Well hopefully you have picked your date and have an idea
with about how many people you want to invite.
Now you need to decide where you have your wedding! You will have some
idea of where you want to get married or what type of setting. Use friends, bridal shows, magazines, the
internet, anywhere to get ideas. BUT be careful!
There will be hundreds of places for you to choose from, this is where your
guest list number comes in handy. Do
your research, find out what is the capacity for a banquet at venues you are
interested in using. If your guest list
is 150 but the venue holds 125, it’s a no go.
Be careful also of venues trying to be sneaky. I went to a reception venue which said it
could hold 200 people. Once I got there
I was informed that yes, 200 people could fit but the dance floor was moved
outside on an adjacent deck. There was
no way I was risking that in middle of the summer. All I needed was sweaty, smelly guest who
might be drenched by a quick evening shower due to the August humidity. No thank you! But if that interests you,
message me and I’ll give you some information.
It really was a beautiful venue in downtown Baltimore.
Before
you start calling/emailing venue sites, (here is recommendation #3) create a wedding email address. Go to gmail, yahoo, or your email of choice
and create one. It can be as simple as powersscottwedding@whatever.com.
This way all of your wedding information will be in the same place. Any correspondence between vendors, venues,
anything will be together and much easier to manage. Both my Mom and I had access to my wedding
email and it was great!
When
contacting venues make sure you tell them both your guest count and your
date. They will let you know if they are
available or not and set up a time to meet with you. I would also ask for pricing
information. This will let you be able
to go over their prices before meeting and can give you an idea if you are
interested or not. I visited most places
after work during the week. We did
double book a couple days. Just make
sure you give yourself a good hour to visit and see the venue (Especially if it
is a hotel. If you are visiting a
reception hall it would take less time)
After
you have visited a couple venues, you will realize what you really want at your
reception and what you could live without.
MAKE A LIST!! It seems silly but it really helps. All places will have the same basics, options
for head table, white linens, but does this site offer Chivari chairs or do you
have to pay extra? Are they willing to work with you to customize the menu and
menu options or is the number of appetizers, etc. set in stone? And then there
is the cost, why your budget is so important.
Most reception venues will give you prices per guest. I have seen prices ranging from $17 all the
way to above $250. Some places will give
you inclusive prices (this includes taxes and gratuities) and some will give
you the price without. If you just have
the base price, be able to add about 20-25 more dollars for each meal depending
on where you live. I live in Maryland
and we have pretty high food and beverage taxes. You also have to decide if you are getting married and having a reception in the same place. Every venue I looked at had an area I could use for my marriage ceremony, if that is what I wanted. Many venues charged a flat rate for usage of this space however some had the price included already. This is just another question to ask while visiting sites.
Whew! That was a lot for one blog. I will post more about reception venues later
but this is a quick what to do! If you
have specific questions please feel free to leave comments and I will get back
as soon as I can!
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