You’re engaged! This is so exciting for so many reasons, but if we have to pick one, diving into wedding planning is definitely at the top of the list (of course just behind you getting to marry the love of your life). First things first, let’s find you a wedding venue. We know it can be a little overwhelming choosing the perfect venue, it’s one of the biggest decisions you’ll make while planning your wedding since it affects everything from the budget to the vibe.
All of our team members love a wedding venue hunt, but our Senior Lead Planner, Lindsey Shaktman is the ultimate expert on our team when it comes to unearthing all of the info to help you compare venues apples-to-apples. Surprisingly, this can be hard! Different venues include different things in their contracts - food and beverage, use of space, infrastructure (like tents, tables, and chairs), and pricing structure can all vary wildly between venues, which can make it confusing to figure out what the bottom line is.
Many of our couples have kicked off their plans with an in-depth venue search with Lindsey. She creates the spreadsheets, analyzes the contracts, and presents the information in a way that is easy to understand, which makes your job simply to fall in love with the venue that’s right for your specific wedding.
So, we asked Lindsey for her top tips for couples like you who are just starting their venue search, and she gave us some gems:
1. Decide on a location
This is the hardest part! Will you host your wedding in the area you grew up in, where maybe a lot of family still lives? Or where you live now, nearby all of your friends? Or a destination for everyone? A key factor in choosing the right venue is to land on an area that feels comfortable. How far are you and your guests willing to travel? How will you feel if some of your guests are unable to make the trip? Also important, especially for a destination style wedding is to figure out if there are enough acceptable accommodations nearby. There are some amazingly gorgeous venues in New England that might be perfect for the actual wedding you’re envisioning, but all of your guests may need to stay far away, or spread out from one another. These are all important things to think about before you even start touring venues in person!
2. Build your guest list
Having a clear understanding of your guest count will make it easier to understand the capacity of each potential venue, and how they can accommodate everyone in all scenarios including rain. Asking questions on your initial tours about what would happen in the case of rain will help you to gauge your comfort with the level of hospitality in all different types of weather before you totally fall in love.
3. Have an open mind!
You might not love the photos that you see on a venue’s website or instagram account, but it’s possible that you just don’t like the style of the wedding decor that’s being featured, and the venue’s actually really good for the wedding you are planning.
These three tips will help you to start your wedding venue hunt with a clear mind, and a plan. But if things are still feeling a little murky - reach out to Lindsey! She will know how to guide you to the right next steps. She offers venue searching as an a-la-carte service as a secret off-menu bonus to those that ask for it. Click the Contact Us button below to put time on her calendar to talk about your specific venue search, no strings attached.