Booking Your Venue

Carrie0930 · April 2011

I'm wondering how far in advance you booked your reception venue? What month and day of the week is your wedding on?

Are you inviting guests with plus ones? We haven't gotten our guest list down yet but I feel like it is polite to give people the option to bring guests but am wondering how much that will affect the total guest count (i.e. if a handful of people RSVP as a single instead of with a guest).

Edit: How many venues did you look at in person before you booked one?

JBs_Bride · April 2011

We booked our venue in January 2009 for our Saturday night June 2010 wedding since we knew June is a popular month and there were a couple venues we didn't even get to see since they were completely booked before we could even schedule a time to see the places.

We invited all of our guests with a plus one. Not all of them brought dates, but if we didn't have the space, we wouldn't have... we would have just limited it to people who were in relationships (so singles without an s.o. couldn't bring a random person).

penny12986 · April 2011

My wedding is Sunday July 1st, 2012 and I booked this past March for a hotel in downtown Boston.

I saw 3 venues in person, Cruiseport in Gloucester, The Commander's Mansion in Watertown and then the one that we booked, The W Hotel.

As far as the guest list, we are keeping it around 70 people but are accounting for all people to bring a guest though they may not all bring one.

I know that it may seem like a year and half is a lot of time but it really isn't and things book more quickly than you would realize.

snorri10 · April 2011

We booked in November for a Feb wedding but I think i am not the norm! We were very fortunate to book during off season as it gave us a lot more options - most vendors were available and flexible on cost, and wouldn't have been had we done the other seasons. It was a risk planning a winter wedding (especially this year!) but it worked out well for us and I am so glad we did it! Prior to booking, we looked at Linden Place in Bristol, RI, Roughwood Estate @ Pine Manor College, Regattabar at The Charles Hotel, MIT Faculty Club, Ginger Park Restaurant (now out of business!) and the Millennium Hotel. The Millennium was the last place we looked at and the one we ended up booking and we loved it!

As for plus one, I think people are divided on this but we both felt strongly that people should have the option to bring a guest. We had a relatively small wedding, about 75. I would recommend if you are inviting people with guests, plan for it in your budget. We had very few no's and the guests we did invite with guests brought them with one exception, but that was only due to a last minute cancellation. Good luck!

Lauren6277 · April 2011

We got married in October 2010 and booked our venue in June 2010. We were relocating so our planning timeline was short. We looked at 6 venues and all of them had several openings in Sept/Oct/Nov (including Saturday nights). Not sure if it was a product of the bad economy but we had no issues whatsoever finding a date. Most venues were offering deals to fill the dates so it worked in our favor.

We looked at the Seaport Hotel, State Room, Renaissance Hotel, Hyatt Harborside, Boston Harbor Hotel and we booked the Millennium Hotel.

Biotechick620 · April 2011

We booked our Saturday evening July 2011 wedding in May 2010. Actually, we wanted June 2011 but by the time we were ready to book the venue they didn't have any dates left in May or June 2011. We had to choose between July 2 or July 30. Def book sooner than later!

We visited a total of 4 venues in person.

We're not giving every guest that's single a plus one. We're looking at each guest individually. For example FI has a bunch of college buddies that are single and know a lot of other guests; we won't be giving them a plus one. We will be giving a plus one to those that we think will be more comfortable with someone else there that they know.

soon2bmrs.m-lo · April 2011

We booked in Feb 2011 for our Friday wedding next June 2012. We visted 10 venues before we found one that suited us. We are also only have 70 guests and that played a big role in trying to find the style of venue we wanted that would also accomodate a smaller reception, so many venues cater to much larger groups. We started looking as early as possible because we new we wanted a June wedding and that June dates book up quickly.

As far as the guest list, we are giving single guests the plus one option. Our guest list is really limited though and most of our friends are either married or have long time significant others and so we are close, or at the least, very familiar with nearly alll of our guests.

On the other hand, my sister is having a very small wedding (only 32 people) and to keep the count low invited several single people without giving the plus one option. I think it depends on your budget and how understanding your guests are.

rockstar8575 · April 2011

We booked our Friday night June 2011 wedding in April 2010.

We only visited 2 venues, but fell in love with the second one so we stopped our search there.

