Choosing a Wedding Venue
The first thing to decide is where you'd like to be married and whether you want to have the reception in the same place. A Church of England or register office wedding rules out this possibility unless you book the church hall or the town hall. The key criteria for choosing a venue are usually budget and ambience.
Budget
The reception is one of the obvious places to cut costs if your budget looks like getting out of hand.
Self Catering
A self-catering buffet is the cheapest option, but it means hiring a venue with a kitchen you can use and plenty of fridge space so that you can prepare food the day before. You also need to be sure that you can get all the help you need both beforehand and on the day. Even with a buffet, you'll need help with serving food and drinks unless your family and guests are happy to run around with trays on the day. This means hiring waiters and bar staff.
Drinks
Saving money on drinks is possible if you hire a hall and self cater. On the other hand, if you do that, you don't have the option of a paying bar to fall back on later in the evening.
Menu Options
Check all the menu options because even the grandest venues have a range of prices per head. And if you've invited more guests after the main meal, you need to find out how much you'll be charged for a late-night buffet.
Time of Year
Take the time of year into account. Getting married in summer is more expensive. You may find you can afford a more glamorous reception if you don't mind taking a chance on the weather and going for a date in November or February. It's also easier in winter to make a very average venue look glamorous with lots of fairy lights and candles. Darkness hides a multitude of dull furnishing and depressing paintwork.
Ambience
The following are some things you might like to consider about the venue's ambience:
- What suits your wedding style? An old building with atmosphere or a new one with dramatic spaces?
- How important is the outdoor area? If it's a summer wedding, are you looking for a picturesque garden or gazebo for drinks and photographs?
- What about something completely different? A marquee, a special themed venue like an amusement park or a zoo, botanical gardens or stately home?
- What time of day and time of year is your wedding? Do you need somewhere that will look good on a bad day? Or by candlelight? Is the interior more important than the exterior?
- How flexible do you need the venue to be?
- A large or small dance floor?
- Space for people to have drinks and mingle before going in to the wedding meal?
- A quiet sitting-out area for the older people? They may well want to sit down for a while as soon as they get to the reception, especially if they have been standing up for the photos.
- A children's room with play space and TV? If there are likely to be a lot of people with small children it may be worth hiring an entertainer and feeding the children separately so that they don't get bored and disruptive.
- Are the bathrooms adequate?
- Is there a staffed cloakroom?
- Somewhere to display the wedding presents?
You could sit down with your partner and prepare your own checklist - with perhaps some help from mothers or other financially interested parties. This makes the final decision much simpler because you can count up the ticks and go for the one that has the most.
