When I got engaged the first thing we had to decide was on a date and a place. This ended up being a big struggle for me until I finally decided on Ohio and then it got easier from there. Today I am sharing with you my 10 Tips for Choosing a Wedding Venue.
If you’re like me then you will probably visit a lot of wedding venues. It is important to show up with a list of questions you want answered. Even if they answer all of your questions in their spill you will still know that you got everything answered. I also would recommend that when you set up an appointment with the wedding venue you have the sales person send you all of the information they have available. Ex. Food and Beverage Options and Prices, Price Sheet, Guidelines etc. ahead of time. You will want to look over that information because you will have some questions that stem from that.
10 Tips for Choosing a Wedding Venue
1. Available dates? You want to make sure they are available on the date or in the month you want to get married. My date was decided by when my venue was available in the month I wanted. It worked out well!
2. Is there a ceremony fee?
3. Are there food and beverage minimums? Many venues will require you to meet a certain food or beverage minimum and sometimes these differ Saturday vs. Friday or Sunday. I see a lot of people getting married on Sunday’s lately because there is a huge price difference. So consider that if your budget is tight.
4. What other fees are there? Cake cutting, wedding coordinator, set up dance floor etc. Make sure you are made aware so there are no surprises.
5. What is the rain plan? This is especially important to find out if you are having an outdoor ceremony or reception. Make sure they have a good rain plan so you aren’t stressed if it rains on your day.
6. Do they have a bridal room for you to get ready? Make sure you get to see it.
7. Will there be multiple weddings? How does it work if someone else is having a wedding the same day in a different area of the wedding venue? The last thing you want is your guests ending up at the wrong reception or a bunch of random people in the background of your photos.
8. Do they provide chairs, tables etc? Or do you have to rent them, if so do they set them up? My venue provided tables and chairs but we ended up renting nicer chairs for the reception. We also had to rent our own chairs for ceremony.
9. Do they provide napkins, tablecloths, plates, cups, silverware? A lot of this will vary depending on if you have onsite or offsite catering.
10. Do you have to use their caterer? Or anything else, some venues require you use their vendors and some have you bring in your own, make sure you know this and take into account the costs of each. Also ask for a list of their recommended vendors but don’t trust it to a fault. We picked a vendor because our wedding coordinator told us despite their terrible reviews that they were good and on time. Well I ended up with lavender tablecloths instead of gray. There was nothing we could do and they would never answer the phone after the fact to try and get a refund. It was ok but a thing to remember.
This is just a general list of questions to ask when looking for a wedding venue. You will have a lot more that you come up with once you get the information from the venue. I am sure I have forgotten some so let me know what questions you would add to this list?
Here are some pictures of our wedding venue. We had a beautiful outdoor ceremony and then an indoor reception.
Pictures by Jessica at Images by Daniel Michael
Thanks for sharing these great tips. My sister is getting married and just starting to check out venues. I’m sending her this link.
Thanks for coming by, I hope this article helps her out! Hope you will come back!
Emily
Because ours was a destination wedding, I never got to really go and look at different venues like this. I always think it’s so interesting what other brides have to make sure they ask/do because Disney did absolutely everything for us. I didn’t have to worry about anything! I am definitely going to pass this on! It’s such great advice! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thank you for checking it out Teresa! That must have been nice to have Disney do everything for you!
Emily
Great tips Emily. Thanks for sharing. I’m just starting our venue search, will be keeping all of these in mind!!
Thank you Michelle! I hope they help you out 🙂
Emily
Thanks for sharing these great tips! I’ve planned my share of weddings, including the weddings of my two daughters. The first daughter to marry had to change her date even though we began our search 1-1/2 years before the wedding. Good venues are snapped up quickly! My youngest daughter and I are looking for venues now. She’s having a January winter wedding (a year from January 2015), so we are searching for the perfect venue. Fingers crossed!