Finding The Perfect Venue – How to start?
January 6th, 2010
Apart from setting your budget, working out your guest list and wedding date, finding the venue is the next important thing to do when planning your wedding. Securing your venue as early as possible will save disappointment. Many of the popular ones are booked well in advance, decide on the style and type of wedding you want so you can start the hunt for your perfect venue.
We thought we would give you a helping hand with some of our top tips and advice. We will be running three blogs this week on all aspects of choosing and deciding on the perfect venue. First of all check out the advice below:-
The Ceremony – Church Vs Civil
If you are having a church ceremony you need to look at venues that are no more than 30 minutes drive away. You may consider providing transport for your guests if you fall in love with a venue that is just a bit too far for comfort. You don’t want your guests getting lost or stuck in traffic. Civil Ceremonies are very popular now and many venues are licensed to marry you, but check if they have a licence before you go and view. To help you find which venues are authorised to marry you, try The Direct Gov website you can search by post code and it will show you venues listed in your area.
Style of Venue and Surroundings
What style of venue do you want? Make the sure the venue matches the style or theme you have in your mind. Before you spend time looking at venues you can narrow the task down by thinking about what type of venue you actually want and what your budget will allow. Here a few types of venue to think about:-
- Hotels – these are great if you want an inclusive package. Generally most things are provided and they usually offer various packages to suit your budget and needs.
- Marquee Weddings – You can seriously put your stamp on your wedding in a marquee. They are a plain canvas for you to do as you wish. A word of caution though, do not go for this type of venue if you are not prepared to spend a lot of time researching and organising. Its much tougher arranging for services such as caterers, hiring toilets, decorating the marquee, you may even have to hire the tables and chairs etc. Make sure you have the time or hire a wedding planner to help you out.
- Stately Homes or Historic Properties – These are great for exclusive use. You and your guests have the run of the venue for the whole day and night. Most of them can accommodate small or large weddings. You would not have to worry about bumping into another bride, you can be guaranteed private use.
- Local halls or Social Clubs – These are very popular if you are on a strict budget. Often you can decorate how you like and really transform the room.
Where to look for venues?
Finding venues on the internet is very easy these days. There are many wedding planning sites available that categorise venues per area and style. Try sites such as Hitched.co.uk You can also purchase local wedding magazines, they often focus on local venues and their information is a great starting point. Ask you friends and family about venues they know about, you may have already been to a friends wedding at a venue you fell in love with.
Here are a few more things to consider when deciding on the type of venue
- Your budget – how much do you have for room hire?
- How many guests will be at your wedding? – can the venue accommodate them for your day and evening reception?Often numbers are restricted for the ceremony.
- Do you want your guests to stay over? do the venue have enough rooms to accommodate them?
- Check out the surrounding areas if you want to make a weekend of it. Its lovely if your guests can have something to do the night before or on the day before the ceremony if your service is to be held a little later.
- Food – Do you want to cater yourself? check if the venue allows this.
Shortlist to three venues and then make appointments to see them. Do check first that they are available on your wedding date before you go and see them.
Now we have given you some idea of where to start looking for a venue and what type, our next blog will cover questions to ask when viewing and how to make the right decisions. Finding the perfect venue is time consuming but very worthwhile. You need to feel comfortable with the surroundings and the staff, and of course be clear on what they are offering you. If you want help just give us a call or email us and we will get to work right away on finding the perfect venue for you.
So until Wednesday when we cover this aspect, happy planning.
Tags: Planning, Tips & Advice, Venues
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 04:00 and is filed under Tips & Advice, Venue, Wedding Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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