How To Choose Your Wedding Venue

If you’re newly engaged, you’ve probably done an online search for venues near you and come up with 50,000 overwhelming choices, so how do you decide which venue is right for you and how do you go about booking one?

I’m Teresa, 35 years experience as a small business owner and 10 years in the wedding industry, venue owner now offering my top tips to help you in that search.

1. Decide on a date

You need to have a rough idea about which season/month you want to get married. I would add, if you have a particular venue in mind, be flexible for your chosen date as the best venues book fast (often a year ahead) so if you love the place on your tour you can book whichever available date works best.

2. Decide on a budget and stick to it!

There is no point looking at venues that are way beyond your budget, that will lead to disappointment and time wasting. What is the point of scheduling a tour for a venue beyond your means, its a bit like taking a test drive in a ferrari when you can only afford a ford. Decide which parts of your wedding are most important and stick to it. Your venue choice can be up to 50% of your total budget so bear that in mind when deciding.

3. Think about Location.

Do you want to drive miles to your venue, does it offer overnight accommodations, will your guests be happy to travel. Would you prefer to have a venue close to your hometown?

4. Have an idea of your guest list

How many guests does your favourite venue accommodate? No point in falling in love with a quaint venue hosting 60 if you have 200 guests on your list, Same as no point loving a canaverous castle if you dream of a micro wedding.

5. What are their contingency plans and vendor restrictions?

Planning a wedding can be stressful so you don’t want the extra stress of not knowing what back up plans are in place in case of inclement weather and you don’t want the stress of vendors you don’t enjoy working with so make sure to enquire

6. What’s included/hidden costs

There’s nothing worse than setting a budget, falling in love with a venue that you believe is affordable and then finding that on top of their advertised price you find they have extras you hadn’t accounted for such as table and chair rentals, corkage fees, over hours fees, bridal portrait or rehearsal fees, you get the idea. Be sure to ask before you sign the contract so there are no surprises.

Once you’ve decided on venues to tour, go armed with a notebook and a list of questions you might have. It’s definitely best have as much information as possible before signing contracts.

Then the fun can begin!

(Not sure what questions to ask? Well that’s a whole new blog…)