Venues Totally Booked next Summer?

nebbiolo · July 2010

So, as we search for a venue for next Summer, we're finding that some of them are completely booked every Saturday evening from May - August! We really need a Sat evening because 90% of our guests are from out of town and we want to make travel easier (and we've looked at holiday weekend Sundays too).

I can't believe how frustrating it is to find a venue a year in advance! Question is - how far in advance did you ladies book your wedding venue? I thought a year out would be plenty of time...guess not!

daniellelmilczak · July 2010

We are getting married 8/27/11 and booked our venue this past April I believe - so 1 year 4 months in advance.

GracefulMeadow86 · July 2010

we got married 7/24/2010 and booked in May of 2009. So about 1 yr, 2 month ahead of time. and we got the last weekend in the summer that was open at that point. maybe look around to less popular places (which can be just as good) and see what they have available.

sloanacz · July 2010

Yes we ran into the same problem summer saturday nights are probably the most popular even though the most expensive usually. We booked our 8/28/10 wedding in May 2009 and there were less then a handful of Saturdays left. I didn't care about the date as long as it was aug/sept but was not budging on Saturday night. GL I hope you find a place you like. It's out there!

nebbiolo · July 2010

Thanks ladies. Finding a venue is proving to be extremely time consuming (and frustrating). Ugh.

kls114 · July 2010

We booked our venue in 4/09 for our 7/23/11 wedding. This was one problem that we did not want to deal with. We are used to how the Westchester venues book up years in advance so we tried to avoid this as best as we could.

What venues are you looking in to?

nebbiolo · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_venues-totally-booked-next-summer?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:65Discussion:8d89dbcc-8402-4836-bb68-b94891e8182fPost:3ba26af4-5bd8-4274-ab27-91553e5483b4">Re: Venues Totally Booked next Summer?</a>:
[QUOTE]We booked our venue in 4/09 for our 7/23/11 wedding. This was one problem that we did not want to deal with. We are used to how the Westchester venues book up years in advance so we tried to avoid this as best as we could. What venues are you looking in to?
Posted by kls114[/QUOTE]

Ideally we'd like to have it in a vineyard. There are few that have indoor options in case of inclement weather though, and both Satlwater Farms and Jonathan Edwards are totally booked. We're considering St. Clements Castle, but they have a minimum guest count that we're trying to work around (and they have ver few Sat eves left also). We basically want an outdoor ceremony with an indoor option, have the reception at the same place. Any suggestions?

blipsettpr · July 2010

I am having my wedding at the MGM at Foxwoods. They have a great patio and lawn that you can have a small ceremony at and then inside they have many ballroom options.

I was shocked at how many openings they had for wedding dates. Unlike Mohegan who told me they could book up to 4 weddings on the same night next to each other. The MGM allows you to be the only wedding. They only have 3 weddings booked for all of next year so your date would most likely be open.

Foxwoods also has an outdoor venue and reception site called Lake of Isles that you could look into. It is on a lake up in that area and is suppose to be gorgeous!

SuMmErKuTiE · July 2010

We booked our venue for our Saturday night June wedding 16 months in advance. We booked it in February of 2009 for a June 2010 wedding. One of the other places we looked into back in February of 2009 only had 2 Saturdays left for the entire summer even into September of 2010. It's crazy!

Vanessa630 · July 2010

We booked 2 years in advance for 2011 but there had still been 2010 options available so 1 year would have definitely been doable.

We're having ours at Mystic Seaport in the River Room but we also reserved the North Lawn, which is gorgeous and right on the water. A lot of people choose to have their ceremony there (or in the Church right next door). Kim has been great to work with!

http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=12EE9544-65B8-D398-7452CA6817430D91

starshollow · July 2010

We booked our August 2009 wedding in August 2008. We got the last Saturday night at the venue, and I believe it was because of a cancellation. If you find a place you really like and they don't have any open dates, maybe ask them if they can let you know if a date opens up.

CTbride79 · July 2010

We booked our venue about 22 months in advance (Dec. 2008 for an Oct. 2010 wedding).

The venue we chose (The Mill on the River) was actually completely booked for Saturday weddings in 2009 (with the exception of Halloween) at that time. We planned on having a long engagement though, knew we wanted a fall wedding and wanted to lock in the current rate.

starrbuk13 · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_venues-totally-booked-next-summer?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:65Discussion:8d89dbcc-8402-4836-bb68-b94891e8182fPost:1c9a617f-a6a4-48b1-b32b-2a4e933ed6a3">Re: Venues Totally Booked next Summer?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Venues Totally Booked next Summer? : <strong>Ideally we'd like to have it in a vineyard. </strong>There are few that have indoor options in case of inclement weather though, and both Satlwater Farms and Jonathan Edwards are totally booked. We're considering St. Clements Castle, but they have a minimum guest count that we're trying to work around (and they have ver few Sat eves left also). We basically want an outdoor ceremony with an indoor option, have the reception at the same place. Any suggestions?
Posted by nebbiolo[/QUOTE]

<div>try Haight Brown Vineyard, that's where i had my reception. they won't let you do your ceremony there as far as i know, but they have indoor & outdoor space for a reception, and no minimum guest count. plus, they're incredibly affordable. good luck!</div>

ucvixy77 · July 2010

We began looking at venues in April/May of 2009 but stopped because we were buying a house. There were mulitple Saturdays available when we initially looked. When we went back to looking in July of 2009, we had very few choices for Saturday evenings. It ended up being about 13 months ahead of time.

