We don’t know about you, but it’s kind of freezing here in Houston! This has us thinking to warmer days ahead, like our great friend’s wedding this summer. She asked me what we did to book our hotel block – since many of our guests were coming from out-of-town, and I figured many of you might be wondering about the same thing as well. Reserving a block of hotel rooms proved to be more difficult than I thought. They have lengthy contracts to navigate and will not hesitate to get you on the hook for more rooms than you might need. Luckily, I have five tips to make this process as seamless as possible for you.

Before I get started, don’t forget about our Shop Wedding page. I’ve pulled some great sales for you today on all things wedding! Today, we’ve highlighted some of our favorite bridal beauty finds:

One. Reserve hotel blocks at more than one hotel if the majority of your guests are coming from out of town. This will give your guests options for price and proximity to the venue. This will also ensure that you will have sufficient rooms available for your guests.

Two. Do your research and call around. Your call should be focused on pricing and room availability. See which hotels in the area actually have a block of rooms available during the dates you will need them. Other weddings and local events can take up space. If you have special requests, such as dropping gift bags to your guests upon check-in, make sure the hotels will accommodate your needs. It’s better to know up front what they are willing to do.

Three. Once you have several good options. Negotiate contract terms for a hotel block. You will be asked to sign a contract to book the hotel rooms. The key words you need to be on the lookout for include: minimum commitment (percentage of rooms that must be reserved to avoid paying a fee), resell clause (hotel must try to book these unused rooms so you do not get stuck paying for them) and allowable shrinkage (rooms that are allowed to go unbooked). All of these terms dictate what you are and are not on the hook for. If you have questions about the contract, ask the manager to go over it with you line by line. You don’t want to get stuck with extra fees at the end – or paying for rooms you did not end up using.

Four. Keep your Guests Informed. We think the easiest way to do this is in your wedding invitation suite. Whether you include an extra card with the hotel information (hotel name, number to call, website or link to visit) or include it directly on the invitation – that’s the easiest way to make sure your guests know about the hotel block. If you have a wedding website, make sure to include your hotel block information on there as well.