Tip of The Month! Wedding Venue

Picking a venue…just the thought seems daunting. It’s one of the first decisions you have to make during the planning and also one of the biggest decisions. The venue you choose has a lot of influence on the overall tone of your wedding. So before you choose your venue, there are a few (or a ton) of questions you should ask yourself.

1. How much can you spend on the venue? This has to be the first thing you figure out. If you have a $10,000 budget, you can’t spend $6,000 on your venue. Believe me, that won’t work out too well.

2. How much are you willing to spend on decor? If you don’t want to put much of your budget into decor, think about finding a venue that doesn’t require much decorating. There are plenty of indoor venues that are decorated for events so you don’t have to worry about those details.

3. Indoor/Outdoor/Church? I really hope those of you who answered “outdoor” on this question aren’t having a Winter or Mid-Summer wedding. And if you are, I hope you have a plan for how to keep your guests comfortable. Weather is the main factor in this decision making process. And if you plan to have a church wedding, remember that some venues will give you a discounted price to only have your reception there. So you can still have a reception at an unconventional site even if you choose to have a traditional ceremony.

4. About how many guests will you be inviting? This is a big thing. You may fall in love with a venue, but unless you have an estimate of number of guests, you can’t possibly book anything. And there’s no point in looking at venues that only cater to 100 guests if you know you will at least have 200.

5. Do you want your reception at the same place as your ceremony? It is obviously much easier to have both the ceremony and reception at the same place, but that doesn’t mean you have to. If you’re having a church ceremony, the reception hall might now fit your entire guest list. Or you may be getting married at a place that simply doesn’t have an area for a reception.

After answering these questions, I would narrow your list down to five venues to look at. When you look at each venue, here are some things to remember:

-Parking. Is there enough parking for guests? How far is the parking from the venue?

-What is the noise policy?

-For outdoor venues: Ask if they offer alternate plans in case of bad weather on the big day.

-Do you like the style?

-Is everything easily accessible for guests, including those in wheelchairs?

-For church weddings: How far is the church from the reception venue?

-What is supplied by the venue?

-Do they only work with preferred caterers or can you bring in your own?

-What is the overtime policy?

There are probably hundreds of other questions you could ask, but there’s a short list that should help you out a bit. You will most likely get that “love at first sight” feeling that you had with your dress, when you see your venue. So just have fun with everything!





-Courtesy of Southern Wedding Style