Keep looking. You will find your spot. It is pretty insane how quickly everything books up. It definitely was not what I expected.

ttbeach · July 2010

This is one reason we moved our wedding, whiile my planner found me some great places that I hadn't considered but loved, they just didn't work with what we wanted so we went for the move everything to FL for a beach wedding. My girlfriend who's wedding I'm in, I know they had issues too but finally found what they wanted. Sometimes you have to think outside the box or so I've heard. Keep calling around or call a planner, they may have an inside track on what is open.

minekellyrich · July 2010

We faced the same problem; FI and I started looking two weeks after we were engaged, by the time I was done touring venues, I had toured just under 30 places and called just as many...Fi since he is AF commissions into the Airf Force as an officer this Dec and we wanted a summer wedding, we needed a date fairly early(ish) in the summer due to him then being "unemployed" until after the wedding...we also needed it to be after memorial day for my sister to be done with first yr of 13 class freshmen yr in delaware and my moms a teacher, PLUS we have military guests who needed a long weekend....our first thought was 4th of July weekend but already in March those dates were booked....

We finally went back to a place we ruled out (The Foxhill Inn) --we thought it wasnt hadicapped accessible, but it is(accomadating) so thats where ours is...so we booked it May 28th of 2010 for July 4th 2011.... Check there to see if they still have dates, and the Woodwinds both are amazing....they all stated though that "once school gets out" all venues usually fill up (summer vaca and get things done frame of mind)
good luck!

nebbiolo · July 2010

Thanks again for the advice and support. We've contacted planners, just not sure if we'll need one depending on the type of venue we end up with (some venue seem a little more turn-key than others). And re: Haight-Brown, we went there and didn't like the staff. The wine was good, but service was slow and the one girl giving us a tasting left us for 20 min in between pours with no apology/acknowledgement when she returned. The other girl behind the counter seemed putt off when we kindly asked her if she could continue our tasting. They didn't seem to keen on taking care of their customers.

elmcity bride · July 2010

we booked the new haven lawn club in July 2009 for our November 2010 wedding and unfortunately we only had a choice of two dates

however NHLC is one of the few venues that holds over 150ish in that immediate area for a winter wedding

good luck with finding a place, not sure if you have considering going to a Friday or Sunday or outside of peak wedding season

jkorniluk · July 2010

As silly as it sounds, you have to book it more than a year in advance. That's what I had to do...even for a winter wedding, as some people plan their Christmas and holiday parties years in advance as well.

Good luck!!!

SillyLGoose · July 2010

We booked our venue 1yr 8 months in advance. Not a vineyard, but Amarante's Sea Cliff will allow for an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception (with a deck attached with the option to go back outside at any point.) They do 2 weddings at a time but they are completely separate buildings. Not sure what your guest count is but the have a smaller room that is attached to the nicer deck. I'm booked for June 24th in the larger room.

ttbeach · July 2010

Even with places that have planners on site, they are so different than the planner that works for you. Been in lots of weddings, had my own wedding and am in another wedding and there is such a huge difference.

I wish you luck and yeah keep trying, and be open to what they have. You never know. Let us all know what you find.

ali79ger · July 2010

We booked our downtown Hartford venue (the Gershon Fox Room) for October 2011 about 15 months in advance. GOOD LUCK!

cfoley15 · July 2010

We just booked our venue last week, actually it was exactly a year in advance! We booked on 7/23/10 and are getting married 7/23/11!! We are getting married at The Riverhouse. They have a spot for an outdoor ceremony. We are having an afternoon weddin (11-4) and I know they had a lot of other afternoon openings too. I'm not sure about evening times but as of June I know they had a few, it would be worth checking out!

Good luck!

herb0622 · July 2010

You'd be surprised how fast summer and fall weddings book up. We booked our reception in November 2009 for an October 2011 wedding. Most of the weekends in September and a few in October were already booked!

swissarmymelody · July 2010

We booked about 16 months in advance and had no problems. We are also having a Sunday wedding so it made it easier.

Whippet8 · July 2010

we booked our january 2010 wedding about 8 months prior..but I guess that's another upside to getting married in the winter..

good luck, and I'm sure you'll find something.

ttbeach · July 2010

I was really surprised how quickly photographers book too.

Karebear852k3 · July 2010

We got engaged in October 2009 (so like 10 months ago) and the wisest advice I got was to book my venue ASAP. We booked our venue January 2010 for our June 2011 wedding, so 1 year 5 months in advance and they were already booking for that month. I was definitely finding the venue to be very stressful because we are having a small wedding (under 60 guests) and many venues in CT want a MINIMUM guest count so that they can make their money (like I LOVED Amarantes in New Haven and it was reasonably priced at round $75 a person, but they wanted at least 100 guests for a Saturday wedding or 75 for a Sunday, so that would've immediately been out of our budget)....

beach11 · July 2010

We booked our venue (Birch Meadow) about 1 year in advance. We didn't have a specific date in mind, just either mid July to mid September, and the 1st available Saturday date was August 14th (our venue only has 1 wedding per day) so we booked it! I think they only had like 1 other date through Mid September when I booked.

Vikki2pay · July 2010

We didn't have a problem, we booked our venue about six months out, but that's the joy of a saturday afternoon in march, when I was looking I only found one venue booked.

Have you thought of either April or November it might be a little easier.

tashala107 · July 2010

Like most of the PPs we booked over a year in advance. Hopefully something will become free. Keep looking. Good luck!

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