Sometimes, it can take even the most pleasantness of couples a longer than expected time to agree on a venue location! Don’t be fooled into procrastination people! The bride of course, wants the “perfect location” and the groom wants the cheapest deluxe special. The best way to begin the process is by brainstorming and then jotting down which amenities are most important. Once you have a working list…visit places by web or in person to do your research. With gas so high, I would rely on the web and phone a lot, it’s not necessary to drive to every single venue when they don’t even cut the mustard.
Discuss, negotiate and decide on a place where both of you will love. If you can’t see yourself celebrating at that particular place, move on! Determining your guest number is key to this step. Are you inviting close family and friends or is it everyone you both know? For some, that decision alone is the difference between 200 people! The number of people a venue can accommodate will most likely knock them out of the running, so deciding this FIRST can be imperative!
How much are you willing to spend? Right…you knew that was coming. Some may even want to put this as step ONE! Decide on a firm number and stick to it with EVERYTHING you’ve got. The budget I use is % based per category…so if you want to go over budget on your venue which I don’t recommend, there are some other things you’ll have to trim down on to avoid breaking the bank. Negotiate the cost (doesn’t work out too often though lol) but you can always try to finagle a little something something. I’ll also rent from other companies if things are cheaper…don’t let a venue sell you on renting EVERYTHING in house…believe it or not, it’s sometimes cheaper to shop around…more stressful sometimes, but cheaper! Realize if you want something bad enough, you CAN spend the money…but don’t curse out your planner as if you didn’t realize it was over budget later <-HAPPENS ALL THE TIME lol. As mentioned before…changing the day of the wedding from a Saturday is almost always CHEAPER-so keep that in mind.
After visiting and possibly speaking with on site coordinators and general managers, choose which venue is best for your budget and situation. It’s important that you don’t try to keep up with the Joneses-by doing so you almost definitely ensure you’ll have less money to go around on other important ticket items. Like FOOD…CAKE…PHOTOGRAPHY…LINENS! A BEAUTIFUL venue isn’t so nice when you can’t afford to fill it with anything! There has to be a second level of evaluation sometimes after you’ve went through your original list! Don’t get wrapped in the “I’ll know when I see MY venue and I’ll know it’s my perfect location!”… Ahhh unless you are budget-less or at least $50K in the game, that feeling isn’t always automatic and shouldn’t always be expected. Don’t get wrapped up in the dream of it all. At this stage I use a laundry list of items that I need to ask and critique…I review the list of things included in my rental fee as well. High on the list is the inclusion of tables and chairs…missing tables and chairs is a lot to organize with a separate vendor. Fully equipped kitchen is like second on my list…Dance floor is like third because some people like to get down and essentially believe a dance floor is the celebration! I consider location/drive time from the church, as well as parking when I’m narrowing down a venue!
I saw these SUPER AMAZING BEAUT FAB venues today while surfing the net! I fell totally in love with both! Of course they are in Cali but I'm keeping the hope alive!
~Kisses
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