Checklist for Finding Your Perfect Wedding Venue

18 Mar

Welcome to the first in my ‘Wedding Wednesday’ series where every other Wednesday I will be posting wedding related content in order to help you plan your wedding around Sussex and Surrey! For this first instalment I have created my ultimate comprehensive checklist to help you find your perfect wedding venue.

Finding the right wedding venue is akin to finding your perfect wedding dress; when you know, you know. It’s a wonderful feeling, however you shouldn’t let yourself fall head over heels for a venue before you’ve considered a few practical aspects. Most suppliers would suggest you try to book your venue as early as possible, at least 12 months prior if you can. It is definitely possible to get discounts at short notice but that is not to be relied upon, especially if you can’t be flexible with your date. You also need to consider what your priorities are before you visit any venues. For example, when I was looking for our wedding venue, I knew we would have a lot of family travelling a long way to be there so accommodation had to be a serious consideration. If this is also the case for you I would suggest possibly involving close family in the decision making; yes your wedding should be all about you, but if you want certain guests to be able to attend you may have to sacrifice a couple of things in order for that to be a possibility.

Finding a venue was one of the most challenging things about planning our wedding for me, so I’ve compiled the ultimate venue checklist alongside a complete, comprehensive list of things you should be asking your potential venue. Hopefully this will be of some help if you are just starting out with your wedding planning. If in doubt bring a list with you. The items on this list may not apply to every type of venue so you can write down which ones are applicable to you, or alternatively I have created a PDF of the below information which you can print out to take with you. You can download it here. Now onto the list!

Firstly, how do you know what venue will work best for you? Scroll to the right to read through my tips:

Now you’ve thought about the above, you need to figure out what type of venue works best for you:

Now you’ve decided on what venues to look at, it’s a good idea to create a checklist of questions to ask them when you visit, to help you make your choice. Write a list to bring with you if it helps. I’ve created different lists of questions below depending on your priorities, though this is a comprehensive list so some questions may not be relevant to certain venues.

General Enquiries For Your Venue

Money-related Enquiries

Accommodation Enquiries

Food Related Enquiries

Setting Up and Running of the Day

Important Notes

When you have decided on your perfect venue it’s important to make sure your officiate is available on the requested date. Before you put down that deposit check that the venue can hold your date for a limited time, in which you can book the officiate first before confirming your date. Check with venue which county registrar they are registered with. In my area it is the West Sussex County Council. If you go to your local councils website, there will be a list of the venues that are registered with them. Regardless of where you live, you can only be married by a registrar who is registered to the county that your venue is in.

After you have put down your deposit, make sure to take out wedding insurance. No doubt in your contract with the venue it will say that the venue holds the right to cancel your wedding without refund under certain circumstances. Whilst this is very unlikely to happen, its not worth the risk so take out that wedding insurance to protect you. Go onto a comparison website to see the best deals.

If you have booked over a year in advance (which is advised!) then I would recommend visiting your venue on the date of your wedding the year before as this will give you a good idea of what the place looks like at that time. You might find that during summer months there are lots of beautiful flowers at the venue so you may not need to go over-board when purchasing flowers. It’ll also give you a good idea of what the natural light is like and whether you will need to consider bringing in your own lighting if this is a possibility.

And lastly you must absolutely get everything that you have discussed with the venue in writing. Venue co-ordinators may change before your wedding and if you have agreed something with a previous member of staff, the new one may not agree to it unless it’s in writing, especially if it is an unusual request. Just make sure you cover yourself so there are no surprises down the road.

Hopefully this guide has been useful to you; if you would like a print out of all my tips and questions from above you can download it here. Good luck with finding your perfect venue, it’s out there somewhere, now go get it!