We are not giving any of our single guests a plus one. The only people that have a plus one are either already married, enaged or in a long term relationship.

momo2210 · April 2011

We booked the ceremony and reception locations for our upcoming Saturday night June 2011 wedding back in January 2010.

We invited all of our guests with a plus one.

We looked at a total of 5 places in down town Boston before deciding on our venue. ( The Fairmont Copley, the State Room, the Seaport Hotel, the Langham Hotel and the Boston Harbor Hotel ) All of the venues we looked at had at least a few dates in June already booked so as soon as we knew where we wanted to have it, we put our deposit down and got the contract started.

Good luck with your search!

Dayn070104 · April 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_booking-venue?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:89Discussion:080a4aa6-1904-43d4-899d-a3819db65c17Post:46d05ac9-76c9-4c82-87d7-0ecdb8a0733c">Booking Your Venue</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm wondering how far in advance you booked your reception venue? What month and day of the week is your wedding on? Are you inviting guests with plus ones? We haven't gotten our guest list down yet but I feel like it is polite to give people the option to bring guests but am wondering how much that will affect the total guest count (i.e. if a handful of people RSVP as a single instead of with a guest). Edit: How many venues did you look at in person before you booked one?
Posted by Carrie0930[/QUOTE]

I was engaged in August and we had our venue booked by November for our July 1, 2012 wedding. This, admittedly, makes me a psycho, but I REALLY wanted my venue so I knew i had to get in early!

We are only inviting guests to bring a date if we know they are in a serious relationship or if we have met their significant others in the past. the only exeption to that rule is that I'm inviting a co-worker who will not know anyone so I am letting her bring a guest. it may be 'polite' to give your guests that opportunity, but you need to think about your budget...if you can afford a plus 1 for every person on your list, by all means, the more the merrier!

We looked at 5 venues before choosing the Villa...even though the Villa was our first and it was love at first sight :)

backbaybride · April 2011

We booked our Saturday night May 2011 wedding in May 2009. Surprisingly we didn't even get our first choice date. We looked at the Mandarin, Fairmont Copley, Boston Harbor Hotel, Millenium, and Langham before booking the Seaport Hotel.
We invited all of our guests with plus one's (except for our 4 year old flower girl haha). We had always planned on doing this and I was especially glad when many of FI's single friends got really upset about not being invited with a date to other weddings we attended last summer.

emilyinboston · April 2011

We booked our Saturday night Sept 2011 wedding in March 2010. We looked at Bear Hill, Peabody Mariott, Tewksbury CC, Doubletree Bedford, Sheraton Commander in Cambridge and the Sheraton in Wakefield.

The only guests receiving plus ones are in serious LTRs or engaged. We have over 220 people on our list and it's just not possible to give away invitations to randoms.

booboo1978 · April 2011

We booked our wedding 13 months out, so march 2011 for late april 2012. We have a smaller guest list (no more than 90 people) to start, so no one unless they're in a long term relationship, living with someone, married or engaged is getting a plus one. We can't afford random people at our wedding, and we've been very clear with people about this. If people have a problem, they can deal or not come. I know that sounds harsh, but I've gone to weddings solo, it can be done. My mom passed it on to my aunts that my cousins will not be getting dates. It's not prom, it's a family wedding. They can come or not, they're choice. The only person that pitched a fit is my FI's niece about not bringing her "boyfriend". So we had to tell her in no uncertain terms: he is not invited. He cannot come. He will not be allowed in the space. (There are criminal and legal reasons why he may not be allowed of his state, let alone at our wedding, but she knows this and still chooses to run with a rougher crowd).
As far as I'm concerned, I'm footing the bill for this, I've got a bottom line to watch, I won't sacrifice comfort factors for my guests in most ways, but I don't want random people at my wedding that I've never met before, and I get to make that call. And how comfortable is it for someone who just started dating someone else to show up at a family and close friend function?????

Nicole F. · April 2011

We just booked our venue a few weeks ago for our wedding on saturday evening in August 2012.

In regards to the plus ones, those can add up quickly. I would suggest figuring out your budget then go from there.

njlfred · April 2011

We booked in Feb 2009 for our April 2010 Saturday afternoon / evening wedding. To be honest, we only looked at a couple places total - maybe 3? We had certain factors that were important to us (parking availability, not having a "gap", timing of reception) that really helped make the decision easier. That being said, it helped that our #1 choice was the place that met all those needs.

