This is really important because a) its where you be getting married and b) its the most expensive part of your day. I started by looking at places we liked and made some lists, then narrowed it down by looking at the websites and comparing details.
The websites are really helpful because they can give you the main headlines for a venues wedding options without having someone try and push you to book. Its also helpful to have some information before you go to look at a place so you don't get too overwhelmed by the 'helpful' sales people. The main things you need to consider when picking a venue are:
Location:
How will people get there? If you are having two locations ie a church then reception how will guests get from one to another? I know it seems daft as its your day so people who love you will come no matter what ... but its a little bit selfish not to have some consideration of guests travel arrangements. This also includes their overnight accommodation, if they are travelling a long way guests will need to stay before the wedding and the night of.
I put this information on an "important information" sheet I sent with the invitations. I listed the top 5 nearest hotels and the venues address for those using SAT NAV, this also stops people having to contact you to check about hotels. Don't forget a lot of guests wont know the area as well as you do so may not know that the hotel they picked is actually way out of the way for the venue.
You might find that your venue offers a discount for guests, Lumley Castle offer 10% to wedding guests when you call up and quote the name of the wedding so info like this can be put on the sheet as well that way you don't have to remember to tell people when you see them.
Capacity:
All the venues should have lists of how many people they can fit in each room and for which part of the day. Our venue Lumley Castle has 2 rooms licensed for ceremonies and a few more for wedding breakfasts and evening functions. Its important to look at the capacity as some places might be able to hold more people for a wedding breakfast and evening do then they can for a ceremony.
We're quite lucky in that both rooms licensed for the ceremony could hold 80 people but when we visited I decided I wanted the bigger room as I thought 80 would be too crowded in the smaller one. Also I have been to a few weddings in that room so wanted different pictures for my own.
Price:
This is very tricky. A lot of places separate out the different sections of the package you need to pay for then have hidden costs you don't realise till you turn up and start asking questions.
The main areas you need to look out for are:
* price of food per person
* are any drinks included in that or do you need a drinks package
* what each room costs to hire
* does room hire include decoration
The last one might sound odd but I found a venue I loved then went to visit with my mam and we found out that nothing was included. They had an "extras" package! we had gone to an open day where the venue is set up for a wedding and you can get an idea of the feel of the room. They looked stunning then we picked up this little booklet and found that everything was extra that was on view.
I do mean everything in the ceremony room you needed to pay for the chair covers, then any chair ties, the lovely candles in the feature fire place were extra, the foliage on the two columns even the standing candles at the ends of the aisle were extra. Then into the main room, as this venue was a stately home the room had been a large conservatory type room with lovely windows and columns. So in here the draping behind the top table that stopped you having a blank white wall was around 200, all the ivy up the columns making them look nice extra, again chair covers and chair ties needed to be provided, the centre pieces were extra they didn't have a basic option you got for free, any top table accessories all extra. We worked out for the £2000 room hire you were basically getting the rooms ready for a conference: plain chairs and table cloth's that was it they also had strange rules about the chair decorations, if you hired this out you would have to buy enough for both rooms as the venue staff wouldn't move them across but if you hired theirs you only needed one lot that could move from ceremony to wedding breakfast. It was going to cost around £800 to make the rooms feel wedding suitable. By the time you added in the food this venue priced its self out of the running.
Of course you might want a blank venue to decorate yourself but at the end of the day no one wants to pay though the nose so getting all your prices lined up first is the best way to get your monies worth.
Last but not least the Visit:
This is the most important aspect of picking your venue for the obvious reason that pictures are not the real deal. When you do visit make sure you ask lots of questions so you can get all the information you want, if you dont ask they might not tell you. Its also good to have a general look around to get a feel for the place see if it really fits your style and idea of the day. Are there lots of places you can get pictures even if its bad weather, will your area be suitably sectioned off from any public areas (don't want random people eating your canapes etc) is getting around the venue going to be easy. If you have any guests with mobility issues does the venue have a lift or other access they could use. Lumley have a wheelchair lift which could access our room but another suite they have for receptions has a staircase between the bar and room so would not be suitable for wheelchairs or older relatives who have issues with stairs.
Once you have picked your final venue its time to have some fun. Decorations!!
xXx
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