Hotel ... check

I decided I should get a jump on some planning for the Chinese banquet. To me, the easiest and most obvious thing to do was to get a block of rooms at the local hotel before sending out STDs. Easier said than done.

The closest hotel is the East Brunswick Hilton, in all its recently-renovated glory ...

I called the hotel and I felt like they were the SATs trying to trip me up! They asked how many rooms I wanted to block! Seriously, what kind of question is that? Just kidding. It's a pretty logical and straightforward question that I did not think of. Thankfully I had an idea of how many guests will be from out of town and the representative estimated about 30 rooms. Yes, 30 rooms! I can't even count that high using all my available appendages!

Anyhow, I was transferred so many times and ended up not having to make any commitments to a specific number but instead the Group Sales lady, Rachel, had to call me back. Whew! But I referred to my trusty guest list (in Excel) and came up with 54 out of town guests that would need hotel rooms, assuming they all RSVP with a resounding "yes" and have no other lodging options. Based on double occupancy, the more accurate estimate would be 26 rooms. Still a lot.

I finally spoke with Rachel and we decided to start off with 15 rooms. The rooms will be discounted a bit, $105 per night and they'll hold them until June 9, 2007 ... under the Huang-Tocci Wedding!