Inspiration
Choosing the perfect wedding venue can be a complete minefield.
You want something that reflects your personality, can hold your number of guests, is in a suitable location AND has plenty of stunning locations for your wedding shots.
But before you decide on one, there are a number of questions to ask your wedding venue. We’ve used our knowledge and expertise in all things wedding to create this comprehensive list of questions you should be asking a wedding venue before booking.
It’s best if you can be open with your choice of date. Some brides want to get married on a special date like Valentine’s Day or their anniversary. If this is the case, you may need to book your chosen venue in plenty of time to ensure you get the date you want.
Remember, if you’re getting married in a church, you need to check your chosen church can do the same date as your venue.
Don’t let the date be a big deciding factor. If you’ve fallen in love with a venue, it would be silly to not get married there because they don’t have the Saturday in June that you want. Some compromise may be needed.
Some venues that have multiple function rooms may allow other functions on the same day as your wedding. For some couples, this isn’t a big problem. However, others don’t want to share their venue and have strangers walking around amongst wedding guests.
If you want exclusive access, double check the venue can do this. It may come at an additional cost.
If you have a large family, you need to double check that your venue can fit all of your guests in. Some large venues also have a minimum number of guests, so make sure you can fill those seats, otherwise you may have to pay more.
If you have any elderly or disabled wedding guests, it would be worth checking:
Some venues only offer venue hire, some have their own packages that include anything from food to venue dressing to a cake, and more. If you’re a bride on a budget, this kind of all-inclusive package might be better for you.
Some venues will include table linen and crockery for you, however with other venues, you may need to hire these through the caterer. Just double check if they’re included. If not, you need to factor in the additional cost.
Some venues have their own wedding fayres. If you can, you should go along even if you haven’t booked the venue yet. Wedding fayres are the perfect time to see the venue full of people and dressed with table clothes, chair covers, and stunning flower displays. You can also meet potential suppliers.
Pets at weddings are a recent craze, but couples love to get their animals involved. We’ve seen dog ring bearers, owls flying down the aisle, and even llamas to entertain wedding guests.
If this is something that you desperately want, make sure your venue allows it. You may also want to check what the cost of damages could be for a dog weeing on a 200-year-old chair. Just in case.
Some venues will allow you to choose what alcohol you want to be available. If you’re gin lovers, you might want a selection of gins to be available to your guests. You could even create your own cocktails for the day.
You can also pay the bar in advance up to a certain amount. For example, you put £1,000 on the bar so that most drinks are automatically paid for. When this runs out, the guests will need to start paying for drinks themselves.
The morning of the wedding is such an exciting time. There’s lots of hustle and bustle with photographers popping in and out, hair and makeup artists set up and bridesmaids wandering round with glasses of champagne. You can make it even more special by staying at your chosen venue the night before. Some venues will offer a discount if you stay with them the night before the wedding and the night of.
A bonus is that the venue will do the cleaning up once you’re ready.
Discussing money and budget is so important. A wedding venue will probably be one of the biggest costs and you need to make sure you can afford it. Discuss what the down payment is to secure the venue, and how the rest can be paid.
Discussing money and budget is so important. A wedding venue will probably be one of the biggest costs and you need to make sure you can afford it. Discuss what the down payment is to secure the venue, and how the rest can be paid.
Bouquet & Bells / The Magazine is the ultimate paper guide for stylish & fun loving couples. Each and every issue is full-to-bursting with the latest innovative fresh content & hottest trends.
with CLAIRE BOON and SARAH MACKLIN of BOUQUET & BELLS
Browse the latest inspiring content including new wedding trends, your most
asked questions, beautiful shoots and more.
You know that old saying “new year, new me”? Well, ahead of the fast approaching 2025, we’ve decided to switch some things up around here and add a dash more sparkle into Bouquet and Bells.
This shoot was inspired wholly by the vastness and beauty of the venue as well as the unitarians inspiring ethos: Ullet Road Unitarian Church. We chose a beautiful day for the shoot, meaning the light flooding into the building and outside of the building was beautiful. We had a selection of dresses to change into for different parts of the church, and we utilised the late in different rooms and at different windows, as well as the doors for the iconic confetti shots.
Your wedding is a magical day which will stay with you forever. However, it’s unquestionable that with a tag like that, there’s also going to be an element of pressure you need to manage. 84% of brides report feeling some sort of stress about their big day. And while a lot of this comes hand-in-hand with planning a large event, it’s unquestionable that standing in front of anyone as the “star of the show” is going to get the nerves jangling.
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