Venue Wisdom - Part 1: Fall in love with your venue first. Then your date.
With so many different things to consider from season to weather to holidays to scheduling with friends and family to venue availability and date significance, the initial steps of the wedding planning process can be SUPER stressful! I’m here to help relieve some of that stress by offering one little suggestion - start with the venue and let everything fall in place after that.
Regardless of if you’re having a traditional hometown wedding, an intimate destination wedding with 700 of your closet friends and family members (ironic much?), or an elopement, they all require you to select a venue!
I’m a strong believer in the fact that you should fall in love with your venue first, and then your specific wedding date. Why? Here are a couple reasons:
Your budget will thank you.
The venue is often the biggest wedding expense. In 2017, the average spend on the venue was $15,163!! Once you know where you will be getting married, you will have a realistic amount of budget to work with for all the other components of the wedding.
Your wedding will have a cohesive style.
If you want a luxury wedding, you need to find a venue that supports that style. Everything from your attire, to the decor, to the musical selections, to the food have to match your style. Once your venue is selected, you will be able to start seeing how all your other selections match with the venue. Navigating essential wedding planning decisions will become that much more simple.
Long story short - don’t plan anything without selecting a venue first.
Historic Oakland - Front View
Historic Oakland - Side View
Here are a couple tips on making the process of selecting a venue a bit less tedious:
Have an idea of your preferred wedding style and how you want to describe your wedding.
Common styles include: Classic/Traditional, Luxury, Rustic, Whimsical/Fantasy, Beach, and Industrial.
Have a general idea of when you want to wed. Whether that be in the spring, fall, summer, winter, during certain breaks, around certain holidays (not around certain holidays).
In the same way knowing your preferred wedding style will help guide you towards the venues you contact, having a general idea of when you want to wed will help you choose a venue that suits your tastes.
So, remember....
Now that you’re well versed on why you should select your venue first, check back next week for more DunniWeddings Wisdom on questions to ask when selecting your beloved venue!
In the meantime what do you think comes first? Setting a wedding date or finding a venue? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Email me at dunniweddings@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
Consider how you would feel as a guest if there was no weather backup plan and you were subjected to sitting in the rain or standing in a corner bracing for cover while you watched the staff trying to figure out what to do with everyone.