What To Look For in Wedding Venue Choices
Wedding Venue Choices — What to Consider Before Booking a Wedding Venue
Before you can say “I do.” Before you can walk down the aisle. Before you can invite all your closest friends and family to see you get hitched — you need to book a venue. But before you can even consider your wedding venue choices, you need to get organized and come prepared. That’s because without a venue, you can’t have a wedding at all. And unless you know what kind of wedding you want, you won’t be able to take that big first step and book that all-important venue.
The good news is that with a bit of planning, your venue decision should come into focus, and you’ll be able to get on to the details of the rest of your wedding in no time at all. It starts with a few decisions, so as long as you communicate what you want, you’ll be sure to have the wedding of your dreams with the venue of your choice.
- Decide on a date and time
The number one, most important decision you’ll face when planning a wedding is when it will take place. Not only the month and day, but the exact times that your guests should arrive, when your ceremony will start and the time that your cocktail hour and reception will begin. Until you have an idea of dates and times, you won’t be able to narrow down your wedding venue choices, and you won’t be able to invite anyone or plan a seating chart for your guests. The wedding day timeline is crucial, and you’ll want to avoid mishaps such as booking an early ceremony and leaving a huge gap in the middle of the day until the afternoon cocktail hour and reception.
- Consider your ending time
While it’s easy to see that the start times of your ceremony, cocktail hour and reception are important, don’t forget to also consider when each ends. If you have an afternoon ceremony followed by a cocktail hour, but the bar can only be open for a few hours, you could end up with a dry reception by the early evening, and there’s nothing more disappointing than sending everyone home just when things were getting started on the dance floor. To avoid making this mistake, you’ll want to ensure that each half-hour is accounted for. If you want a late reception and an early ceremony, you’ll have to work something out with your venue beforehand.
- Finalize that guest list well in advance
In order to make the right wedding venue choices, you and your venue must know how many guests will be showing up. While things come up and there’s no way to know exactly how many people will arrive come wedding day, you should assume that at least 80 percent of invitees will attend. If you’re overbooking and cutting it close with the expectation that some people won’t show, you could be in for a rude awakening when all the invitations come back and you’re stuck juggling some standing room-only options. Instead, make sure that your venue and your seating chart have a buffer for some last-minute attendees.
- Fit the venue to the guest list, not the other way around
While often overlooked, a crucial bit of wedding planning advice is to finalize your guest list before you go hunting for venues. If done in the reverse order, you could end up with a venue that dictates who you invite. If guests are stuffed in awkward corners, they’ll feel left out — or, worse yet, you might need to disinvite some guests if the venue has a hard cap on the guest list. When it comes to the reception, the situation is even more dire. Bulky tables and expansive flower arrangements need space to breathe, and there’s nothing more disappointing than guests and tables that are crammed into a small space.
- Define your venue budget and stick with it
Instead of giving your venue your entire wedding budget, which includes a dress, hair and makeup, as well as party favors, decorations and everything else that goes into a modern wedding, you’ll want to carefully design a budget for each component of your wedding — from food and beverage to photographers and arrangements — earmarking a certain amount for each piece. If you make the mistake of giving your venue an all-in price when you have other vendors to pay, you could blow your budget before you even get to all that other stuff, which will inevitably force you to overspend. By planning your budget from the get-go, you’ll make better wedding venue choices, and that’s the best wedding planning advice we can give.
- Have a back-up plan
In any large event, be it a wedding or something else, there’s always that one — or two or three! — thing that goes wrong. By planning for these eventualities, you’ll already know what to do when something unforeseen pops up. Sure, you won’t be able to build redundancy into every part of your wedding, but if the weather takes a turn for the worse or you have a few extra guests show up last minute, you’ll need contingency plans to keep everything moving smoothly.
- Don’t forget the setup time
While you may think that your wedding is the most important item on your venue’s calendar, a typical wedding venue does dozens of weddings each year. In fact, there might even be a wedding scheduled the day before and the day after your wedding, which means that they won’t be setting up your wedding the night before and breaking everything down the day after. For most weddings, setup and tear-down is a day-of activity, and you’ll need to make sure that there’s enough time both before and after your ceremony and reception to get everything done. Even if your venue does allow for a grace day before and after the wedding, most things like flowers, food, hair and makeup must be done on the day itself, so be sure leave some time to make it all happen.
- Beware of double-booking venues
Some venues have morning and afternoon slots for events, so when you’re vetting wedding venues, ask them if there’s another event scheduled for your wedding day. It can take a few hours to set up prior to the first guest arrival, which could turn into a time crunch if a lingering event prevents you and your vendors from having the time you need to set up. Even if a previous event is due to be out of the space hours before you’re slated to arrive, things change, and all it takes is a couple laggards to throw of the meticulously designed schedule you developed for your wedding. Avoid this by only booking on days where one event — your wedding — is scheduled to take place.
- Find out what’s included
Some wedding venues do more than just house you, your wedding party and all your guests for a few hours. Any venue worth its salt already has a network of vendors and various capabilities that range from the minimal to full, all-in pricing for everything you’d need. Venues that do it all can sometimes be a great option if you want someone else to worry about making it all happen, and the best part is that everyone works together frequently, which minimizes problems and downtime. All-in venues also tend to be cheaper than sourcing everything separately, which can help save you some money for that extravagant honeymoon trip.
For more about your wedding venue choices in Las Vegas, contact the experts at Occassions4.us. With five beautiful venues all across the greater Vegas area, you’re sure to find the right venue to celebrate your union and kick things off right. Contact us today and see how we can help you throw the wedding and reception of your dreams.
