YOU’RE ENGAGED! Now it’s time for one of the biggest steps in your wedding planning (besides searching for THE dress!) - venue hunting! When you begin your search for the perfect venue, there were so many things going on in my head. I’d heard and read (on so many blogs!) that people just jump into locking down a venue because they love a place, and they forget about the little things that are just as important.
How was I supposed to pick one? Here are some things to keep in mind:
Try to schedule multiple visits to different venues in a day. This one never worked out for me. Every time I tried to make an appointment for a few venues, it was always on different days and sometimes weeks apart. If you can get either 2 or 3 done in one day, then you can either cross the ones you know you don’t like off your list list and move on right away, or love one of them and your search be over. Time is key here, because the longer you wait to set up appointments, then those potential wedding dates that you are looking at could end up being taken by the time you visit that venue.
Your wedding vision. It still may be hard to determine your overall theme and color scheme of the wedding, but I know how girls are and most of them already have something in mind! If you picture yourself having a rustic vintage-y wedding, maybe an old manor house or mansion is more your fit. If you picture yourself with something more intimate and romantic, maybe a cottage, inn, or vineyard. If you picture yourself with a more elegant vibe, maybe an art gallery or hotel ballroom. Based on that, while you are doing your searches, you can already eliminate venues that may not be your style.
Location of your big day. Have you and your fiance discussed this? Are you planning to get married where you live now, somewhere close to where you live now, in another state, or a destination wedding? Are there a few hotel options near the venue? Will all of the important people you want to come to your wedding be able to make it to that location? Also, are you planning on doing both ceremony AND reception there or just the reception? If you’re doing just the reception, then your venue options may be limited based on where your ceremony is being held.
Wedding size and venue capacity. But you just got engaged! How do you know how many people you want to be at the wedding? This is really just a guesstimate. I’d say a safe bet is usually around 125-150 for a medium-sized wedding. You can use that number to check out the capacities at each of the venues you’re considering. Do some of them have hard maximum capacities? Do some have no limits at all? Is there a fee for going over a certain number of guests? Even if it’s the maximum capacity, will it be a tight fit? Really make sure to discuss this with your fiance, as I know from experience that this was one of our biggest arguments during wedding planning (I wanted the big wedding, he wanted the small wedding - we got the big wedding).
Find wedding photos of other couples at your potential venue. Thank you, internet! I basically searched online for wedding photos at our venue. You can look at the photos on the property website, but sometimes those are staged and you want to get a true vision of what it could come out to look like. Also, lots of photographers usually tag the venues they took photos at, so you can get a sense of the feel of their wedding.
Read reviews about different venues. I’m all about reviews, and I always read them for everything (restaurants, vacation spots, technology gadgets, etc.). So, it was only natural to read reviews on the different venues to see what people complained about. Some of the reviews have a lot of valuable information in them.
Venue availability for your potential wedding date. Check to see if the months you are planning to have your wedding are available. If you’re dead set on having your wedding in September and will not budge, and the venue is booked that month, then you might not want to look there. Or you do and love the venue and pick a different month. It works both ways! And do you have a lot of friends’ wedding coming up? If you do, just make sure you know what dates those weddings are - just in case you have the same group of friends and happen to have your wedding on the same day.
Catering options. Is there an on-site caterer? Or do you have to bring in an outside caterer? If you bring one in, is there a list of preferred vendors? The nice thing about picking a preferred vendor is that they already know the venue and have worked there before, so at least you don’t have to worry about them trying to figure out their way around the venue. Our venue required that you use a preferred vendor, or you’d have to pay an additional fee to bring in a different caterer. Additional fee? No thanks, I’d rather not! So, we just ended up picking a caterer from the list the manager sent us.
Shots shots shots! Okay, soooooooo alcohol at your wedding. At your venue, do they require you to use their alcohol or beverage services? Or can you bring your own? Most hotels usually have their own alcohol policies. We were pretty lucky that our venue lets us bring our own alcohol, because at least anything we have leftover we can bring home. And we actually are only doing beer, wine, and champagne because shocker, liquor is an additional fee (of $500!).
Parking and transportation options. Where will guests park? Are there enough spots? Can guests leave cars overnight? Are you planning on providing shuttle transportation to and from the hotel? Are there restrictions on the types of transportation vehicles allowed at the property? Our venue doesn’t allow shuttles that carry more than 35 passengers on-site.
Tables, chairs, and tent rentals. Does your venue provide these? Are they free or do they cost extra? If you do have to pay for them, do you have to do it through your venue or can you pick another vendor? And if you have to pay for these, when do you have to pay for them? And of course, where would you want to set them up? Is there enough space indoors, or will it be outdoors? Is there a back-up plan for weather?
Videotape your venue visit. You might feel super nerdy doing this (which worked out perfect for me since I’m a super nerd), but my dad did it for the venues we looked at and I’m so glad he did! Because afterwards, I re-watched them so that I could remember what the foyer of the manor house looked like, or the size of the outdoor patio, or how many windows were in the barn, etc. You don’t have to tape your whole visit obviously, but my dad just did panoramic shots of different parts of the property. It was definitely a great reference to have. He did ask to make sure it was okay that he taped it, so doesn’t hurt to check.
And it all comes down to this…budget! How much is the fee for the venue and is it within your budget? How much is it to reserve and lock down your wedding date? Most of the places I looked at required the full payment for the venue upfront - which is so, so, so scary. Also, is there a separate security deposit? Are certain months cheaper than other months? At our venue, we originally wanted an October wedding, but for some reason, October was the most expensive month AND they only did daytime weddings (meaning you’d have to start at 9am and be out of there by 5pm) - so September was our next choice. Another thing to consider is that if you live in a big city, it might be a little less expensive to venture out an hour or so away from there if the price is right.
Hopefully some of these tips will help you when it comes to searching for the perfect venue!
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