Choosing a venue can be a lot of stress. There are so many factors to consider, even if you have a dream location. Today, I'm sharing the process as we experienced it in February/March and I am also sharing some things to consider when choosing a venue(s).
The first and most important task to me when Wyatt and I got engaged was determining where we wanted to get married and securing our reservation. We hadn't really discussed our desires on this topic except a few light hearted conversations and more along the lines of "wouldn't it be cool if..." Some people know exactly where they want a ceremony and reception (family church, Mom and Dad's back yard, etc.). If you are like we were, we had absolutely no clue what we wanted other than potentially a spring wedding - but if we fell in love with a venue that did not have spring availability we were open to changing to ensure we got the venue. That can be a little daunting because if you've spent any time looking into anything in the wedding industry you know there are literally hundreds of options to sift through. We didn't even have a preferred city to help narrow our search so I quickly became overwhelmed!
We decided that a destination wedding would be lovely, but for us it would be very difficult to narrow our guest list to point of accommodating what we had in mind for a destination wedding. I just couldn't imagine our big day not including some of the special people in our life. Once we determined that, we were able to narrow our search to the Midwest. We research venues in Grand Rapids, Louisville, Indianapolis, Bloomington, and so on but really had a pretty strong interest in one in particular in Grand Rapids and the one we ended up booking in Bloomington so we eventually started focusing on those two. We went over as much information about each location that we could find online on their website and wedding sites. We read reviews, thought about other potential vendor needs in each area, and I even reached out to some college friends who had worked with one of the venues for their weddings. Knowing how quickly event venues fill up their booking calendars, we decided to be proactive. We tabled the Grand Rapids venue until we could go meet with staff and see the venue of interest in Bloomington. We were able to talk through the pros and cons a little more before our arranged meeting and decided we would focus solely on the Bloomington venue. If we didn't get a good feel for the place and/or the staff upon our meeting, we would revisit the potential for the venue in Grand Rapids. We got a tentative hold placed on a date we were interested in the spring of next year and scheduled an appointment with a coordinator at the venue. We ended up loving the space and the information we received and decided we were going to go ahead with securing our date with them. We had to wait about a month in order to be able to get a contract due to policies they had with booking that far out but we officially booked our venue.
Here are some things to consider as you start the process of choosing a venue.
Location
What location do you as a couple feel will be best for the wedding you envision? If you want a large wedding with all your friends and family, they might not all be able to make arrangements for a destination wedding that takes a day's worth of travel and vacation time at work so that is something to consider.
Budget
What is your budget? Make sure you have an idea of what your budget will look like before you start researching venues and making site visits. It will not only save you time, but also heartache if you fall in love with a space only to realize it's out of your price range.
Will the venue accommodate our guest list?
Be prepared to have an approximate idea of how many people will be on your guest list. I know this isn't an easy task two weeks into the planning process, but it doesn't have to be exact. You just need an approximate number to know what venues can accommodate you. There is no point in looking at that quaint historic chapel if it is only going to hold 50 people and you have double that with just family alone. Having this rough idea will allow you to cross venues off your list before you get too invested.
Are there any must haves?
If you and your fiancée come up with just a few must have features or details it may help in the way of narrowing your list of options. If you know the two of you are set on having a rustic barn wedding/reception, then you can cross out the convention centers, ballrooms, etc. right from the beginning!
What does the venue rental include and/or require?
Be sure to read up on the venues you are considering to see what your rental will include and what the venue might require for you. Some venues have preferred vendor lists that you must use for things like catering, beverage, sound and lighting, etc. Others may require that you spend a minimum amount with their in house vendors before going to external vendors. Being familiar with their policies will help when meeting with them. Maybe you had your heart set on cupcakes from your favorite bakery that the two of you had your first date at and want to incorporate that into your wedding reception. Making sure this is an option with your venue now is better than finding out later that they don't allow for that. Many venues have their own tables, chairs, linens, etc. but some will require you to arrange for rental, delivery and setup. What are you comfortable with doing?
Read reviews (and speak to friends, family and acquaintances who have worked with the venue in the past)!
Read reviews across many platforms. Don't just read their website testimonials that they have hand selected to show themselves at their best. Read reviews on google, yelp, all of the wedding sites and Pinterest. If you've been to events and/or weddings at the venue think about how those events went. What were the pros and cons of that particular event. If you know people who have gotten married at the potential venue don't hesitate to reach out and ask for their advice and opinion based on their experience!
Parking, Transportation, and Overnight Accommodations
Make sure your venue has plenty of parking to accommodate all of your guests for easy access to your ceremony and your reception. If parking is limited, arrange for a shuttle service to take guests from a central location, like a hotel, to the venue. It's also nice to have this shuttle service as an option for guests leaving your reception as well if the venue is a commute to the hotels in the area. Think about whether you will have many out of town guests and be sure to ensure there are option for overnight accommodations. You will want to secure a room block(s) at nearby hotels once you have a date set.Schedule a site visit and have questions ready for the staff.
Schedule a time when you can meet with staff and tour the facility. The staff will be used to showing the space off and will be full of information for you. Make sure you prepare a list of questions to have on hand. It helps to have this list in front of you as the staff are going over details and information so you can see what you still need to ask. Typically, they will cover the obvious of how many the space can hold, what the rental fee and deposit is, if staff can turn the room over in order to hold the ceremony and reception in same space, and so on. Some things they might not go over that it is wise to ask about are what exactly the rental fee covers and what additional charges might be incurred, if there are any restrictions on the event space, what the parking situation is like, if they provide set up/tear down of items they provide, do they have their own linens and tables/chairs, etc.
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