Pittsburgh is a sports town. That means our teams impact just about everything. If you’re getting married in the fall, this could mean your wedding will be affected by a Steelers home game. How? Well, just read this.
A concerned sister writes…
I have a quick question about my sister’s wedding. She’s having it at the Mattress Factory on October 1. My mom is trying to reserve blocks of rooms, but some North Shore and downtown hotels told her they can’t reserve blocks until after the Steelers schedule comes out in April. Why is this and should we be concerned?
I can’t say I’m surprised by this. If there is a Steelers home game, hotel rooms will be at a premium. Fans are willing to pay higher prices, and wedding blocks tend to be at very discounted rates. It’s all a numbers game here. A home game means the hotels can make more money.
Fortunately, I don’t think you need to be concerned about waiting until April. That still gives guests six months to make a hotel reservation. Even if you send Save the Dates, I think most people won’t make travel arrangements until they actually receive the invitation. Something about the invitation gives people a kick in the pants to get on their planning game. So while it does stink that you can’t cross something off your to do list, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Oh, and go Steelers!
I had this problem for my Sept 12th 2015 wedding at the Heinz History Center. It was the weekend of the first Steelers game and it wasn’t announced if it was home/away at that point and the closest hotels would not block. It ended up being an away game on Sept 10th at the Patriots, but even after the fact there were no blocks.
It all worked out and we ended up at the Omni, which is still walking distance, and some people end up booking their own rooms outside of the block.
So many brides run into this problem!!! Hopefully this post will at least help them understand why. Thanks for sharing your story; happy to hear it all worked out!