Picking A Venue

Picking a venue can also be extremely challenging in the wedding planning process. It goes hand-in-hand with choosing a date. Your date is dependent upon your venue. Right when you decide on your date, your next step is to pick your venue. You hopefully have somethings in mind before you get to this stage, but if you don't, no worries. This is the fun part where you research and visit all your different possibilities. Your options really are endless if you have planned well and/or are willing to be somewhat flexible. If you are planning for a summer wedding, an outdoor location is a popular pick. These locations can include: a golf course, someone's house, a garden, park, country club, the beach etc. If you are wanting an indoor wedding or planning for a winter or fall wedding there is always a church, hotel, museum or a famous building. For planning outdoor weddings, no matter if it's in the summer it's still a good idea to have a back up location in case of rain. Or you can make sure to have tents set-up or umbrellas for use. Also make sure that your location is easily accessible and user friendly for kids that maybe attending as well as your grandparents. You also might want to pick a venue that is not too far away from where you are wanting your reception if you are not going to have both with the same venue. If they are a little ways a way, you might want to consider having transportation from the ceremony to the reception. I recently attended a wedding that the ceremony and reception were at different locations and they were kind of far away from each other, and they didn't have transportation for the guests. While visiting all the venues make sure to ask questions and have questions in mind before you meet. 

Some questions that you should ask the venue's manager are: 
-How many people can this location accommodate
-What the rental fee and deposit is and when it's due
-How long do you have the space for
-What time can your vendor's be there to set up
-Do they have an in-house caterer or do they have a list of caterers to choose from
-Can you move things around for decorating purposes
-Is parking complimentary
-How many restrooms are there

There are tons more you can ask those are just a few. It's always good to take pictures of the locations so you can remember what they look like. After so many they will all start blending together. 

The venue's manager is going to want to know approximately how many guests you are planning for, and if you have a chosen theme or tone to your wedding. Those are all good things to know before you meet with the venue's manager. 

I will be discussing theme, tone and colors at a later date.