Demand for outdoor wedding venue in Oregon

Knottie1437090216

I've been dreaming of opening an outdoor wedding venue in Oregon for a while now but wondering where is there demand for such venues.

My original idea is to do that around the Hood River area but having a hard time finding info on whether that region needs more wedding venues or not.

Any brides or grooms out there looking for outdoor venues around that area or other Oregon areas and having a hard time finding them?

Any info/tips greatly appreciated!

ShesSoCold

Knottie1437090216 said:

I've been dreaming of opening an outdoor wedding venue in Oregon for a while now but wondering where is there demand for such venues.

My original idea is to do that around the Hood River area but having a hard time finding info on whether that region needs more wedding venues or not.

Any brides or grooms out there looking for outdoor venues around that area or other Oregon areas and having a hard time finding them?

Any info/tips greatly appreciated!

Hi - this is an international board so you may not get many specific responses. Do you want @SouthernBelle0915 to move this to your local board?

Knottie1437090216

That would be awesome. Thank you so much. I'm new to these boards.

madamerwin

Hey there, Oregon here! From what I could tell when H and I were looking for venues, there are a ton of farm/barn/field type outdoor venues both in the Portland area and in Hood River (as well as across the Columbia in WA). I guess my answer would depend on whether you were going for upscale/expensive - which there are a lot of in this area - or something a little more DIY and affordable...  

If you google "Outdoor wedding venue hood river", a ton of results come up. One way to know what the demand is would be to call a few and ask how far out they are booked for weddings. If every one is booked 1.5+ years out, it's probably safe to say there is good demand. If a bunch of them have openings in the next 6 months (and are not ridiculously expensive), then there are probably more venues than there are people who want to book them. In which case you would need some way to differentiate yourself from all the other wineries/farms/etc. in the area.

My advice would be to do some research on existing venues, go out there, and tour them. I wouldn't tell them that you're just scoping out competition and are thinking about opening a venue... I would probably act as though I was looking for my own or a friend's wedding.

Knottie1437090216

Thank you so much for this reply! This is super helpful and those are great ideas!

I've started looking for land and properties and looks like finding a place that will allow for this type of business may be a bit of a challenge due to zoning requirements, etc but if others are doing it, I am sure there's a way.

I definitely have a very specific idea in mind that I think (and hope!) would be different enough to allow for some interest but not so obscure as to turn others away.

Thank you again for the tips and if you happen to know anything about which counties would be the most flexible to work with in terms of zoning, I'm all ears.

Thank you again for all your help!

shinylib

Tell us about your specific idea and we'll see if we can help? I just went through a mega list of indoor/outdoor farmspace/rustic venues, happy to share what I've learned from the owners.