Having the term wedding and survival in the same sentence may seem a bit strange, but anyone who’s ever had to plan a wedding can tell you—they belong together. Weddings are stressful events to plan for.Not only are you planning the biggest day of your life, you are creating an event that will make your family and friends feel like they are an integral part of your new life together. Choosing a venue can be an especially difficult aspect; you want the venue to be absolutely perfect.
While the task might seem overwhelming, there are some simple tips to help ensure that choosing the perfect wedding venue isn’t a complete nightmare. Here’s our bride’s survival guide for choosing a wedding venue.
Get Going Early
Once you start planning for your day, settling on a venue should be one of the very first things you do. Venues, especially trendy and unique ones, can book quickly and early. Waiting too long will land you in a spot that isn’t your first or even fourth choice. We recommend booking up to 9 to 18 months in advance.
Shop Around
Venues can get quite costly, and if you’ve only looked at a very limited range of venues, you could easily end up settling for something that isn’t quite what you wanted, or spending too much on something you could have found elsewhere. In a city of Toronto, there are hundreds of viable options for wedding venues, ranging from the traditional ballrooms to the more eclectic spaces. Determining the theme or vision of your wedding can help you decide what type of venue to go for.
Give yourself enough time to shop around at all the different options. The more venues you’ve seen, the more informed your decision will be when you finally settle on the venue for your wedding.
Ask for Recommendations
If you’ve have any friends or family members who have gotten married in Toronto, ask them how they liked the venue they chose, or if there were any others they viewed that they were particularly impressed with. Word of mouth is a great way to hear about the good and bad of numerous venues.
This can be a great way to get a short list started for venues you might be interested in. The benefit of having a first-hand experience is always an advantage; the difference between what is promised and what is delivered can sometimes be staggering.
Read the Reviews
If you aren’t able to get any personal recommendations, reading the reviews is another great option. In fact, it’s a good idea either way! The more accounts you can read of personal, first-hand experiences, the more you’ll be able to gauge if a certain venue is right for you.
We’re not just talking about the reviews the venue posts—they’re bound to paint the venue in a positive light. Set your scope a little wider and find out if there are any problems you should be aware of before you’ve made any firm commitments. Use message boards and review sites on the internet to gain more knowledge of the venues you may be interested it.
Find Out What’s Included
This is another great survival tip for any bride. Many venues will provide more services for you than you might expect. Wedding planning is so stressful, so consider offloading some of the work onto the venue if possible.
Certain venues offer all kinds of services, from providing the caterer to booking the DJ. These are serious considerations that can alleviate a lot of pressure from the other pressing concerns that need to be attended to. When visiting different venues and interviewing the event coordinators, one of the questions to ask is what can be included alongside the venue. You might be surprised by just how much a venue is able to accommodate in terms of different services and tasks that can make your wedding planning go much smoother.
