While pretty much every aspect of your wedding is optional, from deciding your own wedding vows and promises, ditching the cake for a donut stand and skipping awkward speeches, there’s one thing you can’t skip: a venue! After all, you’ve got to have somewhere for your friends and family to celebrate your special day with you.
Selecting a wedding venue is often one of the first decisions you’ll make as an engaged couple — it will influence your budget, location of your wedding, suppliers, décor, theme and even what you wear. We have put together a quick blog outlining everything you need to know when trying to decide on your perfect venue!
Your Guest List
Make a guest list. It’s a good idea to try and break the numbers down into separate categories, so that you can amend your list quickly if you need to. Bride’s Family, Bride’s Work Colleagues, Groom’s Family, Groom’s Work Colleagues and Friends is a good way to start.
Once you have your list, you will be able to include or exclude some venues from your shortlist. Not all venues can accommodate a wide variety of wedding sizes and some have minimum guest numbers, so your list will be very helpful in eliminating some that just wont work for your numbers.
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
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Once you have an idea of the number of guests you want to invite, you will know if you need a large capacity venue or a smaller and more intimate venue. The size of the venue is important, too small for your number of guests and the room will feel stuffy and overcrowded, too big and guests will feel lost and the space will feel cold. Having your guest list finalised will also assist in working out a budget that you are comfortable with. You can work it out per head and then adjust your guest list or change venues to better suit the amount you want to spend.
Your Wedding Date
Peak wedding season runs from September to March in Australia and dates do book out very quickly at popular venues. They will also be considerably more expensive during these times. If you can be flexible with your date and choose an off-season month, you’ll often be able to secure the venue of your dreams at a lower rate. No-one bats an eyelid at a mid-week wedding these days and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a few days annual leave for a special celebration!
Keep in mind that venues can often look very different depending on the time of year. If you fall in love with summer images of a wedding venue but want to book a Winter wedding you could ask to see some images of previous weddings held during Winter before you go ahead and book.
Themes and Styles
Deciding on a wedding venue isn’t easy as there are so many options to choose from! When I was planning my own wedding, there were hundreds of things I loved, but they just didn’t match my rustic theme and it was somewhat overwhelming when I couldn’t just have everything. Whether it’s a rustic affair on a farm, a homely affair in a country manor full of character, a fairytale wedding in a grand mansion or a small intimate wedding at a country garden, whatever your dream scenario, there’ll be a venue out there that’s perfect for you. Just take your time, ask lots of questions and you will know when you’ve found your perfect spot!
