely never be back to.

 

[Dreamgirl]

Yeah, Im not engaged yet but always wondered myself where you would stay. Because most of our family lives out of town. Say you were to leave the next day on your honeymoon. Where would you go? lol

And like karasue91 said, Im sure family would be staying at (what is now his) home. Also, would you go out on your honeymoon the day after your wedding or wait until all family left? I would kind of hate to continue to "entertain" everyone after my special day.

 

[noelwr]

if no one else is staying in your house, I''d go home. if you stay in the same hotel as everyone else, you aren''t going to get much private time. we''re getting married in South Africa, where his family is, and I''m going to pick a hotel venue that isn''t near anyone''s house because *I* want to be able to retreat somewhere on my own and not have to hang out at relative''s house. and I will also get there a couple of days early to get a facial, massage, etc. of course all our family and friends will also probably stay at the hotel the day of as it will be a long drive home. we will probably go on honeymoon to Mauritius the day after.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 3/29/2008 3:13:43 PM
Author: noelwr
if no one else is staying in your house, I''d go home. if you stay in the same hotel as everyone else, you aren''t going to get much private time. we''re getting married in South Africa, where his family is, and I''m going to pick a hotel venue that isn''t near anyone''s house because *I* want to be able to retreat somewhere on my own and not have to hang out at relative''s house. and I will also get there a couple of days early to get a facial, massage, etc. of course all our family and friends will also probably stay at the hotel the day of as it will be a long drive home. we will probably go on honeymoon to Mauritius the day after.

I agree with that!

 

[ladyciel]

This was made into an easy decision for us when we found out the hotel where we're having our reception gives the bride and groom a free suite for the night. Better yet, the free suite is at a hotel a short drive away, and they arrange for a car to pick you up and take you there at the end of the reception. Our getaway car and room for the night are both planned/booked, and we didn't have to lift a finger. I like that our room will be at a different hotel than the guest block and reception, because there's less worry of guests knocking on our door.

ETA: FI and I live together and are getting married very close by to where we live, but we don't want to stay at home for the night. I have a strong feeling the place will be a mess with relatives coming into town and visiting, all the last minute details, etc. I wouldn't want the extra stress of getting the apartment ready/perfect for our wedding night.

 

[Gypsy]

The night before our wedding I''m spending the night at my moms. On our wedding night we are staying at a hotel... the same one our guest blocks are at. They gave us a nice deal and we''ve always enjoyed hotels.

 

[oobiecoo]

We won''t be going on our honeymoon until much later and we live together currently. I think we are probably going to be at our own home the night after the wedding. I would rather be somewhere that we can relax and feel comfortable rather than having to worry about thin walls that the people in the next room may be able to hear through or having to check out by a certain time in the morning. Just my thoughts...

 

[basil]

We''re staying in a hotel, but I''m not sure where yet. Fiance lives about 2 hours away from where we''re getting married, and I live about 10 hours away, so neither place is really an option for us. We''re getting married near where my parents live, so we''ll both probably stay with them the night before.

The problem is that a lot of hotels in the area have a 2 night minumum, and we are leaving for our honeymoon the next day. I don''t particularly want to stay in a hotel the night before - would much rather pay twice as much for a nicer wedding night room, you know? So we may have to travel a bit further. Which is problematic because we were planning on using my uncle''s antique car as our transportation rather than a limo, but it''s not fair to ask my uncle to drive us far, especially cause the car isn''t very safe to drive at night.

So we may end up taking his car to a parking lot somewhere and then transferring to our Civic to go to the hotel!

 

[zoebartlett]

I'd probably stay in a hotel just because it's some place different. I know you're moving, and it will be a new house for the two of you anyway, so maybe THAT will be the "some place different." Hmmm, I don't know. I can see your point about not wanting to stay in a hotel "just because," but I still like the idea of staying in a nice hotel room where you won't have to do anything for yourself. You can order room service if you want, and that's always a plus. Maybe there will be a whirpool tub in the room, which could be nice as well. Okay, I've decided. Definitely stay at a hotel.

We're staying at the same hotel our guests are. My parents have gotten us a suite for the night before the wedding and our wedding night. We're just trying to decide who gets to stay in the suite the night before, since I kind of want to wait until the wedding to see my FI.

 

[Pandora II]

We''re getting married where my parents live - an hour and a half by train from London.

I''m staying at my parents the night before and FI is staying in a hotel - about 15 of our friends are coming down from London to keep him company.

