Guests on low budget

[chriscanada]

Hi All,
I have just gotten in touch with a TA and we are in the process of getting quotes for our wedding in either DR or Mexico. Now she said something that I wasn't  aware of and I wonder how others handled this as I just can't believe that we are the only one in this situation.

We feel we are asking our guests already a for a lot to come a long way to our wedding (our guests come from Canada and Germany) and there are a few that wouldn't want to miss it (like my partner's brother) but they just don't have a lot of money. Our budget doesn't allow us to chip in for flights and accommodation so we are basically asking everyone to save up money for our big event. Now we are planning the wedding at a resort that I know some of our guests can't (or don't want to) pay for. We were hoping to find a place where guests have the option to book themselves a cheaper hotel or an AirBnB nearby and only come to our wedding. Our TA told us that the resort might not allow that or only for a limited percentage of our guests. That is terrible news for us!
I think that a good 50% of our guests will also stay at the resort for one, two or even three weeks but how can we 'force' other people to stay at the hotel of OUR choice? 
I get that the resort would charge a fee for day guests and obviously we expect to pay for food and drinks but I didn't know that we would have to agree to a certain percentage of the guests staying at the resort. I don't feel we have control over that. How do others handle that?

[AskAboutFreeWeddings]

On 1/17/2020 at 2:12 PM, chriscanada said:

Hi All,
I have just gotten in touch with a TA and we are in the process of getting quotes for our wedding in either DR or Mexico. Now she said something that I wasn't  aware of and I wonder how others handled this as I just can't believe that we are the only one in this situation.

We feel we are asking our guests already a for a lot to come a long way to our wedding (our guests come from Canada and Germany) and there are a few that wouldn't want to miss it (like my partner's brother) but they just don't have a lot of money. Our budget doesn't allow us to chip in for flights and accommodation so we are basically asking everyone to save up money for our big event. Now we are planning the wedding at a resort that I know some of our guests can't (or don't want to) pay for. We were hoping to find a place where guests have the option to book themselves a cheaper hotel or an AirBnB nearby and only come to our wedding. Our TA told us that the resort might not allow that or only for a limited percentage of our guests. That is terrible news for us!
I think that a good 50% of our guests will also stay at the resort for one, two or even three weeks but how can we 'force' other people to stay at the hotel of OUR choice? 
I get that the resort would charge a fee for day guests and obviously we expect to pay for food and drinks but I didn't know that we would have to agree to a certain percentage of the guests staying at the resort. I don't feel we have control over that. How do others handle that?

 

Yes, this happens all the time. One thing to consider is maybe to have the wedding at an off-site location where all your guests can go. There are several in Puerto Vallarta and Cancun Mexico. Most hotels offer a free wedding, but if a majority of guests are not staying there you'll be paying for not only the day pass, but for the food and beverage for each outside guest. Thanks - Sadie

On 1/17/2020 at 2:12 PM, chriscanada said: