How involved were your grooms in picking the venue? Over the past few weeks, my fiance, my mother, and I have been schlepping to different venues. My fiance made it super clear that he wants to be married in the summer, that the venue must have a large outdoor area+/- be near water, that it must be "cheap" (his words) but extremely nice, and now he wants to release fire lanterns at the end of the night. He says because I chose the church that he has "veto power" on the venue.
Each venue we go to that he's remotely interested in, he'll ask questions like "can we remove the carpet?" or "can we take some draping down from the tent?" or "can we bring the entire wedding party and guests down to the beach?" or "can we change the curtains?." He'll ask about certain specialty liquors being available and he doesn't even drink that much hard liquor. Just little nit picky things that have started to annoy me. Cost is a big factor in the venue we choose and we've found one that is within the budget we've finally agreed upon, but now he's insisting on tastings prior to signing a contract at his top three choices and in our area, there are hardly tastings before a contract is signed as these are catering halls and not independent caterers. He also won't let me go to any venue by myself, but his work schedule is so busy, that he can't see places but every two weeks on the weekends.
I just want to book b/c places are filling up. I'm just very frustrated and we've gotten into an argument about what I perceive his need is to control every detail about the venue. I appreciate his interest in planning our day, but I feel like he's being difficult. Am I the one completely in the wrong? How do I let him know that I want him to be involved but we both need to be realistic about what we can and cannot afford in terms of the venue?