Wedding Venues Your wedding should be the happiest day of your life. But how to choose the perfect venue? Well, unless your friends and family have the time and money to watch you tie the knot in Las Vegas or the Caribbean, it is advisable to choose somewhere within easy reach and book the venue well in advance.

Naturally Saturday weddings in the height of summer are the most
popular, and it is worth choosing a date when the majority of your
guests are likely to be free and that will also fit in with your
honeymoon plans (avoiding the rainy season if you are going somewhere
exotic, for instance). And if you plan on having a civil ceremony you
must check that the venue is licensed and all the paperwork done in
advance. 

Regardless
of whether you have a church or civil service,
it is important there’s sufficient parking for your guests, plenty of
accommodation options nearby to suit all budgets, and that your wedding
doesn’t clash with any other public events being held in the vicinity
on the same day. 

Another critical consideration, unless you plan to hold
it in the same building as the ceremony, is to have a suitable
venue for the reception situated nearby, with a good local taxi service
available to ferry guests back and forth. And remember people will have
been sitting in rows during the ceremony, so the reception venue should
be capacious enough to let everybody spread out, with room for children
to run around, dancing later in the evening and adequate seating for
older guests. 

If
you are planning a summer wedding, ensure both the wedding and reception
venues have sufficient ventilation and the climate can be controlled
over the course of the evening when the party thins out and the
temperature drops. Also that measures are taken so smokers will be able
to smoke in comfort without annoying non-smokers. These details are
especially important if you are planning to use a marquee. 

Other considerations include the provision of a dressing room for the bride and bridesmaids prior to the ceremony and whether separate rooms will be available for the wedding, reception and meal. Finally, ensure there is an appropriate location nearby for the wedding photographs to be taken, including some provision for taking them indoors in case it rains.

With
respect to catering, including linens and tableware, waiting staff,
settling on a menu and printing it out and the clean up at the end, it
is worth finding out whether you have to use the venue’s bespoke
service or can shop around to get prices for local catering companies.

The same goes for the provision of a photographer, alcohol, flowers and
decorations and music and entertainment. Sometimes these things work out
cheaper as an all inclusive package provided by the venue, and other
times you’ll get better value for money and a greater range of options
by outsourcing various services locally.

Either way, it is important that the venue
gives you the choice about how you want to use it. If
you are going to manage everything yourself, it is vital that you are
given adequate access to the venue before the actual wedding day so that
you can design it to your specifications and make the necessary
preparations. 

Other
issues to run through include secure storage and insurance for presents
and personal belongings, whether a PA system will be available for
speeches, and to what hour the venue has a license to sell alcohol and
play live music.

In effect, you are making sure your wedding day goes to
plan and is not subject to restrictions and rules and regulations. In
this respect, it is important you have a good, honest relationship with
the venue so you are both prepared for all eventualities and there are
no last minute surprises.

To
give you some idea of the kind of venues available in your area it is
worthwhile looking on the internet because the sites that come up should
include photographs and the amount of effort a venue puts into its
online presence is a good indication of their overall professionalism. You
can even get free quotes and advice from professional

Venue
Finding Services

Whatever means you have of sourcing the venue, here’s wishing you have
a wonderful day.