Your wedding is going to be one of the most important days in your life, so it’s easy to stress about all the details. If your venue choice is something you are finding tricky, or perhaps you don’t know where to even begin, these tips should hopefully be enough to get you started or answer some questions you had.
Theme
The easiest way to make all of your decisions is to start with some kind of theme. It doesn’t have to be over the top like ‘Pirates in Space’, just something to give you inspiration. Think about keywords such as ‘Romantic’, ‘Glamourous’ or ‘Bohemian’. Do you want a bo-ho chic beach wedding, or a glamorous, sparkling event? Whatever you envision is fine, you just need to get it clear in your head first.
Mood boards can be really helpful for this, so use magazines and online bridal sites to gather ideas you can use as inspiration. Once you’ve chosen your keywords, come up with a color palette that suits your taste and works alongside your keywords. Mood boards, keywords, and color swatches, even visual references of other people’s wedding décor you love, these are all tools that will help you to communicate with other vendors and your bridal party.
Be open to exploring new ideas too though, vendors like florists do this for a living and can show you some beautiful arrangements you might never have dreamed of, so work with your team not against them.
Creating Your Space
Once you have your theme clear, you can visit venues and hopefully picture whether your theme will work alongside the existing space. Some venues lend themselves perfectly to just about any theme, as blank canvases waiting to be decorated. Other venues might only work for certain themes, like the interior of a stately home that is decorated in dark red and green wallpaper, which is perhaps not the best choice for a bright white and peach, flowery wedding.
It can be really helpful to see photographs from other weddings held at your venue, to see how well they used the space and look at how people decorated differently. No two weddings are ever going to look entirely the same, so seeing how other people’s weddings came to life in your potential venue might give you inspiration for how you might like to decorate and use the space.
Budget
The venue is an unavoidable expense when it comes to weddings because even the smallest venue comes at a price. Whilst it is something you do have to pay for, it doesn’t have to cost you millions. While some high-end venues come with lots of fancy features and character built-in, even the plain spaces can be brought out and made beautiful with some careful planning. Even though a princess castle might be your dream wedding, you need to be realistic. Do your research and find out what spaces are local to you. You might be surprised to find venues you didn’t know existed. Make the most of the features you love about your city, whether it’s the city views lit up at night or the vibrant green spaces you love. If the city-life is your thing, the Tribeca rooftop is a lovely venue to get those views and have a great party your guests will enjoy.
Your Guests
One of the main factors in your decision-making should be how well the venue caters to your guests. Whilst it is easy to get carried away sometimes, and yes, this day is all about you and your partner, upsetting your loved ones is not really worth it just for one day. If you want your closest family and friends to be there, make sure they can actually get there.
Make sure the place is accessible to all your guests, with easy access to toilets and refreshments, and comfortable seating areas. If you are looking at venues abroad, can your family and friends actually afford all of that? Is your venue suitably close to hotels or accommodation so that they have a place to sleep when the party ends? Be sure to make your wedding as accessible and comfortable as possible, so that everyone can enjoy it with you.
With some careful planning, inspiration, and consideration of what you want you and your guests to share, you can create a wonderful wedding. It might be a little stressful to plan so much but do your best to enjoy it too!