Incredible Edibles

The OOT Bags have been a big item on our to-do list that has been getting pushed off in the planning. I have big ideas for these little bags. After reading Mrs. Lemon's post, I knew I wanted to include lots of snacks for all of our oot guests. Every guest is from oot and many will be driving close to 5 hours or flying in to get to the wedding. I want to make sure they feel welcomed right from the moment they arrive at their hotel.

I've gone back and forth on what to include, I've debated on RI treats or NE treats or going with our navy and white color scheme, but then we kept finding fun nautical/shore treats and decided to go with a nautical theme. Now we just need to narrow down, exactly what will go into these bags. We know the basics, such as a welcome letter, wedding information, area information, water bottles, maybe postcards, but we've found an overflow of ideas on the snack front.

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An obvious choice for us is Starfish Cookies! Newport Mom has already offered to make them using her famous sugar cookie recipe. Dylan's Candy Bar has original Sweedish fish and mixed Sweedish fish, a classic and fun twist. I wonder if Costco's sells these? We know for sure we will be getting Goldfish, as they can be bought in bulk at large discount stores, such as Costco and I love the way Mrs. JellyBean packaged them for her guests.
I'm not really a fan of Salt Water Taffy, but I love these favors from The Original Fudge Kitchen via Martha Stewart. The Jersey Shore is Mr. N's home, where Salt Water Taffy is a staple, so these would be a fun nod to where he grew up.
And Lobsters are a well known favorite in Boston, so these lollipops from Ju-C Suckers via Martha Stewart, would be a fun nod to my hometown, while sticking to the nautical theme.
And from my Shuckie post, I think you can tell I love these cookies.
Newport Chocolates has amazing nautical chocolates in so many fun shapes that would be perfect. They are so adorable, but I've always wanted to try chocolate making, so I think this would be a fun DIY project!

Now we just need to narrow it down. Which treats would you enjoy most? Do you know of any other fun nautical themed treats?

Room Block Tips

Room blocks were quite the adventure for us, as you can read in our experience here.

After lots of research on what to ask and what to beware of, then going through the experience, I felt like I should share my new found knowledge with someone!

When blocking rooms, it's really important to ask the right questions. Some hotels have hidden charges that you forget to ask about, then they show up on the bill.

• Room Block set up fee- some hotels have an administrative fee for setting up the room block. We only came across one and it was $25.00. Two others waived this due to our reception site having a deal with the hotels.


• Unused room fee- some hotels will charge you for rooms in a block ,that go unused/unbooked. We luckily did not run into this.


• OOT guest bag fee- some hotels charge to either pass out or deliver oot bags to guest's rooms. I've heard this can be $2-$5 per bag. We again, luckily did not run into this.

Important Questions

• How many rooms can be booked?
• Can more rooms be booked in the future, if the original block is filled?
• Is there a group discount rate?
• What are the rates for different types of rooms?
• Can you block our guests near each other?
• If there is no group dicount rate, do you offer any other dicounts such as to Triple A members?
• Is there a fee to set up a room block?
• What happens if we do not fill all of the rooms we blocked? Is there a charge?
• Is there a deadline for when rooms need to be booked by our guests?
• Is there a minimum night stay requirement?
• Does the room rate include breakfast?
• How are Out of Town bags handled? Delivered to room or handed out at front desk?
• Is there a charge for Out of Town bags?
• Do you offer any specials for the bride and groom?

Did you have to set up room blocks for your guests? Do you have any additional tips or questiosn to share?

Blocking the Rooms

Blocking rooms in a tourist town is great because you have lots of options. But....with that comes some not so great things. Like these hotels don't need our business like say, a hotel in a random suburb. So what does that mean? Well... we had trouble finding hotels that would give our guests discounts and/or would allow guests to stay only one night.

After my first two calls, I realized this wasn't going to be easy. So with my list of requirements in hand, I got to calling and e-mailing every place I could find within 5 miles of Newport.

My requirements were simple.
1. A good rate
2. At least one option without the two night stay
3. Convenience
4. Quality

Blocking the rooms has been one of the most stressful parts of planning so far. Typically when you plan something for the wedding, it only affects your budget. The hotel block affects the individual budgets of most of our guests. With the way the economy is, we wanted to be very concious of this and reserve rooms that fit different budgets.

We also knew that many of our guests would only want to stay one night. Many guests are only an hour and a half away, but would like to spend the night- not two, which is typical in Newport. This was actully the hardest part. I assumed since we aren't having the wedding in season, a couple places would be more willing to break this. We only found three places who were willing to let us block with one night stays. We only went with one, as the other two didn't fit other requirments, mainly cost and quality.

Convenience also played a factor. When guests heard there are hotels across the street, many got excited that after the reception they could "stumble home". Luckily there are three options directly across the street from the reception. In the end, these three won out as part of our four total hotels. It's nice because not only are they convenient to the reception, their less than 10 minutes from the ceremony, 5 minutes from downtown Newport, across from the Beach, located next to many reasonably priced restaurants, and it's nice that three of these are located next to each other. Guests will be closer.

Lastly, we looked for quality. I called at least 15 hotels and knew that each had to fit at least three of the four qualifications. Well, I ended up finding a couple with really great prices, but those were also really terrible quality. I was hoping to find something under $100 a night, and I did, but they just weren't places I'd feel comfortable recommending. I looked up each hotel, motel and inn's reviews. Some were horrifying. I decided quality is more important than price. If guests would like a cheaper room, I did give a link on our website, so they can make the choice themselves and decide what is important to them.

We ended up with 4 choices.
1 with amazing quality, not so amazing price, no discounts, 2 night minimum, very convenient.
2 with great quality, great discounts, 2 night minimum, and very convenient.
1 with ok quality, no discounts-but best price, 1 night minimum, convenient.

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We ended up really happy with our selections, after lots of research we feel confident that they are the right choices and well rounded. Although, I hope our guests are happy, as I am still worried about the costs.

Did you have trouble making room blocks for your guests?