Weddings - Top 10 things to look for when picking a venue.
Finding a Wedding Venue
My sister is getting married and I’m assisting with the planning of her wedding, which is great fun. Before I started my own business creating keepsake glass jewellery I worked for a hotel and other companies planning large events, some of these were weddings with 250 guests.
I think that the hardest part of the wedding is choosing the wedding venue, from this point everything starts to fall inline. Its like house hunting, you start with one idea of what you want and it slowly merges into something else. The best thing is to get out there and have a look at the venues.
There are so many different types of venue to go for, from manor houses, hotels, a marquee, a barn to decorate yourself, a field to create your wedding from scratch, museums, zoos, the list is only limited by your imagination and budget.
Here are my top 10 tips.
Before you go…
1. NUMBERS.
Think about numbers and for your day time and evening guests. - Look at venues that can accommodate these numbers.
2. CIVIL CEREMONY, BLESSING OR CHURCH?
Does the venue have a civil ceremony license if you want to get married and have the reception all in the same location? - And what numbers are they able to hold?
3. LOCATION.
Is the venue going to work for most of your guests and is it convenient if you have ceremony in another location? If you’re in a field you will need to think about those less able to walk, if the venue doesn’t have accommodation where are your guests going to stay and what about transportation for the end of the evening.
4. PHONE AHEAD FOR A GUIDED TOUR.
Venues will be in use at some point, so you won’t be able to have a nosey when someone else has an event, plus its always nice to have someone able to take you around with the full knowledge of how an event would run.
Whilst you are there…
5. HOW DOES THE VENUE FEEL?
Does it make you feel special? Are the staff nice and accommodating or rushed?
6. HOW DOES THE VENUE SMELL?
Ok this is an odd one but a well looked after venue will be cleane and fresh, think of a night out at a pub and the amount of things that get dropped on the floor, these venues are for celebrating so they are going to get used.
7. HOW DOES THE VENUE LOOK?
The room maybe empty so you will have to use your imagination of how it will look dressed, they might have even dressed the room so you get an idea of what your event might look like.
8. PHOTOS.
Where will you have your couple photos and where will your large group shots be taken? If the weather is terrible is there somewhere indoors to accommodate you?
9. CATERING & ENTERTAINMENT.
Will you be able to choose or will you have to use the venues or companies off their recommended list?
10. EXCLUSIVE EVENT.
Are you going to be an exclusive wedding or event at the venue? When I got married it never crossed my mind if I would be the only white dress in the venue.
Good luck in hunting down the perfect place for you.