blocking hotel rooms for guests ????

how do i go about doing this. should i do it now or wait until its closer to the wedding?

how do i do this? how many rooms and do i have to put any money down?

Different hotels have different policies. Some have a minimum and some seem to insit you be financially responsible for any unheld room (BOGUS!)
Call around and get pricing through hotel mnagers as a start and then you can start going to them and looking at a sample room.

as for booking hotels i would do it whenever you want but the ealier the better because they cannot hold rooms if they are not available or held another block -

there is no penalty usually if they are not booked and are given away a month before the wedding

it is something you can do early - this way you can notify people

I'm getting married in October too. They already made me sign a contract over a month ago (1 yewar before wedding)!

I blocked 24 rooms since most people will be coming from out of town. I negotiated them down from $150 to $125 for my guest rate.

If no one claims the rooms one month before, they open to the public. I feel confident we won't pay anything out of pocket. This hotel is always packed!

I am in the process of doing this now. The only Hotel I called that would hold me responsible for $ if the rooms aren't booked was the Hyatt-Windwatch. They also couldn't guarantee me a bridal suite for Thurs. and Fri. The in house brides get first dibbs and they wouldn't be able to tell me if I got a room or not until 3 weeks before the wedding!!

Basically I got a list of Hotels off of this site Hotels
And eliminated them one at a time.
Then I called them all (ask for group sales!)
Here were my questions:
1. Rates, 2. Bridal suite rates 3. Bar and restaurant on site 4. Closing times for bar and restaurant. 5. Shuttle service to and from airport / reception site 6. Minimum/Maximum # of rooms I can block off. 7. Am I responsible for unbooked rooms or do they release the rooms 1 month prior 8. Arrange a breakfast the following morning.

I hope that helps. If you want the rates I got from some hotels in and around Hauppauge, Islip that general vicinity. Just FM me!!
!!