For our wedding night, I asked him if he wanted to book into a some mega-luxurious hotel, or if he wanted to stay with all our friends and play poker into the small hours.

We''re playing poker....

The hotel is in a seaside town about 15 minutes from our venue (which is in a tiny place so not enough accomodation), so we''re all going for fish & chips on the beach the next day - about 50 of us are staying there.

FI and I are then going off ''dinosaur hunting'' in Lyme Regis for 5 days as a mini-moon - with the real honeymoon in Sri Lanka in October.

 

[Dreamgirl]

Date: 3/29/2008 4:43:25 PM
Author: ladyciel
This was made into an easy decision for us when we found out the hotel where we're having our reception gives the bride and groom a free suite for the night. Better yet, the free suite is at a hotel a short drive away, and they arrange for a car to pick you up and take you there at the end of the reception. Our getaway car and room for the night are both planned/booked, and we didn't have to lift a finger. I like that our room will be at a different hotel than the guest block and reception, because there's less worry of guests knocking on our door.

Nice! Thats awesome.

Haven-I just remembered, what about a really fancy B&B? If there are any near where you are getting married, that might be worth checking into. They sometimes have lower rates and you could probably even get a honeymoon suite with a jacuzzi etc... (I know not all B&B's are like that, but I also know that there are some like that around where I live. Hmmm that just gave me an idea!)

 

[Haven]

Thank you for your responses, ladies.

I''m still undecided, but I think I might book a place just in case and then see what the house is like when the date gets closer. AAAAAAH!

Our relatives aren''t the stay-in-each-others''-houses types, so nobody will be staying with us. They''ve all booked hotel rooms already, so that''s not a problem.

Did I mention we''re thinking of having OOTers and close friends/family over to the new house after the wedding for a Fourth of July barbeque? Our families will take care of getting everything for the barbeque, so it won''t be much work for us, but yeah, my guess is it''s going to be a bit messy.

enbcfsobe--I hadn''t even thought of the night before, oy! I''m so glad you mentioned it. I should probably treat the bridesmaids to a stay in a nearby hotel, right? We''re getting married in the morning, so we''ll have to start getting ready EARLY. Or the girls can stay at our house, and FI will stay at his brother''s house which is only a mile away. Hmmmm . . .

karasue--I hadn''t thought about a gift opening at the brunch, and we probably won''t do that. I know traditionally this is what people do, but holy cow would that make for a long brunch! We''re having nearly 200 people at the wedding!

mimzy--I seriously thought about doing what you two are doing and waiting to move in together until after the wedding. However, my life is going to be so hectic right before the wedding because I''m chaperoning a two-week trip to Greece which will be returning two weeks before the big date so we decided to just move in when we close on the house.

Dreamgirl--I love your sig and avatar. Audrey is my greatest hero, in fact my best friend gave me an enormous framed poster of the still of her standing in front of Tiff''s as my MOH gift, as well as the AH Treasures book, which I already had! Anyway . . . There are two B&Bs in town, so we''ll check them out and see if they''re nice. One is in Ravinia, which is our favorite place in the summer, so that might be great!

Thanks again, and keep the info coming, please!

 

[Dreamgirl]

Date: 3/29/2008 9:17:01 PM
Author: Haven
Dreamgirl--I love your sig and avatar. Audrey is my greatest hero, in fact my best friend gave me an enormous framed poster of the still of her standing in front of Tiff's as my MOH gift, as well as the AH Treasures book, which I already had! Anyway . . . There are two B&Bs in town, so we'll check them out and see if they're nice. One is in Ravinia, which is our favorite place in the summer, so that might be great!

Thank you so much! I idolize Audrey (and my quote is not only from Breakfast at Tiff's, it's also true!)

Yeah, check out the B&B's for sure. I wasn't speaking of the ones where you share bathrooms with everyone and eat breakfast with them too. HA! How un-romantic would that be? But I guess there are some nice ones out there with privacy of course. Ravinia is a place you have stayed at before I take it? If it's a favorite place in the summer, that could be really nice to share that night there!

Good luck with everything!

 

[bee*]

We get the the bridal suite at our hotel for free so we''re going to stay there the night of our wedding. If we lived close by, we''d more than likely still stay at the hotel.

 

[Courtneylub]

We''re staying at the Omni...it''s an upscale one. It works out well because our after-party is at the dance club in the basement of the Omni.

 

[CJ2008]

We''re staying at the resort where we''re getting married (we''ll be getting to Mexico about 5 days before the wedding but staying somewhere else until the day before the wedding). We paid a lot of $ for the room, so we want to enjoy it!