We offered all single people a guest. I've been on the receiving end of not being invited with a guest a few too many times, so this was a pet peeve of mine. I understand why people do it, but from a guest perspective, it irked me not to be invited with a guest when others attending the wedding clearly were allowed guests. Also, there was a particular wedding that I almost did not attend, because if the one other couple I knew didn't go, I literally would not have known anyone there other than the bride and the groom and traveling for a couple hours to attend a wedding where I wouldn't know anyone just did not appeal to me. Again, I understand why people are invited without guests, but based on my past feelings, I would have felt like a hypocrite if I did not allow +1s at my wedding. FWIW, pretty much all of our single guests did not utilize the +1 allowed to them.

Calypso1977 · April 2011

we only looked at one place and booked it in august for a feb wedding.

i did a TON of online research tho. i probably looked seriously at 5 or 6 places online and requested info. but if it was out of our price range, there was no point in looking at it and wasting time.

CrazyMary77 · April 2011

We looked at 5 different venues and booked a year in advance for our June 2011 wedding. We had a limited amount of time since we did it during a trip to Boston for a long weekend. We are inviting most of our guests with plus one's. There are a handful of older relatives who are widows that we're inviting by themselves.

seprincipe · April 2011

I booked in July 2010 for my wedding in 17 days. (april 30th - Saturday night). I booked the first place I saw (looked at 4-5 others before booking though). Almost everyone got invited with guests. Only three aunts/uncles who are widowed didn't get guests, as I know they are all not dating people (ie: not even going out casually with anyone). A few friends and cousins chose to not bring dates, even though being invited with them. We had a low response rate - we only have 53% of those invited able to attend though, so I really wish everyone was bringing dates.

DirtyWater · April 2011

We booked our venue October of 2010 for our September 2012 wedding.

We only booked that far in advance because there were only 4 Saturdays available in 2012 in the months that we wanted.

We have a guest list of around 269 right now.

If you are over the age of 21 you get a date.
If you are under 21 but living with someone or engaged you get a date.
No children are allowed unless they are 14 and older (there are only 5 in total)
Our families are too large to do anything different.

We looked at about 6 before we booked. It was the best deal out of them all and it was my parents first visit with us...They cried and said they didn't want to look at anymore. So that was that.

Diana1724 · April 2011

I was engaged in Sept. 2010 and we had our venue booked by October 2010 for our May 18th (friday) 2012 wedding. Once we had booked it we learned that every since day in may and june were already taken for that year. We looked at 3 places before choosing our venue.

We are not giving everyone plus 1's. Most people have been in realtionships for a while so they will bring their significant other. If someone is not going to know anyone else at the wedding, they will get a plus 1. We just don't really want a ton of random people at the wedding. Also, no one under 18.

SN318 · April 2011

We booked our venue for our Friday night March 2011 wedding in July 2010. It was the only venue we looked at and we fell in love with it. Plus it had a special meaning to us. I looked at a lot of places online, but our venue was the only one we went and toured.

We invited most of our guests with plus ones. Some brought a guest with them and some of them didn't. We actually ended up being way under our guest count since we had a lot of family from out of state unable to make it.

HockeyFan4 · April 2011

we got engaged in Mid November 2010....we sat down and did a rough guest list (plus one for all guests) on an excel spreadsheet.... we came up with about 115 or so and knew we wanted a venue that would accomodate up to 150.

We knew we wanted to get married October 2011...but weren't stuck on a specific date.

I did a lot of research online & with info requested (seriously looked at about 10 venues online/info) and visited 3 venues in person. I booked my venue in December 2010. As we looked we really wanted to do early in October ...and picked October 1st (a saturday).

october010bride · April 2011

We saw 10, maybe 12 venues.

We booked our venue in March 2009 for out October 10, 2010 wedding. It had to be a Sunday evening wedding and we wanted to have it over a long weekend so that only left so many options. 10/10/10 was the most popular wedding date in the previous 20 years so we knew we had to book early.

And we invited everyone with a plus one, didn't matter if they had a significant other... everyone got a guest.

Booking Your Venue

Re: Booking Your Venue

Choose Another Board

Search Boards