how did you choose your venue?

agadez822

I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed on the venue options.  There are many but it seems like they are booking like mad for next year.  How did you guys choose?  It's also difficult to come up with the bottom line price for everything.  How many venues did you look at?  Why didn't you choose a certain place? 

Any recommendations on the following would be awesome:

-station 67

-the vault

-the bluestone

-cultural arts center

-greek orthodox cathedral reception hall

-any other place downtown (minus the art museum and statehouse)

Thanks ladies!!

Mynewcutie

For me I wanted flowers and some type of water feature. So my fiance and I are going to get married at the Franklin Park Conservatory. It has so much detail that I was looking for.

saacjw

I looked at 4, after I narrowed it down from a list of like, 10. We narrowed it down based on budget (I made a lot of spreadsheets), location in realtionship to the church, and accomedations. My price spreadsheet put everything at a price estimate for a set number of people (I used 150), plus a standard cake and dj cost estimate that was the same across the board (execpt at any place that provided one of those). 

The biggest deciding factor though was going to look at the venues and interview the people who would be running the events. Honestly, the biggest reason I didn't choose one place is because the guy who would be in charge of things was late, sloppy, and unprepared. The place we chose was 10% convenience, 40% exactly what we wanted, and 50% because the woman in charge was awesome. 

TheBeckmeister

I looked at a LOT of venues (or at least it feels like that...):

Four Seasons (Hilliard)

Walter Commons at St. Charles

Athenaeum

York Golf Club

Marian Center at Immaculate Conception

Hickory Lakes

Loft at Smith Brothers

Valley Dale

Ricardo's Mentel Memorial

Oakhurst Country Club

OSU Golf Club

Jessing Center

COSI

Swim & Racquet Club

And those are just the ones I remember visiting....  Anyways, there were a few things that were very important to us:

- Bring your own caterer (preferably bringing your own alcohol too)

- Everyone can see everything at one time

- Somewhat close to our ceremony (west side of Columbus)

- Not disgusting bathrooms

For the venues you listed above, we attended a wedding at The Vault.  I really liked the inside of the venue, but I remember parking being not the easiest thing in the world.  Good luck!

ameliah19

We viewed only two locations. Some gold course in Worthington and Franklin Park...

Franklin Park just seemed like us so much. The flowers, the butterflies, and the awesome people that work there were only part of the reason we chose it. FI and I just felt like this is where we want to get married and so we decided that day and haven't regretted it since.

csh96

We considered price, size, parking, inclusions vs add ons offered, BYOB, how many other weddings were going on in the same location, 1 open space versus dividing up between flooors, etc.  I was able to elminate several based on price and availability right away.  Then we visted about 4-6 places and ended up selecting Jessing Center which fit most of our criteria.

MrsColeman2012

I wanted a place that was budget friendly above all....I should say I needed it to be budget friendly. We ended up going with the Olde Gahanna Sanctuary for a number of reasons...they are extremely flexible, hardly any restrictions. You can bring your own alcohol and catering. It is around $1000 for an entire day using the facility. You can even add friday night on for another $500 and double it as a rehearsal dinner venue, not to mention you can do all your set up the day before! The cherry on top was that the venue was charming. It doesn't require a lot of decor. It used to be a real church so it kinda already looks like a wedding venue. We are very happy with our choice. I should also mention, I did most of my venue scoping online...I needed something that fit our budget and I had an idea of what I wanted the wedding to look like. The sanctuary was the first and only venue I visited in person

tiffanydaniels

I looked at about 15 venues and it was so hard. We went with price, who would allow us to bring own alcohol and caterering, size, and timing. 

jnkreager

Ohhh I loved the Cultural Arts Center (such a hidden gem), but it was too small to fit us.

We looked at dozens of venues online and narrowed it down based on budget, reviews, and appearance (I didn't want it to look like the same old ballroom that everyone uses).  From there we toured about 5 places, and had plans to look at more, but we just fell in love with the Valley Dale Ballroom.