Son and his fiancée announced their engagement a fortnight before Christmas. They have booked their wedding for June 2026. They have found a gorgeous venue and booked all the extra stuff including on site accommodation. They have offered us a cottage on site. It is extremely expensive and sleeps 8. I have asked my son if he and his best man need us to take it so they have somewhere to sleep the night before the wedding or if they need somewhere to dress on the morning of the wedding in which case we’ll take it OF COURSE. But if they don’t appear to need us on site (some people take no notice of the old ritual of not seeing each other on the night before and on the day of the wedding), I think we will wait to book accommodation until we know what my other adult offspring are doing. And once my sister and brother and their entourage are invited I will be able to coordinate with them too. Obviously invitations haven’t yet gone out. Do you think I should just take the price gouging sleeps 8 cottage for 2 or 3 of us? Or do you think it’s reasonable for me to book a hotel beside the church where the marriage ceremony will take place? Along with other members of my family, adult offspring and my siblings and their adult children. For reference, the 4* hotel will be less than 25% of the cost of the expensive price gouging cottage. My husband is teetotal so the short drive, approx 10 mins, to and from the venue is no problem at all.
From what I can gather, the on site accommodation will be almost entirely occupied by the bride’s family and bridesmaids. When I mentioned to the bride to be that I would need to make a hair appointment at a local salon for 9am on the morning of the wedding, in the little town near the church, she told me the bridal party has hair and make up booked and I was welcome to tag along. I think they’d prefer it to be the bridal party only. We get along, I like her very much but we aren’t close.
What should I do in this circumstance?
It’s going to be a long 18 months.