Hotels and Lodging for the Wedding ** Updated**

I have reserved rates and rooms at five different hotels in Santa Fe. These are all in the downtown area and the rates run from $55 to $129 a night. To get a room with one of these rates, you need to call the hotel to book the room, definitely mention you are coming for the Salazar/Duran Wedding and they will be able to give you a room at one of the quoted rates. 

I'll add more hotel information later. There are many other hotels in Santa Fe, closer to the church. Hotels further out of downtown can be less expensive. But at these hotels, you'll be close to the heart of Santa Fe, where most visitors like to be when they come for a quick trip. 

Depending on how long you will be in town, if it's just a weekend trip or a mini-vacation, I'll will list other things to do while you're here. 

La Fonda Hotel (Reception Venue)
100 E. San Francisco Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(800) 523-5002

10 rooms are reserved at a rate of $129 a night. They will be held under the Salazar/Duran wedding. It's an old, charming hotel at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. It is on the Plaza and is convenient for those who will not have a car. There is a parking available for hotel guests as well as wedding guests. They say if you sit in the lobby long enough people watching, someone famous will pass you by. It's definitely got all the Santa Fe Style you'd want-- and it's real-- not faux. It's also locally owned, if that makes a difference to any of you. 

Garrett's Desert Inn
311 Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(800) 888-2145

Garrett's Desert Inn is very close to the reception venue. It's within walking distance.

Rates are: $59/$69
parking at the hotel is included in the rate reservation.
Mention Salazar/Duran wedding when you reserve a room. 

Santa Fe Sage Inn

725 Cerrillos Rd.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(866) 433-0335

Rates here are $55 for any room for the nights Feb. 2 through Feb. 13.
Again mention Salazar/Duran wedding when reserving your room. This hotel is about 3-5 minutes by car, taxi. In the summer, it is walkable, but I can't say what kind of weather we might have mid- February. 

The Inn of the Governors
101 W. Alameda
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(800) 234-4534

There is a courtesy block of rooms under the Salazar/Duran wedding. They are also $129 a night. This hotel is withing walking distance to the reception venue. 

Hotel Santa Fe
1501 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(800) 825-9876

After August 31, you should be able to make a reservation here. Call this toll-free number at 800-825-9876 and you will be prompted to dial "1" to connect with the reservations department. Tell the agent you want to book a room from the Salazar/Duran Wedding block and the agents will extend the group rate. The roup rates are $99.00 for Traditional Guestrooms and $149.00 for Santa Fe Suites.
They will honor the rate up until January 14, 2010 or until availability runs out.

This hotel is in close proximity to the Rail Runner, the fact that it has it's own shuttles and other perks. It's not really within walking distance to La Fonda on a cold winter's day, but it's a short drive, by shuttle, taxi or rented car. 

There are other hotels in the area of the La Fonda within walking distance you could check out as well. I have not blocked rooms at any of these other hotels, but they each have their own style and are convenient enough to downtown Santa Fe. If none of the above hotels appeal to you, try these. 

St. Francis Hotel  This is a short walk down Water street till you get to the hotel. You hang a left on Old Santa Fe Trail and you're there. It's been recently renovated. It has a very Franciscan theme. My friends' family still owns the building, though a hotel chain from out of state operates it. It's got a long history in Santa Fe and has always been a charming place. 

Inn of Loretto (This one is attached to the chapel with the mysterious spiral staircase.) It was our first choice for a reception venue because both our mothers went to school on the property when it was the girls' Catholic school. Obviously, we changed our minds, but the hotel has nice rooms and a spa. This is just next door to La Fonda. 

Inn of the Alameda It's on the other side of St. Francis Cathedral school. It's a bit of a long walk, but doable. It's a B& B but looks super charming.

Inn of the Anazasi. You'[ll walk past the famous Burrito Company and across the Plaza to get to the La Fonda 

There is also a Hilton. It's close enough to walk.  Hilton trivia, Conrad Hilton (the founder of the hotel, is a graduate of mine and David's alma mater, St. Michael's.


**If you are bringing a car or renting one, the  EL Rey Inn on Cerrillos Road might be another reasonable option. Cerrillos Road is one of the three main roads in town, you'll find food, shopping and gas stations going either direction, it will take you through town coming in from Albuquerque leading you all the way to downtown Santa Fe. **

Some locally operated hotels:Santa Fe Hotels

Aside from the downtown hotels, on South Cerrillos, which is closer to the church and where David and I live, there are a variety of hotels. There is the Holiday Inn, A new Hyatt, La Quinta, Courtyard by Marriott,  Fairfield Inn, just ask or do a hotel.com search for Santa Fe and you might find some alternatives. 

Hope all this is helpful. Let us know if there is any more we can do to help you. Email us here or leave us a comment.
 

Watch This Post

I'm starting to compile information about Santa Fe for out of town wedding guests. I'm trying to put a list of use resources together.

• National Hispanic Cultural Center
• El Rancho de las Golondrinas
• New Mexico's Cultural Treasures
• Palace of the Governors
• The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
• Welcome to New Mexico
• Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce
• City of Santa Fe

So Tell Me...

