So, everything has been going pretty well so far with this wedding planning lark..... until yeserday!!!

The venue that me & h2b have booked doesn't have overnight accommodation so we have been looking for somewhere to stay together on our wedding night. Wherever we pick we also want to book for the night before the wedding so me, my bridesmaid & my mum have somewhere near the venue to get ready.

We had a look at the suppliers list from the venue & went to visit the places yesterday! The problem is that all of the hotels where we can stay offer weddings & even after mentioning the reccomendation from our venue, we were told that under no circumstances could we book the bridal suite as, even though no one has booked so far, there may be a wedding there on the same day as ours & they would have to have prioity!!!!

Now I have no idea what to do, as I'm guessing that this will be the case for all hotels that do weddings?? & since we would like to stay somewhere a little luxurious on our first night as a married couple, all the places we've found so far have a licence to conduct their own marraige ceremonies!!!

Does anyone have any ideas of other places (perhaps not hotels?) where we might have a bit more luck??

any help is HUGELY appreciated!! & thanks for reading a mega long post!!! x x x

Do the hotels have lovely suites or rooms as well as the bridal suites that you could book provisionally on the understanding that you get the bridal suite if its available?

Sometimes the bridal suite isnt the best one.... id ask to see their best rooms and not get hung up on the name, we booked the bridal suite at our venue but then changed to another suite when we saw it?

thats a bit cheeky that you cant book as you are not having your wedding there!! tut tut! bad customer service!

i would look for maybe a cottage to rent yes that sounds nice! or dont advise them you are having the wedding somewhere else and book it??? xx

luvlifejen - I like your last idea... sneaky!! hehe!!

MrsMac2B - I thought that too, as I'd be soooo miffed if I'd booked my wedding then found out that the bridal suite had gone! But I agree, there's no excuse for rudeness!

I think a cottage may be a way forward.... I'm off to investigate a little further!! x x x

Some of our guests couldnt afford the castle charges for a room for the weekend and they found a couple of amazing little cottages for 150 quid for 3 nights..... could be a good plan, no one to bother you the next day!!

awww lovely let us know if you sort it :0) xx

and yes i am sneaky but you get no where in this world with customer service like that ;-) xx

try another cottage..... there are loads out there....our first night will be in our bed, and our second night and so on.... until about 3 weeks when we will go his mums caravan and use her bed, pmsl!!!

I was going to say that I've stayed in some lovely cottages before and hotels with feature rooms so although they are not called bridal they may still have four poster beds etc. Its hard to suggest places when I don't know where you venue is but if you let us know what area it is in I might be able to help. I have a list of accommodation that I used to use for work. ( I worked all over the UK)

I had the same problem with my venue. They do lovely suites and we are in the bridal suite the evening of our wedding but I wanted to set off from somewhere else so people can see me on the way there in the car. I did eventually find a nice hotel near by that didn't have the bridal suite free but did offer the next best thing which is a luxurious executive suite which has its own bedroom and separate bathroom and lounge. its ideal for when we all start getting ready as we will have more room in there than we would the bridal suite.

Try looking for places that dont do weddings, thats what we're doing. We are now staying in a 4* hotel. Try looking on late rooms, they will show you all the hotels that are available for your day and will show prices. Then you can just ring them and talk to them. You may not be able to get the honeymoon suite, but you could always get an executive suite (like us). It will be pretty much the same as the honeymoon but possibly slightly cheaper. You can also ask them if they could put roses on the bed and possibly a hamper if you pay a little bit extra? Again, this is what I'm doing :)

Yet another problem!!... after a lot of searching we found a gorgeous converted barn. We've been trying to get hold of the person who lets the barn out for ages, but they aren't returning any of our calls!!.. Really don't know what to do now as that was one of the only other places we'd found!

Any other suggestions??

x x x

Is there a nice B&B near your venue? Sometimes you find maybe one or 2 that have a maximum of 5 bedrooms so it's intimate enough for you getting ready and for your wedding night. The upside of that is because you'll be 'booking them out' for a couple of days they'll bend over backwards to put you up
xxx

I'm not just a pretty face you know hehehe xxx