Wedding Planning: Venues

I am getting married in 7 months. OMG. I just had a mini panic attack typing that. I can’t believe it is sneaking up so fast. I feel like it was over a year away yesterday. Time is flying. I thought I would share with you guys a multiple part series on things I’ve been learning during this planning process.

First off, let me say – who knew the wedding industry was such a racket?! I quickly learned that lesson.

Today I want to talk about venues. I knew the feel and style I was looking for in a venue to start so that made it easy. If you are newly engaged and starting to research venues, CONGRATS! Here are a few things to consider when starting to look at venues:

• Budget – I recommend researching the cost of venues before you even waste your time to go and look at them. You will just end up falling in love and then having to break your own heart when you realize you honestly can not afford it. This happened to me (what’s up Willowdale!). Be realistic with yourself in budget and consider the other factors that could effect budget mentioned below.
• Style and location – are you a hotel gal? Restaurant? Barn/farm? Museum? Historical property? Local or destination wedding? Spoiler alert, I’m a barn gal.
• Capacity –  are you interested in a small intimate gathering or inviting everyone you’ve ever met and their mom. Make sure the venue you are looking at will comfortably fit the number of guests you are anticipating. Also consider whether it has a ceremony location on site if that is something you are interested in.
• Availability – if you have a specific time frame you are looking to get wed, check the availability of the venue. Things book out very far in advance. This was a shocker to me. I got engaged in September 2015. We started passively looking at venues in October or November and thought we would be able to be married the following Summer of 2016. That was a good joke. There were basically NO dates at any of the venues for Summer 2016. We ended up having to look to Summer 2017 and there were already reservations at a lot of places! You might need to be a little bit flexible with your wedding date. Consider Friday’s or Sunday’s or  a different month. Maybe right before prime season (late winter/early spring) or right after (fall/early winter).
• Restrictions – definitely read the fine print for any restrictions. You don’t want to find out that there is a noise ordinance that restricts music or no open flame when you had your heart set on dancing the night away or walking down the aisle next to real candles.
• Extras – consider whether you will need to rent or provide your own tables, chairs, linens, dance floor, bartenders, etc or if the venue provides some or all of these things. And consider how that will effect your budget!
• Caterer – in-house caterer, must choose list of caterers, or do you have free reign to choose your own

Do tons of online research considering each of the above referenced points. THEN go out and pound the pavement checking out the locations in person. Definitely look in person before committing because photos can be very deceiving! Don’t get too stressed. Just be realistic and enjoy the process of looking at all of the potential venues. Do you guys have any other important tips or things to consider that you would recommend to a newly engaged lady that I’ve left out?