Scared away a bride?

[Willowpondgj]

Wow! All of you have given us so much to think about. We have already agreed to have a wedding on our grounds in May (as I said before). Do most of you who are brave enough to host weddings have a package deal or charge by the hour, even though you require a 2-night minimum stay?.

We don't so weddings because I don't think we have the proper 'look' for it. No good backdrops for the photos and all that. (Unless it is a beautiful summer or fall day.)
That said, I think you need to keep the 2 pieces separate. The guests are booking rooms (however many) and the wedding is booking a space to hold the event.
Think about it like your lunches and other parties...if the ladies decided to stay over, you would then charge them for the rooms, right? You wouldn't give the rooms for free because they had lunch.
You can connect them if you want, but each piece should be charged separately. Unless you do a 'bride stays free' package for booking the wedding at your inn. But charge according to what you have read here...you get the bride, you get ALL of her family and friends, too. At ALL hours.
Hubs did that ONCE...let the bride stay free. It worked out because they did everything elsewhere. We dealt with NONE of the 'other' guests, the dressing or any of it. All we did for them (and we did this because there were 2 weddings within a month and it was time anyway) was install full length mirrors in all the rooms and install a hook for the bride to hang her dress from (VERY important feature to have if you have the bride staying over).
Also necessary is a clean sheet for the dress to rest on so it doesn't come in contact with your dirty floors.

I took that one in stride. MOB is always stressed beyond the limit.
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Do a package and get a 50% non-refundable retainer to hold the date!!! Once you advertise that you do weddings, after you take into account all the phone calls and tours just for the ones who DON'T end up booking with you, the hours add up, you only want people who are serious! Nothing like having your two night whole inn rental/wedding cancel the month before when there is no way you'll be able to rebook it and good luck rebooking the rooms depending on the season!

 

[Samster]

Wow! All of you have given us so much to think about. We have already agreed to have a wedding on our grounds in May (as I said before). Do most of you who are brave enough to host weddings have a package deal or charge by the hour, even though you require a 2-night minimum stay?.

Fred & Sally,
Welcome to the forum!
Weddings...circus is a good word for them. You really need the proper space to pull them off. Clear, specific polices to avoid having to deal with bridezillas are a must! And, provisions for charges for damages. Wedding guests are not the typical guests.
imvho - You dodged a bullet with this one. This bride definitely should have booked all the rooms for 2 nights if she wanted to bring in the bridesmaids in the morning. $200 would not have been nearly enough money for all your aggravation because as others have said, you would have had to clean all those rooms. Also, who knows who would have been in & out of the house the night before with the bride there? It could have been very disruptive to any other guests.
Check out this site for some really good wedding options: www.greatoaksmanor.com (I think Catlady also gave you this link). These folks have learned from experience to charge more money, have a tighter contract, and limit certain things. Also, her dh can officiate at the wedding.
Elopements for your size inn would be a very good option or an intimate wedding with 10 guests or fewer.
Best of luck!

 

[egoodell]

I think you were too lenient and setting yourself up for regret at that price! I would have told her she had to rent both nights and I would have charged an additional cleaning deposit, just in case they destroyed the place!
With 9 bridesmaids, they would not only have used all of your towels, you probably would have had to do a complete room clean once they were out of there, because the brides guests would assume that she had rented the rooms and they could do whatever they wanted in them, including messing up the beds, etc. you would be doing twice as much work for nothing...IMVHO
I'll be happy to send you a copy of our wedding policies!.

I would love to receive a copy of your wedding policies as well, please! We're getting requests and I just don't know about it. Maybe tiny ones, or "elopement" weddings like some others do where it's just immediate family.
RIki

 

[Penelope]

Wow! All of you have given us so much to think about. We have already agreed to have a wedding on our grounds in May (as I said before). Do most of you who are brave enough to host weddings have a package deal or charge by the hour, even though you require a 2-night minimum stay?.

