When you get engaged, one of the first things you will want to do is book your wedding venue, since they often fill up fast, particularly if you are getting married during summer or the wedding venue is a high demand location. Some popular spots are booked up to a year or more in advance. For this reason, it's best to start looking as soon as possible. Figuring out what dates the venue you want has available may help you determine your wedding date. Because this is such an important decision that you may want to make rather quickly, it's a good idea to sit down and make a checklist of what you need. Here are a few things you might want to consider.
Wedding Size
While you may be early in the planning process, you probably have an idea of how big you want your wedding to be. You and your fiancé may want to invite everyone you know, or you might want to keep it to a modest list of 50 or so people. This will be an important deciding factor when figuring out which wedding venue is best for you. If there's the possibility of having hundreds of people attend your wedding, you need to make sure the venue you decide on can accommodate that size. Don't try to judge it for yourself; ask the owner how many people can comfortably fit. This number might be affected by a couple of different things:
- If you are planning on seating your guests at tables instead of in rows of chairs, you will be more limited on how many people can fit in one room.
- Consider things like special needs; do you have people in wheelchairs who will be attending? They might take up a little more room.
- How big do you want your aisles to be? The bigger the aisles, the less room for chairs.
Think about the number of guests you are expecting. If the wedding venue cannot accommodate that number, then you will probably need to find another option.
Location
Are you planning on getting married in your town or are you planning a destination wedding? Most people plan a wedding in their city of residence because it's usually easier for people to attend that way. If the wedding is in your town, then you may want to consider potential traffic concerns. If your wedding venue is right off of a busy highway, your guests may get stuck in traffic. While this doesn't mean you need to rule the place out completely, you may want to let your guests know they should leave a little earlier so traffic won't be as much of a concern.
Indoors or Outdoors
Another thing you want to decide is whether your wedding is going to be outside or inside. If you live in an area with nice weather, then you may want to hold it outside. However, you have to remember that weather is often unpredictable, and the decision to hold an outdoor wedding may mean you have to have a backup plan. For example, if it's raining outside, you may want tents or another way to keep you and your guests dry. If you don't want to deal with this potential hassle, then you might want to stick with a wedding that's indoors.
These factors can help you narrow down your choices. Start doing some research to see which venues you might want to get married in, and go from there. Touring the locations can help you decide how well it will work for you. Don't forget to ask how many people the location can accommodate, and consider the amount of traffic around the area. These considerations can help you decide on the right venue for you.
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