Wedding Times

Whether you’ve always known where you wanted to get married or you have no idea where to start, there are definitely a few thing you need to consider before you decide on where to hold your wedding. While it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of where the aisle will be, or where you and your new groom will make your grand entrance, there are a few practicalities to consider so that when that moment does come, you really can get swept up in it all – and not be worrying about problems with the venue!

Know your Guest List

When you start looking at different venues for your wedding, you most likely haven’t even sent invitations yet. After all, where would you be inviting the guests to? But even so, you should still have an idea of how many people you want at your wedding. Exact numbers won’t be necessary until later but booking a space that is too small will cause major problems when you can’t fit everyone in and booking a massive space for a small crowd will make things feel abandoned and awkward.

Explore your Options

You may be tempted to just ask around at all the local banquet halls because that’s where every wedding has been that you have ever attended. But consider having your ceremony or reception outside, in a museum, in a castle, or at a friend or family member’s house. Not only may you get a dream wedding you never even considered but you might save some money too!

Think about Timing

Wedding venues, especially traditional ones such as banquet halls, fill up very, very quickly and so this is another reason why you’ll want to book it as soon as possible. Generally couples book the venue a year in advance but if you don’t have that much time you can get creative by exploring other options or simply find out what is available on short notice.

Consider what Your Wedding will Look Like

You don’t need to be able to envision every detail but you should have an idea of things that are most important to you. Do you want a band or a DJ? You’ll need different types of space for each and maybe other concerns as well such as electrical outlets. Think about what is most important to have at your wedding and then make a list of all the thing you will need to make sure that happens. The last thing you want is to be restricted in your planning due to space issues.

Know Every Detail about the Venue

Before signing anything, make sure you know all of the venue’s policies on things such as noise and crowd levels. You’ll definitely want to know beforehand if you envision something the venue won’t allow to avoid complications later on. Also be sure to ask what their cancellation policies are, in case you need to cancel for any reason, or if they have contingency plans in place such as an indoor area that guests can move to should it rain on your outdoor reception. Also find out parking policies, liquor policies, and anything else that you can think of that might crop up along the way!