Choosing the Best Wedding Venues
Where to Start When Searching for a Wedding Venue.
So if you feel planning a wedding without the aid of a wedding planner, the initial concern should be to obtain the wedding venue.
Naturally, the perception of venue directly impacts on the style of wedding for it will shape the entire style, theme and décor from the whole day's proceedings. So after you have set a date and a budget (actual or approximate), you need to decide what style of wedding you happen to be after. No doubt some brides (and grooms!) will have been dreaming about their wedding for years before they are engaged and will have an idea about the kind of wedding they want.
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However, for the majority of newly engaged couples the duty ahead can sometimes seem daunting. For a lot of, the first port of call will be the internet where you can practically lose yourself within a maze of wedding resources. We recommend you spend an hour or two online together and immerse yourselves with this strange new world of weddings. Confetti and Hitched are of help UK resources, among many others, whilst Martha Stewart and The Knot are perfect sites that focus on the American wedding market where lots of our trends first originate.
Wedding blogs are another useful online resource and nowadays, a growing number of couples are checking out blogs such as Style Me Pretty, 100 Layer Cake, OnceWed and Rock n Roll Bride for their wedding inspiration. They may be well worth investigating.
After only a short time online you should have a pretty clear understanding of your preferred style and also the avenues you want to explore. One of the most popular ideas that will evolve might as an illustration include classic, vintage, rustic, contemporary, chic, retro, funky or seasonal.
Then, using this position you can start to target your search on wedding venues that befit the style or styles(s) in store. For instance classic or vintage would have a tendency to lead you toward old historic venues, including castles or stately homes. Whereas contemporary might help you toward venues which might be more of a blank canvas, like art galleries. And if you are considering funky or possibly chic, you might focus your pursuit on appropriately styled boutique hotels.
There are several websites dedicated solely for the promotion of wedding venues. Whilst most feature a large number of venues in a wide range of styles of varying quality, 1 or 2 go a step further by assessing the standard of the venues featured.
In relation to selecting the style of venue, your own and individual personalities, needs and wants will dictate to some large extent. As an illustration, a flamboyant couple will likely be drawn to venues with an immediate 'Wow Factor' such as a large and elaborate stately home in the united kingdom, whereas a more conservative couple should consider guest practicalities and go for a country house hotel all-around a city.
There are a wide range of different styles to choose from, from restaurants to rustic barns or boutique hotels to former palaces. Quote that unfortunately, out of the box so often the case, you usually get what you buy. Furthermore, peak season Saturdays in most cases be booked up 9 or more months in advance, so in order to secure the best venues it is very important either be flexible together with the wedding date or start your venue search a year or so in advance. Be warned!
However, if you use an internet resource that assesses the standard of the venues featured while offering a wide range of criteria in order to focus your search, your venue search must be reasonably straight forward!
Primary Ways to care for a Wedding Venue Search
Date for the wedding
The more flexible you're, the greater your choice of venues. Remember that Saturdays in peak season get booked up quickly so consider Sundays and even Fridays. You will benefit from lower prices too. Note that Bank holiday Sundays also usually book up quickly.
Type of ceremony
Typically your choices will as follows:
Civil - 25 minute legal ceremony that may take place in a registry office or in approved premise, like a country house hotel.
Religious - 50 minute religious ceremony within a House of God.
Civil with blessing - civil ceremony as well as a separate religious blessing
Civil with humanist - civil ceremony followed by a separate humanist blessing
Note, if you need a religious ceremony, you ought to already have good links with your local church. Alternatively, if you want to get married outside your own parish you might be able to register by having an alternative church in case you are prepared to attend mass regularly before your wedding day.
Also note, if picking a religious ceremony, for convenience your reception venue needs to be reasonably close by, ideally 5-10 minutes away, up to a maximum of 20-25 minutes.
Variety of guests
Naturally, in the event you expect 100 guests you need to identify venues that will accommodate 100 guests and ideally more to avoid the possibility of squeezing tables together.
Total wedding budget
As indicated, allocate 50% of your respective total budget on your venue and catering costs. However this could be from 40%, or as much as 60%.
Preferred geographical location(s)
Clearly the wider the geographical area you concentrate on, the greater your choice of venues.
Venue style
There is a wide range of styles to take into account, from boutique hotels to country clubs, or stately homes to livery halls.
Exclusive utilisation of the venue
Decide ahead of time if this is essential to you. Many venues offer only exclusive use as standard but others, including large stately homes and hotels will have the space to accommodate Two or more weddings at the same time. Usually they shall be kept separate but they can it is not always the case. Such venues, exclusive use may be an option, for an additional fee.
Do you require guest accommodation onsite?
If so, how many guests and for how many nights? Note sometimes there's a chance you're expected to take a minimum amount of rooms on the wedding night.
Can you consider a marquee?
Again, maintain options open so that you can maximise your shortlist of venues especially if you expect more than 100 guests. Unfortunately there are numerous, many excellent venues through the UK that can only accommodate as much as 100 guests internally, inside the walls of the property and therefore a marquee could be the only option for larger weddings. That being said, the design and style of marquees originates on enormously in the last 5 years and there are some super-modern styles designed for hire.
Would you consider separate rooms for the ceremony, drinks reception, dinner and dancing? Or mind keeping the ceremony and dinner from the same room?
The venue's room format is an often forgotten consideration when venue searching and will lead to huge disappointment, particularly if have travelled to view the property unaware of such considerations. Idea the case a venue requires you to have both the ceremony and also the meal in the same room. In such instances the room will be 'turned around' whilst the drinks reception takes place in another room, outside or perhaps in an annex, so you can't see the tables laid after the ceremony.
Alternatively, it could be that dancing cannot occur in the same room that the meal is served in and this can lead to segregated guests.
Or you have filled the space to its dining capacity, it is usually the case that to help make space for a oasis, 2 or 3 tables must be removed.
Some Additional Considerations
Fireworks, confetti, candelabras/naked flames/tea lights, garden/outside area, late licence.
Again, these elements can limit picking a venues so do keep your options open! As an illustration, do you really want to lose out on what might be the perfect venue which happens to calls last orders at 11pm, simply because you like the idea of celebrating until midnight or 1am?
Or will you really reject what might be your ideal property since they don't permit fireworks?