As a newly engaged bride and groom there are many exciting and fun times ahead, but along with the fun and excitement there do exist some hard decisions and challenges along the way. One of the biggest challenges to start with is deciding on a wedding venue. Don’t be shy ask for help and do your research because everyone needs help planning a wedding.
Knowing what kind of wedding you want to have and how many friends and family you want to invite will help narrow down the options. But there are still many factors that will go into the decision. Below are 5 tips that will hopefully help make the decision a little easier and make the special day as great as possible.
Below are our 10 tips to help you plan for your wedding
1. Finances: This is vital. Know what you minimum and maximums are when it comes to how much you want to spend on the venue. You want to have a range in mind before going to look at places. You do not want to get lured into a venue that you love but then come to find the price is way out of your range. So when calling around before making visits make sure to get a price range.
2. Next you will need to get a ballpark number on how many guests you will want to invite. I’m sure many of the different family members involved will have different ideas of who they want on the list and who they think don’t make the cut. Once you have the estimated guests you can ask the venues how many people they can accommodate and right then you will know to keep it on the list or scratch it.
3. Availability: You will need to have an idea of what time of year you want to tie the knot and then from there you can check to see if the sites dates are in line with yours. You will want to make sure to book out the place at least 6 months in advance or you run the risk of having someone else take the place before you.
4. Entertainment: What kind of music are you looking for. Do you want live music or do you want a DJ? Both have their pluses and minuses. And most likely you will already have something in mind. But if not ask the event coordinator what recommendations they might have for both DJ and Live music. If the venue has had events before they will most likely know a good group of both.
5. Equipment rentals: Does your venue include tables, linens, dishes, silverware, decorations, food options etc. If so does it all go with your theme? If you were hoping for a rustic event and wanted something besides the standard fold out tables such as a Farm Table – will the site allow you to bring in your own items? These are all things you want to look at and questions you will want to ask.
The above are our Top 5 tips – now below are some additional items to consider
6. Catering: Does your site provide catering? Does the food that the site provides fit with your budget and what you were wanting to server? Do they allow you to bring in your own caterers? All good questions to think about and ask throughout the process of selection.
7. Restrictions: Some locations will have different rules that will take you by surprise. Like the music can only play up until a certain hour, or you can only have a certain amount of wedding decorations due to clean up and whether or not food can be served in the location you plan to eat which seems obvious.
But I say this because my husband and I got married we were all set with our location and food and drinks and then come the day of the walk through a week or so in advance we found that there was no food aloud in the dinning area we had planned? WHAT! We had to scramble but eventually we made it work. We had already told them we planned on eating in that area?? Maybe they should have mentioned that a little earlier?
Anyway – always make sure you are very specific what you want and make sure they agree. And if the restrictions are too much move on – there are plenty of other locations.
8. Space: Is there enough space to hold your wedding party and guests in a comfortable area with enough room for the tables and a bar area and a dance area. You don’t want the bar area overflowing into the dance area. A bride has got to get her dance on. Or if you are looking for a smaller more intimate wedding you don’t want to have the reception in a big hall.
9. Parking: Does your venue have enough parking for all guests? will there be valet? Or will guest have to park offsite and take a trolley, golf cart, or bus into the location of the event? You don’t want to ask the guests to park too far away and make them walk in on there fancy high Heels and sprain an ankle in the process 🙂 Prepare for this and make it as easy as possible for them which will make it as easy as possible for you.
10. Last but not least – Breathe: Don’t forget what you are doing this all for – you are doing this for you and your fiance – it will get stressful I’m not going to lie – but the day will come and go very fast so enjoy it all as much as possible.
Hopefully this gives you a good understanding of some of the main things involved when choosing your wedding location. After going through all the tips and all this in mind hopefully you have narrowed it all down to a few locations that you really want to go visit.
Call up the venues and make some appointments, and remember to come armed with lots of questions. These venues are trying to get your business so make sure they answer everything you can think of.