How to Pick Your Wedding Venue - Advice from someone who’s hosted hundreds of weddings

Everyone wants a beautiful location to celebrate the love they have found, but when it comes to selecting the right venue, there is so much more to consider! Lovely venues are all over the place, but the beauty of the space is not what dictates the overall success and enjoyment of your event. You, of course, want to have an idea of the time of year and date you are hoping for your celebration, but it is a good idea to stay flexible on your specific date as many of the best venues get booked well over a year in advance. Having worked with hundreds of brides on balancing the vision of what they want on their wedding day along with their budget and the challenges presented by different venues, here are the things you should be thinking about as you shop for your wedding venue:

1. Know Your Budget

Having a realistic expectation of what you are willing and able to spend on your wedding is the essential first step in planning and is foundational in your search for the perfect venue. This will often involve having conversations with parents or any other parties that might be financially contributing toward your wedding. Once you know at least an estimated amount you have to work with, you can start working backwards through all items that are subtracted from that bottom line. Here are some of the major components you need to be estimating for other than the venue itself:

A. Food (catering, cake, bar service, tableware)
B. Floral, Décor & Draping
C. Planner/Coordinator
D. Photographer/Videographer
E. Attire (dress, shoes, tuxedoes)
F. Rehearsal Dinner
G. Accommodations
H. Entertainment - DJ and/or Band
I. Hair & Make Up
J. Invitations & Stationary
K. Rings
L. Miscellaneous - Officiant, Send-off, Transportation, Gifts (for spouse, bridal party, and party favors for guests)

Understanding how much you realistically need to spend in each of these areas helps you in selecting the right venue at the right price point for you.

2. Location, location, location

Now that you have a general sense for what your overall budget needs to be, you should consider how location impacts your event. Choosing a venue close to where you grew up likely makes it easier for a larger number of your local friends and family to attend. It also affects some of your considerations like transportation and accommodations. One thing you should be mindful of, however, is that choosing a venue close to home could result in feeling obligated to invite anyone and everyone in an effort to not offend some and might blow your guest list up larger than you intended. The number of guests that attend has a tremendous impact on your food & beverage expense, not to mention the general size of the venue needed to accommodate a large guest count. Choosing a venue at least an hour from home or selecting a destination wedding location can greatly reduce the pressure to feel like you have to invite EVERYONE. You can focus on celebrating with your closest friends and family. Should you choose a destination location or a venue more than an hour from home, you might want to consider venues that offer all-inclusive packages and can take care of the majority of your planning details in-house.

3. The Logistics - planning, coordinating, and IMPLEMENTING

Before getting your heart set on a particular venue, you should clearly understand all that goes into planning, coordinating, and actually implementing all the details and moving parts of your dream wedding at that location. Consider what the backup plan looks like if inclement weather is an issue on the day of your wedding. Will rain necessitate your guests sitting at tables if the ceremony is moved indoors on the day of your wedding? If the venue you are considering is not an all inclusive venue (offering in-house planning and coordination services as well as the staff to implement the rain plan) then you will definitely want to think about hiring a planner, a day-of coordinator, and some extras to help facilitate any last minute setup. Choose someone who has worked at that specific venue before and understands the logistics of everything from parking, to food prep, to sound restrictions, and the workflow of your guests moving from ceremony space to reception space. You are investing a lot of money in this day and, more importantly, you can never get this time back, so you want everything to have been meticulously calculated and then flawlessly executed. See how Ramble Creek approaches handling all the logistics.

4. Know the Questions to Ask

So you’ve narrowed down your venues, and now its important to know the right questions to ask as you tour them and make your final decision. Many venues give you all the lovely high-lights of their space without divulging some of the less desirable realities of hosting your wedding there. Be sure to ask these questions:

• What is included in the “Venue Rental” cost?
  Some venues include the use of tables and chairs or even linens in the use of their venue space. Others include a day-of coordinator or some level of planning assistance with their base package fee. Still other venues only include the use of the space in the base venue rental fee. You need to understand all that is and isn’t included with the base package cost in order to appropriately budget the items you need into the overall cost of your wedding.

• Can we have exclusive use of the venue and property on the day of our wedding?
  Many venues try to host multiple weddings on their property in different locations. This can lead to confusion among your guests and vendors regarding which location is yours and the potential for an overlap of amplified sound and cheers between the two events.

• Do we have to use the venue’s preferred vendors or can we bring in our own?
  Unless you are working with a truly all-inclusive wedding venue you’ll be using outside vendors such as caterers and florists. Many venues require that you only use vendors from their “Preferred Vendors” list, but you need to be aware that they are usually getting a kick-back from these vendors and that’s why they require you to only work with them. Optimally, you would have the option to not be limited only to the vendors they have deals with, but rather select from any qualified vendor in the region.

• Will there be staff available to do set up and clean up?
  As discussed earlier, it is going to take a team of people to actually pull off your wedding and you really don’t want to saddle your family and friends with that responsibility on such a special day when they just want to be celebrating with you. If the venue does not provide you with people to help set up, direct parking, tear things down, and clean floors, then you might need to be planning on hiring helpers yourself.

• What are our responsibilities at the end of the event?
  Many times a couple gets excited about a beautiful venue to only later find out there is a laundry list of responsibilities that fall on them at the end of the night when they host an event at that location. Ask to see this list upfront before you book so you can make a sound, well founded decision.

Picking a wedding venue can feel overwhelming, but we offer tried and true solutions. Visit Ramble Creek for a tour and find out just how easy we make the whole process for you. We provide you with a detailed and itemized quote up front outlining all the costs for hosting your event with us and, for the few things we don’t offer in-house (like dresses and photography), we can help you think through those costs as well. It’s our desire to make sure you see and understand the whole picture before deciding on Ramble Creek as your East Tennessee wedding venue.