Okay, so you’ve read through some of the items to keep in mind when shopping for a venue, and you’re ready to get started, but how?

These steps sound simple, but I realize there’s so much more to this than a couple of bullet points. For the sake of attention span, I’ve narrowed it down to 3 items you need to have defined before you go off looking for a venue.

1. Define your budget.

This is the overall budget that you want to spend on the whole wedding. From there, we can break this down into what portion should belong to your venue (and some of the features it includes so you can compare more easily and still understand if it’s within your budget).

2. Define your culture.

Name the top thing that’s the most important to you and your partner.

My most common are: family, fun, party, celebration, stress-free, quality, smooth experience.

Yes, you only get to pick one for right now. Family may mean that you have a higher guest count with a different venue. Stress-free may mean that you need to make sure that your venue has a built-in rain plan so that you don’t really have to concern yourself with the weather.

3. Estimate your guest list.

Depending on your culture above, you may have a larger or smaller guest list. This will impact your budget and your culture and will almost always define a large part of your venue selection.

Of course, we can go into style, logistics, how much time such-and-such venue will save you because they include XYZ, but in the long and short of it – you want to make sure you start with a good base because everything else starts here.

Need a detailed conversation about how to find the right venue for you? Let’s chat!