Here comes the bride, all dressed in white...
Wait, not yet!
So you know how I told you wedding planning required some serious thought and planning skills, well I was not lying to you! Trust me, the second you get engaged, the questions begin to FLOOD in! "Have you guys set a date yet?", "Where are you thinking about having it?", "You're going to invite me right!?" - that has to be my least favorite one! Excuse my rant, but whoa! Where did that become an acceptable question?
For Philip and I, the first thing that we did, that really kick started the wedding planning process was looking up venues, and touring them! I scoured Pinterest for months trying to figure out what I needed to know/ask when it came to picking a venue, and this is what I have come up with...
What style or theme are you going for?
Before choosing a venue, you have to narrow down which ones you are interested in! Do you want to get married on the beach, in a rustic setting, in a church, do you want a destination wedding? This is the first thing to really think about before touring venues. Pinterest is great for this! Create a Wedding Board on Pinterest to start saving things you like, before you know it, it will be 3 am and you will have pinned 250 things! It happens to the best of us!
Once you have selected your style, work out your budget!
You need to figure out how much you are planning on spending overall, and then how much of that do you want to contribute towards your venue. Once you have your budget in place, stick to it, and stay within it!
Figure out if this is a place that you can hold your ceremony and your reception.
Our venue hosts both, but is a separate fee for both. You'll need to factor that in to the planning and budget. Some places don't host both and you need to coordinate with two locations.
Questions to ask the venue:
Do you offer coordination services?
Now this is completely up to you! I decided that I wanted the coordination services and was quickly validated by all of the vendors asking if we had. I have been reassured over and over again that this was the way to go so that on our big day we can focus on each other, our guests, and having an amazing night, rather than running around helping vendors set up and answering questions about parking and the bar. Keep in mind, this will be an additional cost for most places, but it is well worth it!
Do you have my specific date in mind?
If you have already picked a date and it is set in stone, make sure to find out that they do still have your date available! If you are flexible, begin working out dates that could be a good option and pick one! Remember, venues start booking dates about 1 1/2 in advance so you want to start this process sooner rather than later!
What is your maximum number of guests?
This is such an important question to ask your venue! Most places are only permitted to have so many, so wiggle room beyond that number is rare. I would suggest drafting your guest list and going from there, you would be surprised how many people you know! Philip and I had planned on an intimate, small wedding and when our venue told us that they had a max of 120 we scoffed at the number and thought we were completely fine! Now, drafting the guest list, I have hit 120+. Also remember, you have to count some of your vendors into that headcount. Your officiant, the photographer, videographer, DJ, those people all count as part of your headcount!
How many hours are included, and how about set up and pre-wedding?
You need to figure out how many hours in total you will have, how early you and family can come to begin setting up and how much time you will have to get ready! This will vary a lot from place to place, make sure the policy they have in place works for you!
What is your policy for vendors?
Most places have a preferred vendor list of people that they allow to cater, provide services, etc. Make sure that you like your options or see if they are open if you have something specific in mind! A great way to test this is to see if they are having an open house day where they bring in their preferred caterers and what not and allow you to see them in action. This is what we ended up doing with the venue we loved and were sold and ready to sign the paperwork that day!
What is your policy on alcohol?
Find out how they service your bar needs. Do they have options, open bar, cash bar, etc. This is something you are going to find to be a little more strict then anything else due to liquor licenses. For example, our venue only allowed one company for bar services which came with one set of prices. Make sure these prices work for you!
What will the seating situations be like and at what cost?
Our venue rents the tables and chairs but it is at an additional cost. Figure out what that is and what you can afford.
What is your parking and bathroom situations like?
If this is an outdoor wedding, what is our backup plan in case it rains?
Is there anything you do NOT allow?
This is such an important question! For example, our wedding is in a barn and is an active working farm to this day. For that reason, they do not allow fake flowers to avoid the horses eating fallen petals. You need to make sure that none of these exclusions interfere with something specific you had planned!
Let me know below if you have other tips and tricks that I may have forgot, or any advice for more wedding planning!!
For us, we decided to choose the rustic setting. I knew I wanted something that was romantic, beautiful, rustic but also classic and timeless. I am pretty positive that the moment Philip and I set foot on The Lange Farm's property, we were sold! We decided to host our Ceremony under The Joshua Tree, and our Reception inside the Antique Barn for our evening wedding. The barn is incredible! It is a two story barn that opens up to face the blacktop where we will put our tables and chairs! There are lights strung everywhere, and it is filled with hay bales and whisky barrels! I cannot wait for our special day!
We were happy with all of their policies and restrictions and loved the location and the staff! We were fortunate that they had our date, which will fall on the weekend right after our 10 year anniversary! I get so excited every time I look at pictures of the Lange Farm, and they are pretty open and allow me to plan and set it up however I would like!
I hope you found this post helpful if you are also getting married and were not really sure where to start! From here, this kind of set everything into motion where we were able to start contacting vendors, figure out our decor, and more!
XO
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