How did you choose your reception venue?

sweetpea0911

FI and I just got back from another day of whirlwind venue scouting.  There are some places that were just complete busts when we walked in, and others that are beautiful, but just don't feel right (or would completely break the bank).  There are several that seem to fit everything...but how to decide between them has got us stumped.

So tell me: how did you choose your venue?  Did it come down to budget concerns?  Family tradition to have a reception somewhere?  Did it just feel right?

Obviously you can't make the decision for my FI and I, but suggestions are great.

georgia_bride09

It would come down to when the venue is available, the price, and what is included in said price.

mrsamyjones

Ours had a lot to do with budget and what the grounds looked like.

FutureMrsTR

I looked at wedding packages on-line and was able to rule some out due to budget if they had prices listed.  We only went and looked at two venues, one we loved but once we got prices it was too high.  The second I knew of through work, we have our parties there and our owner is the president of the board at the club.  The price worked out, it was available and had a nice outdoor ceremony space so we signed on it.  The carpet and paintings in the ballroom are a tiny bit hideous, but I'll live.  I don't like too many choices.

ETA:  If you like a couple equally and the prices for both are good consider whether or not they require you to use certain vendors and if so, do you like those vendors.  Are they already decorated or blank slates?  And which one do you want?  What kind of feel do you want your wedding to have...traditional and elegant or rustic & casual...and pick the venue that matches that.

Kati0105

I cried when I saw our reception venue.  True story.  I didn't cry when we got engaged or picked out the ring, but my eyes totally watered when we walked into the venue - I could just really, really envision us getting married there and it made me really happy.  I had also had a two martini lunch, but it was definitely 90% the venue and only 10% the vodka 

andyandhillary

Two places we looked at were pretty good and were in the same price range.  We ended up basing our decision off of customer service.  That is always a big one for me.  I have to be able to trust each vendor I use.

xoxBridexox

It was important to us that we were the only couple at the reception venue (some places had multiple ballrooms so more then one event on the same night). It had to be within 15 - 20 min from the church. and GREAT food. Our most important factors were what would make our guests happiest. I just happen to get lucky and find a venue that had everything I wanted for our guests and all of the decor and extra stuff that I wanted.

*May10Mrs*

how did you choose your venue? We found ours by accident, we were looking at a train depot and went inside for a tour, then I started to cry...we knew it was the place. 

Did it come down to budget concerns?  Ours was over budget, but we figured it was so pretty it would save on decorating, so we used the budget we had for reception decor costs to cover the extra.

Family tradition to have a reception somewhere? We just did it where we wanted it. 

 Did it just feel right? It felt right, right off the bat. 

Good luck.

goheels05

Process of elimination.

One place was too expensive.

Two places were near impossible to get in touch with.

One place had construction going on and they were "tentatively scheduled" to be finished by our wedding date.  um, no thanks. 

One place does wedding ceremonies outside on the patio, but in the event of rain, the indoor option wouldn't hold all of our guests.

This brought us down to 3 country clubs, 2 owned by the same place, all 3 had no rental fee, you pay for food only.    Of these 3, one was kind of small, and one was far prettier and in a more convenient location than the other two, so that's the one we went with. 

ETA:  I'm not a "feeling" person, I'm a logistics person. My "feelings" never came into play in choosing a venue.  I've seen too many brides come on here and say "ZOMG we can't use this venue because of x, y, and z, but it's my DREAM VENUE!  ZOMG IT'S SO PERFECT"  Well, if it were perfect, it wouldn't have x, y, and z problems, so no, it's not perfect, maybe you should think through this a bit more. 

sucrets4

We had limited time to look at venues, so I did a lot of research online first.

1.  How much per person
2.  Availability...I emailed  a choice of 4 dates to a few places to see if they were open
3.  Then we went to visit (only 2 places) and decided on which one we liked in person.  It's hard to get a vibe from a picture.

tenofcups4me

I had a good idea of what I didn't want and some vague idea of what I did want. As one of the last in my group of family and friends to get married, I knew I didn't want a hotel ballroom, synagogue, or country club since they'd all been done to death in my crowd. I wanted a castle...but well, there aren't any castles around Philly :-) So my next best was a historic mansion.

From there, I eliminated a lot of places based on a variety of factors -- they didn't have AC (it was going to be a summer wedding), they had multiple rooms (I wanted everyone in the same room), they could only accommodate my size group outside in a tent (didn't want a tent), there might be more than one wedding at a time, they didn't have the ability to have the ceremony outside if the weather was nice, dates available, rental fees.