I am the Inn Manager at a 12 room B&B in Ohio. If we do a wedding, we charge them for "Meeting Space". It can be anywhere from $75- $500 depending upon the situation. One thing that I would offer is to remember what your "Bread and Butter" is. If your bread and butter is the constant two-night guests with dinner one or both nights, then keep the "others" from ruining your bread and butter. Each inn has a different feel and you have to be SURE of what your feel is so that you don't alter it just for the sake of a few hundred dollars.
We do weddings at the inn, but they in no way interfere with the two-night guests who are there for a romantic getaway. The bride/groom know what the policies are and that they are renting the grounds/dining area; not the guest rooms.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Wow! All of you have given us so much to think about. We have already agreed to have a wedding on our grounds in May (as I said before). Do most of you who are brave enough to host weddings have a package deal or charge by the hour, even though you require a 2-night minimum stay?.

I am the Inn Manager at a 12 room B&B in Ohio. If we do a wedding, we charge them for "Meeting Space". It can be anywhere from $75- $500 depending upon the situation. One thing that I would offer is to remember what your "Bread and Butter" is. If your bread and butter is the constant two-night guests with dinner one or both nights, then keep the "others" from ruining your bread and butter. Each inn has a different feel and you have to be SURE of what your feel is so that you don't alter it just for the sake of a few hundred dollars.
We do weddings at the inn, but they in no way interfere with the two-night guests who are there for a romantic getaway. The bride/groom know what the policies are and that they are renting the grounds/dining area; not the guest rooms.
.

I am the Inn Manager at a 12 room B&B in Ohio. If we do a wedding, we charge them for "Meeting Space". It can be anywhere from $75- $500 depending upon the situation. One thing that I would offer is to remember what your "Bread and Butter" is. If your bread and butter is the constant two-night guests with dinner one or both nights, then keep the "others" from ruining your bread and butter. Each inn has a different feel and you have to be SURE of what your feel is so that you don't alter it just for the sake of a few hundred dollars.
We do weddings at the inn, but they in no way interfere with the two-night guests who are there for a romantic getaway. The bride/groom know what the policies are and that they are renting the grounds/dining area; not the guest rooms.

Welcome OHIO!
You are sooooo right. I think it is always those just starting out who idealize the weddings at their inn. I was the same way.
Then after the 100th phone call in the first week (wasting EVERY minute of my time for a so-callde couple hundred bucks and this was BEFORE the wedding by months) this "small intimate wedding" which grew and grew and grew, I realized I was up a creek! It was simply not worth it.
Now we boast WEDDING NIGHTS. Stay with us on your wedding night, no weddings here. Even small can turn on you.
Emspriers glad you joined us.

 

[Copperhead]

Wow! All of you have given us so much to think about. We have already agreed to have a wedding on our grounds in May (as I said before). Do most of you who are brave enough to host weddings have a package deal or charge by the hour, even though you require a 2-night minimum stay?.

I am the Inn Manager at a 12 room B&B in Ohio. If we do a wedding, we charge them for "Meeting Space". It can be anywhere from $75- $500 depending upon the situation. One thing that I would offer is to remember what your "Bread and Butter" is. If your bread and butter is the constant two-night guests with dinner one or both nights, then keep the "others" from ruining your bread and butter. Each inn has a different feel and you have to be SURE of what your feel is so that you don't alter it just for the sake of a few hundred dollars.
We do weddings at the inn, but they in no way interfere with the two-night guests who are there for a romantic getaway. The bride/groom know what the policies are and that they are renting the grounds/dining area; not the guest rooms.
.

emspiers - Welcome. Question - I am assuming that for $75-&500 this is for the ceremony only? Then they travel elseware for the reception? Obviously you do not require rental of any of your rooms. How do you handle overnight guests, not affiliated with the wedding, during that time?

 

[April]

We had a couple of small weddings at our place as well as a few wedding parties staying. I agree even if you think you covered all angles on the end it turns into a circus and You trun into a grumpy host trying to enforce your policies. We rethinking this whole idea - way to much work. Unless we come up with some better plan I think we wont accept any. Can I have a copy of your policies Willowpondgj as well?