Picking The Perfect Wedding Venue

Collaborative Post

You’re engaged! Congratulations! 

So, you’ve picked your bridesmaids and bestman, and you’ve bought a stack of wedding magazines. As soon as your news spreads or you’ve made the announcement on social media people start asking that question!

The ‘have you set a date yet’ question! 

Picking a date though just isn’t that simple. First you’re going to have to make sure all your nearest and dearest are available and then comes one of the biggest choices you will make and that’s picking your venue.

There’s a lot to take into consideration when choosing the place where you want to celebrate your marriage and here’s my tips on how to pick your dream wedding venue.

Location

Whether it be a wedding abroad, a big stately home style event or bijou wedding, you’ll need to take into consideration where abouts you want to get married. You may dream of being barefoot on a beach in Barbados but if you have elderly relatives that you want to attend, a long haul flight and hot weather may not mix well.  A stately home maybe perfect for those wanting to wed and celebrate in one place but if it’s an hour from where you live consider how people will get to the venue, especially if you’re leaving from home. You don’t want to be travelling for an hour in your wedding dress! Think of the creases!

Decide on the ceremony

Church and Vicar, Town Hall and Registrar followed by a separate reception or everything all in one place. The type of ceremony you want will also have an effect on your venue. If you want to get married and have your reception all under one roof you’ll need to be sure your venue has a licence but if you choose your local Town Hall or Registry Office you won’t have that worry. The same goes for a church, although many will ask that you attend for a period of time before your wedding.

Capacity

The size of the venue you need is completely dependent on how many people you have attending. This makes writing out your guest list one of the first things you will need to do. Once you’ve ensured you’ve got all the must have relatives and friends on the list you’ll also need to decide if you want everyone to attend all day or if you’d like separate day and evening receptions, along with if the venue can hold all of those on your list.

Choices

What the venue has to offer should also play a part in picking your venue. The menu, the drinks packages, linen and table arrangements will all be choices you’ll have to make, so be sure the venue offers what you want. This is vital if you’ve picked a colour scheme or want a certain food. You may also want to consider a venue that offers overnight accommodation or a quieter area for older relatives or little ones in need of a power nap!

Photo Ops

I can tell you from experience that one of the things you look back on most will be your wedding photos. Framed or in an album, every time that you look at them the memories of your special day will come flooding back.  So, when you view wedding venues make sure to look for idea photo ops and locations, with spaces for big group photos of all the attendees or loved up photos of the bride and groom.

More than anything though, when picking your venue ensure it is the one for you and is perfect for your big day.

Mummy Snowy Owl

xx

This is a collaborative post with Bijou Weddings