Wedding Reception Forum

How far in advance should a venue be booked?

Just got engaged last week, and Im just starting the planning process.  We came up with a tentative guest list and want to start checking out venues for a wedding in July 2014.  How far in advance should we be looking at booking venues...when is it "too late"?

Re: How far in advance should a venue be booked?

  • AddieCakeAddieCake member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited November 2012
    It depends on the place. Some places book up to a year in advance, so if you are going with a popular location, you want to book early. That being said, sometimes you get lucky. We had a situation where we had to cancel our original venue and find a new one. We ended up getting married at a highly popular venue and booked it 5 months out. Congrats and happy planning!
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • book as soon as possible.

     

  • I'd say it's never too early.  I booked mine a year an half out and I didn't get my choice of dates.

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  • Ditto PP. If you are looking at a highly populated or popular area for your wedding, then book ASAP.  We booked at a year in advance, but we had a March wedding, so it was still considered off season.  But since you want July, it would be best to finalize your guest list and start looking now.
  • Never too early, depending on the popularity of the location, it could be booked over a year in advance. If you are a budget, the sooner you book the better, because the good places that are affordable, book up fast. Plus the sooner you book them, the sooner you lock in the prices. Once you have the hall, you can start figuring out a lot of the rest of the stuff like centeprieces, cake, etc. Like for my reception hall they had centerpieces available for use that I liked so no cost to me (except for candles that went in them) plus a cake was included with the price, so didn't need to find a cake vendor. So I knew after booking the hall I didn't have to worry about the cake or picking out centerpieces.
  • From one Jersey girl to another- start looking now.  I booked in July 2010 for our March 2012 wedding and it was the only Saturday left that month. Luckily it was the one I wanted anyway.  They are already filling up for 2014.
     
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  • Same as Liatris here. It depends on how flexible you are your fiance are willing to be. We ended up booking our dream venue, but we did not get our firs choice date (A Saturday). However, because it was only six months out, and we were happy with a Friday evening, we ended up saving quite a bit! 
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  • Looks like TK ate my response.  Boo. From one Jersey girl to another it's never to early to look.  2014 is already booked in many places so you should start now expecially if you want July.
     
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  • We booked our July 2013 New Jersey wedding in March 2012. At that point, we had the last Saturday night left for the month, and there were no Friday nights left. Its never, ever too early! Good luck!
  • I'm also looking at July 2014 and have visited some venues already. I've been asking the people I've met with whether it's too early to look, and the response is always "nope, never too early".

    Agree with above advice about figuring out your budget and a rough head count so you can figure out what's really doable when you get venue info
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  • edited December 2012
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_how-far-in-advance-should-a-venue-be-booked?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:22a69c9c-8f39-42e7-a37e-868909037c2ePost:ac45fe64-74ce-4d14-b136-69da9a522ab6">Re: How far in advance should a venue be booked?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I'm also looking at July 2014 and have visited some venues already. I've been asking the people I've met with whether it's too early to look, and the response is always "nope, never too early". Agree with above advice about figuring out your budget and a rough head count so you can figure out what's really doable when you get venue info
    Posted by LizM61409[/QUOTE]


    Hi, I am getting married June 20th, 2014. I booked my venue last month. A year and 7 months for planning and saving. Book soon because now that it is holiday time, a lot of summer 2014 weddings will be booking once people get engaged this holiday season! Congrats and best of luck :)
  • Book as soon as possible. I started looking for June 2014 venues last month and my top choice was already full for all Saturdays in June 2014. If you have a specific venue in mind, go for it and don't wait.
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