Finding and booking the right venue is one of the most pivotal parts of your wedding planning and will enhance everyone’s experience of your special day. Here are 8 things to look out for…
1. Venue Capacity
The first part of planning your wedding is deciding who’s going to be there. Make a list of every person who you are planning to invite. Remember, the people are more important than the place so your venue choices will be filtered by guest numbers whether than be 50 or 200.
2. Venue Style
If you’re planning a traditional wedding, you’ll likely want to find a venue style that matches these plans. For example, a stately home or romantic castle. If you’re searching for a venue with more rustic appeal, consider a converted barn or mill house. If you’d like to host your wedding outdoors, then there are dedicated spaces and thankfully in Ireland, most, if not all of these offer contingency plans in case the weather isn’t on your side. If you’re looking for something that’s truly outside the box, you might even want to consider a warehouse or a distillery.
3. Accessibility
Do bear in mind your guests and any travel to your venue. This might be more of an issue for older or very young guests. Also consider accessibility at the venue itself and whether accommodation is available for your guests and if not, that there are plenty of nearby options to suit everyone’s budget.
4. Flexible Booking
Wherever you choose to host your wedding, you’ll need a venue that offers flexible booking options in case anything happens. In the wake of coronavirus and travel restrictions, this is something that more couples are mindful about. If you can’t find transparent information about the place’s booking options, you should obtain a physical copy of this information, in case you need to get your money back.
Choosing a wedding venue comes down to much more than style and size.
5. Entertainment
Sometimes the size of your venue necessitates having a DJ instead of a band. You’d be surprised how much space a live band takes with their instruments, sound system, and stage set-up. Wedding DJs, by comparison, take up considerably less space and can more easily work with the venue’s existing sound systems.
6. Point of Contact
While it may not seem like a big deal when you’re signing on the doted line for a wedding venue, having a dedicated point of contact is important for tackling any changes that might occur or answering any queries you might have quickly and efficiently in the run up to the Just like the need for flexible booking, it’s easy to forget how important this feature is, no matter the venue.
7. Back-up Plans
This applies in the main if you’ve chosen your venue based on its outdoor options for your ceremony and reception. Make sure they have an indoor option and you know how seamlessly plans can be changed if the weather doesn’t go your way on the day.
8. Finally…
Whichever wedding venue you choose, it’s important to make sure that it simply feels right for you and your significant other. While there are practical considerations to be aware of, you really should have a gut feeling about it being the right place, so invest the time necessary to find ‘The One’ that is right for you