Anyone got any favorite wedding movies or wedding moments in movies? Last night I couldn't sleep-- eh-- what's so new about that? And I ended up watching most of "Besty's Wedding" and thought that any of the chaos going on in my own wedding planning is nothing compared to the meddling parents in that movie. I have yet to watch the end and see how it all turns out, but was curious if anyone had any favorites.

Granted, there aren't many readers of this blog, but if you happen to read this and want to leave a comment with your suggestions and ideas, we'd love to hear them.

Two Months Down, Six More to Go

Well, is this thing still working... Today it has been two months since David proposed to me and in six months we will be walking down the aisle. It's really starting to come together. Little by little, there will be a wedding.

This is the dress my flower girl is going to wear, her grandma, my cousin is going to make it. It’s cute without being too grown up and not too little girl. Hers will be in a white with a black bow and sash. She’s a tall girl, so she might be taller than my ringbearer, though they’re roughly the same age.

I'm hoping David's three-year-old niece will be able to walk down the aisle. I've asked the florist to make her a special bouquet.

The colors for the dresses are going to be black, maybe with an white bow, sash or some accent. I like this bridesmaid dress.  I liked it because of the back and it matches the flowergirl  dress.

I think that on top of the black/white theme, I’m going to add a touch of pink, probably a bold, maybe hot pink, to the colors. I am trying to avoid red because this isn’t a Valentine’s themed wedding, despite the date.

Things David and I have done so far:
Of course, booked the hotel and the church is good to go. We booked a photographer. I had no idea that photography was so expensive. After we met with the photographer fort the first time, we were totally surprised that we both wanted to have a video done. The videos that they do at insightfoto are fabulous. We went with them based on a gut instinct, but I liked their journalistic style and the "eye" of the photographer(s). I can't wait. Sometime in Sept. or Oct. we will take engagement pictures.

David and David Sr. are working on music. We thought about a DJ and we got estimates from $200 - $4000 for a DJ. We got a taste of a band, David liked it better than I. I didn't like the energy I was feeling from them and had doubts. Then David got wind of another band and when we heard them it was a no-brainer.  I knew it was a better fit for us. Plus the lead singer is a man and won't upstage the bride. ;) The band is still expensive, but I think it will be nice to have live  music. So Jimmy Stadler is the band.

David's dad is working on finalizing the Mariachis for the night. We're going to have them welcome guests into the reception, do the Wedding March and play through dinner. Then the band will start at 8.

Flowers have also been decided. The first woman I met with flaked out on me. I’m going to have winter white theme bouquet and everyone else will have bold, colorful flowers: roses, orchids, calla lilies etc. I just fell in love with Artichokes and Pomegranates the minute I walked into the shop. I'll have two white flower arrangements for the church, a little bouquet for David's niece, Lauren, and an arrangement for the Blessed Mother to present during Mass. The boutonieres are exquisite and I can't wait to see them. The flowers have got to be my favorite part so far.

We tasted cakes at Chocolate Maven, which were wonderful. I've never had a pastry, cake or dessert from CM that I didn't like. Even the wedding cakes were splendid, albeit a bit too sweet. We went Saturday to meet with Justine from Cuisine from Justine (beyond adobe walls.) After after tasting Justine’s cakes, David and I, were hooked. They’re really delicious-- elegant, rich and tasty without a sugar rush. Cool thing about Justine, she makes a special top to save to eat on our first anniversary. It's packed and ready to freeze so we don't have to use the top from the wedding cake. We will have traditional three or four tiered cake, with white or off-white buttercream icing and a tasty filling. I like # 5 on the cake gallery from Chocolate Maven, but I don't think it's something David really likes. I think the dragonflies freak him about a bit. ;)

I’m planning to order invitations and save the dates and other miscellaneous things this weekend.

Of course, our reception is at La Fonda, in the Lumpkins Ballroom. We aren’t going to fill it, but at least we know if we invited more people we could fit them. We have a food tasting early next month and that will be fun. I'm still not sure if it will be a buffet or a plated dinner.

My dress, which was not what I expected, but the black/white embroidered one would have been way too hard for my mother, so we settled on this. I have a silk Mikado fabric, that’s off-white which I got from www.santafefabrics.com, and I was blown away by the stuff they have in the store. Best thing is that I didn't have to go to Alb. or out of state to buy my fabric.

For favors I was thinking of having biscochitos and Mexican wedding cookies. My cousin said I could enlist all my cousins to start baking.  She is the one who got married in Vegas and has been sending me tons and tons of emails with wedding advice. I'm very blessed to have family and friends.

For the first time in my life I saw Bridezillas. Oh man.. those girls are scary. I vow never to become one. Seriously.

I have a code for hotel rooms at La Fonda and need to get a few other hotels booked for Out of Town guests. I'm going to book rooms at Garrett's Desert Inn, Santa Fe Sage and probably the Inn of the Governor's for hotels close to La Fonda. The rates at La Fonda are $129, while the other hotels range from $55-$79. I'll put up a whole post with that information later.

I haven’t updated the wedding site in a while, but I'm starting to compile a list of things to do, tourist information, Santa Fe and New Mexico history and information, as well as travel and transportation options.  All the info will be there eventually for those of you coming to the wedding or are thinking about it anyway.