One of the first things you’re going to think about when your engaged is where you would like to get married. Its not as black and white as it used to be, when it was a church wedding at 1pm and then a reception in the local hotel or village hall with a sit-down wedding breakfast. We now have so many options from stately homes to marquees, converted barns to breweries and even local pumping stations. So where do you start when it comes to choosing the right one for you?
Now the first thing I would say is have a chat! Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But you would be surprised how many couples don’t actually start there and speak to one another about any ideas they have had. You may find your both on the same page, but what if one of you dreamt of a barn wedding whilst the other thought it would be interesting to get married in a castle? These two couldn’t be further apart from one another in their style. Talk through your ideas and write them down – being a newly engaged couple is a great excuse for a notepad if you ask me!
Second get online – hitched.co.uk and ukbride.co.uk are both great websites for you to be able to see lots of venues quickly and easily. You can search by location to see what comes up and they even have little galleries of images for you to get a quick feel for each one.
When looking for a venue keep these top tips in mind:
Capacity: how many people does it hold for the ceremony/reception. Does this fit with the ‘ideal’ guestlist you have in mind?
Civil Ceremony License: if you are looking to hold your wedding all in one venue, do they hold a license to do this and is there a choice of location in which you can get married?
Budget – keep this in mind. If they have guide online to pricing, have a look to get an idea of figure. It’s very upsetting if you find the ‘dream’ and then find out its well out of your price range.
Accommodation: Do they have bedrooms on site? If you have family traveling from further afield is there somewhere for them to stay? And if there isn’t what local accommodation is around?
Check the FAQs: Venues tend to get asked a selection of questions a lot and most of them now have FAQs on their websites, this could be anything from drinks packages to fireworks or even décor questions.
Once you’ve narrowed down your list you can start booking viewings of your potential wedding venue. A lot of people end up visiting more than one on their list, to make sure they are happy with ‘the one!’ I could write a super long blog on questions to ask when you go to view a potential wedding venue so here are just a handful of questions to get you well on the way:
How many weddings do they do in one day?
What is the deposit and how do payments work?
Do they have any restrictions? e.g fireworks, open flames...
Do they offer a provisional booking period for you to reserve a date and have a think about it between you?
Do they have a recommended supplier list or can you use your own suppliers?
How many meetings would you have with the venue on the lead up to your big day?
Hopefully if you’ve done a bit of research before going to the venue you will now have a nice long list of answers and it makes it much easier to choose the one for you. Happy searching!