Make no mistake, landing the perfect venue can be one of the most difficult challenges of your wedding. Get it right and the whole day will swoop by like one big blissful dream. Get it wrong and you’ll spend more time than you ever would have wanted wishing you had done things differently. In this quick post, we’re walking you through the most crucial stages of finding the ideal wedding venue. Make sure you cover these bases to give yourself the best chance of booking a venue that ticks all the most important boxes:
Your theme
The first thing to decide is how you want your wedding to look and feel. At the end of the day, how your wedding makes you feel on the day is the most important factor of them all, so this aspect should be the foundation that you build everything else on. Where do you want to be, country or city? How many people do you want around you, many or very few? What do you want your setting to say to you and everyone else? Be honest with yourself, if you are rural rather than city folk then consider one of the wedding venues that are located in the middle of a golf course e.g Boston West. When you think of your marriage, do you think more about history and tradition, or is the future more important to you?
These are the first questions you should ask because the answers should give you a pretty clear direction to follow in terms of theme, setting, and what you want to feel about your surroundings on the day.
Budget
As soon as you have an idea of setting and theme, it’s time to get real with money. There’s no such thing as a bad or low wedding budget, there’s only bad budgeting. You need to know exactly what you’re entire fund is from the off so that you can then decide how to allocate that amount towards the many areas that make up the day. In most cases, the venue’s going to be the most pricey item on the list and is almost always going to be the thing you’ll want to book in first. Nothing makes the day more real than getting venue booked for your date.
Because you’ve already thought about the setting and theme you want to go for, you’ll know exactly which areas to start hunting. Decide on a maximum amount that you’re prepared to spend on the venue and stick to compiling a list of options within that budget. Remember, the more gorgeous a venue, the more popular it’s going to be. Doing this all many months or years in advance? Then more options will be open to you. Doing it all last minute? Then you need to look for venues that others aren’t able to find so easily. Think unused buildings, larger rental accommodations, and hospitality establishments that don’t usually cater to weddings.
Location and logistics
Weddings involve a huge amount of travel for a wide variety of people. Once you think you’ve got a list of options that meet your desires for setting and budget, you can further whittle them down by going over transport and accessibility. Who are the most important guests at your wedding? How mobile are they and how will they get there? Having a reception at a different spot? How far is it and will everyone you’re inviting be able to cope?
House rules
Last but not least, what’s allowed and what’s not allowed? You need to weigh up the specifics for every venue you have left on your viable options list. Can you cook on site? Is cooking on site vital for you? What’s the venue’s attitude toward alcohol consumption on site, noise, damage, and capacity? Once you’ve gone through these core concerns, you’ll hopefully have just one or two killer venue options left on your list. Have more than a few options that tick all your most vital priorities? Then consider yourself one very lucky planner because that’s not a bad problem to have at all!