I saw a couple of country clubs just to check them out and a few other non-conventional sites, but when we went to see the mansion we eventually got married in, the ex- and I immediately knew that was the place we wanted. It was slightly more expensive than the others, but not outside our budget.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Communication. The venue we chose had a great coordinator/chef, who asked what the budget for the reception was and how many people we were having. I told him and said, "I want a full bar, but we don't need premium liquor, appetizers for cocktail hour, and a sit-down meal with GOOD vegetarian food." He crunched the numbers, waived some fees, and got me within $3 per person of my goal. I felt he really wanted my business. If someone doesn't communicate well with you before you book, they certainly won't get better after.

We also love the venue - it is really pretty even without decoration (wood beamed ceilings, full windows and french doors, wood paneled separate bar), and we get it all to ourselves. We'll only be decorating with centerpieces. So that will save money. The venue also does a good amount of weddings, so they know what they're doing, but we'll be the only wedding they have that day. I didn't want a "wedding factory" where there were 3 other weddings going on at the venue at the same time.

The third factor is that it is about 15 minutes from our house and seriously almost right across the street from an area with 2 pretty (and cheap) chapels, one of which we booked for our ceremony. It is also practically next door to where I lived when I first came to LA as a student! You might want to consider how your ceremony plans work with each venue, if it will be separate.


The only places I seriously considered were ones that fit within our price range. The one we booked was the only one I dragged FI to (and my mom and BFF came too) and he loved it instantly. (I met with them before hand and wanted him to see it.)

luckyme502

We knew that we wanted a small wedding and I wanted to get married at a historic plantation house.  Most in our area were really expensive.  Like $4000 just to rent the house.  So my mom suggested we try this historic Bed and Breakfast.  FI and I loved it!  We had dinner there and talked with the owner and booked it that night.  We just loved it!  It's the one in my sig!

MCarmine

There were a few factors. I knew I didn't want a typical wedding venue. So basically, not a cheesy wedding place. So that narrowed down my options. Then came cost, location and overall vibe.

Just go over your list of priorities and choose accordingly.

sweetpea0911

You ladies are fabulous.  Thanks for all your stories - they help a lot!

squirrly

1 - ceremony and reception all in one place
2 - threw in the day after brunch for immediate family/WP for free
3 - no charge for the rehearsal
4 - gave us a spectacular price on alcohol, and a very good price on the rest of everything.
5 - they've never done a wedding before, so they're hoping ours turns out awesome and can use it for marketing.  Thus, we kinda get whatever we want.  (It's also very stressful sometimes.)
6 - It's pretty, the food is good, and the chef totally has his head on straight.
7 - everyplace else we liked in some capacity wanted to charge outrageous fees.

shellydiane820

With ours, it was our style.  We walked in the hotel and fell in love.  So, I guess, we just knew this was the one.  We looked at one after that, but my mind was already set.

hayleymajayley

we just used a venue we knew was pretty nice, on the water, and super cheap.

LarissaAnn

We went with the first one we absolutely loved where the price wouldn't kill us.

ETA:  I wanted killer decor and am not into the typical modern stuff I see everywhere around here now.  I wanted pretty grounds in case we could swing an outside wedding, but a pretty ceremony room in case we needed to do an indoor wedding (good thing too!).  And food, great food was key.  Variety, plenty, and quality - our venue is also a 4 star restaurant.

fallbride1109

Once we eliminated a few outside of our budget, we started thinking about hotels, so we looked at the one we go to all the time for drinks after dinner--we actually went there for drinks on our first date and talked for hours.  And lo and behold, it had everything--beautiful ballroom, great bar, outside ceremony space, and was the perfect size for our guest list.  Done.

I would call the ones that seem to fit and see if they are available on the date you want--one we were looking at wasn't so that eliminated it right there.  And the one we were married at ONLY had our date in November left.  Maybe there will be something to make it seem exactly right.  Good luck!

Shawnee11507

It was free- score!

On_Cloud_Nine

Research.

FI and I did a LOT of online searching before we even started looking at places.

After weeding out the ones we knew we didn't want (hotel ballrooms, places that were indoor ONLY, no outside catering allowed, over-budget, etc.) we called the places and checked what dates we had available. It really helped that we didn't set our date at first! We wanted to make sure that the places that we really liked would be available, and since we were flexible on the dates, it worked out!

Then we went to the places to see them in person. There were a couple we liked, but the parking situation would have been a nightmare for guests, so we decided to look at one other option that was outside the city.

We pulled in and my FI just looked at me and said "This is it." And it was!

So...research! And don't be afraid to ask a ton of questions.