anyone else have a problem with people wanting to book last min.?

I know it puts you in a tough spot because you hate to not let people come, but people have to understand this IS a wedding, even though it is in an exotic location! So, this is what I did:

 

Once I had my contract signed in Dec 2009, I set a first deposit deadline of Jan 23 (or so) a lot of people replied and some said they were interested, but never sent in $. For those people, I sent an "ultimatum" email last week that said "hey we have to drop all rooms that are not used by March 19 (total crock LOL), please understand that this is not a typical wedding, if we don't hear from you we will assume you are not coming, etc,etc, etc."

 

From that email we got 8 additional people to pay and now we are at 30 booked with 11 months to go! We also told our TA not to accept anymore payments without talking to us first. This is another time the TA comes in handy as a buffer between you and guests. The TA answers ALL travel related questions so you do not have any of the added stress!

 

I think people are more understanding than you think on these things and I would just be straight up and tell them the deal.

My wedding is in June,2010 and about 70% of the 65 people have booked. I tried having everyono book together with one agency or thru hotel but some people didn't have the money at the moment, or they found a better deal......so at this point I let everyone do what they had to do but I needed comfirmations that they were definitely attending the wedding 2 months prior so I could get favors, OOT bags etc organized and not have to scramble last minute. So basically the I'm not sure if I can make it guest knew they had up until 3/31 to decide if they were attending the wedding.

would you suggest putting a deadline to book with your TA?

We had several people say oh yea i'll book i'll book. They waited until last minute and flights were over $1000 from boston to Punta Cana needless to say some people didn't come and a few had to suck it up. The rest of us paid under $500 because we booked super super early. I will say with the rooms though that the prices went down dramactically in august for our november wedding. If anything encourage people to book their flights. The TA was able to rebook everyone at the lower rates but it was a process.

 

So bottom line really encourage people to book their flights early.

So strange this thread popped up today-hasn't been active since April. I'm having a similar problem but I am part to blame. A little back ground--I did not do STDs or invites! We invited people thru word of mouth and email. I know a little strange but there is a lot of family drama in both of our families. We did not want to send out invites to people that we really didn't want to come. So we personally spoke to the people on our "wish lists" and let the word spread otherwise----"no one is invited but all are welcome!" So mostly everyone (all but one friend) is booked! The problem is now that I keep hearing from people---this one wants to come, this ones trying to come. All would be fine if they book it now!!! What I need advice on is I want set a deadline!! but how? No RSVP card to wait for (my fault). What is a reasonable time frame--my wedding is in October? HELP!!!

I understand what you're talking about. I'm getting married next month and some people are still up in the air about whether they will come or not. I just don't understand! By now they should know. Or better yet, some said yes but didn't take care of air/hotel. I already told FI that I will be sooo pissed if people drop at the last minute and not tell us?!We have until 3 days before to give final numbers but I will not be a happy camper if people don;t show up and we've paid for their seat. I joked around with FI and told him- hey if we have any no shows I will invite resort guests/vendors to join us. No sense in wasting all that $$.

DO you plan to send out a formal invite? It can be something simple just so that you can get a definate count as you get closer. Maybe you can do something as easy as a postcard asking people to confirm by a certain date.Maybe the rsvp date should be end of the summer so you can check in with non responders. But you definataly need to know so you can continue with the planning. Lots of luck!

you are much better than me...those people should absolutely know by now it's a freakin' month away! Sorry I'm not helping.....fueling your fire....sorry!
I know the simple invite would be a quick easy solution but then I'm actually inviting people....LOL! We started this with this carefree attitude "if you can come great" which is such the opposite to how I'm handling it now....LOL! I think I'm just going to spread the word the same way that we need a final count by a certain date and try to let it go......deal with it if there are late additions.

People will always procrastinate, especially the people who usually book an all-inclusive last minute... they just don't get it! I gave everyone a February 1st deadline for booking in the group; anyone who chooses to book after that would not get a welcome bag, and would have to pay the extra fee for the reception boat I'm having... since it's kind of like they took a trip last minute and "happen" to be going to my wedding.

Gah...I'm already dreading it...

We haven't started booking yet, but I'm sure that'll be the biggest problem we'll have!!!

People don't understand that it's hard to plan without anyone booking!!!!

We've had about 30 people already who've said they were coming... but we can't really make it official until people actually book.

Thats a good idea, if they don't book by deadline they don't receive the little extras!