A Guide to Selecting Venues

It goes without saying that an important criteria when selecting your wedding reception venue is budget.The number of guests attending and also the geographical location both in relation to where you marry and accessibility for your wedding guests.

Apart from the ceremony, the most significant part of the whole day is the reception. There you will spend between six and seven hours. With this in mind you should obviously select your wedding venue with a good deal of thought.

The places that you can have your wedding reception are enormous. The more traditional are hotels and conference rooms or suites, golf clubs, village halls, church halls and schools halls along with, club houses and the like.The choice is ever increasing and especially so where more venues are becoming licensed to undertake civil wedding ceremonies.

Only the imagination and finances really restrict you. As an idea for your venue you might consider castles and galleries, barns, marquees and museums, grand old country houses or their outbuilding. Each of these places will be able to offer something quite unique to itself and its surroundings. As you consider more and more possibilities you may start to become overwhelmed by the choices open to you. To help you in your selection, you should possibly start your search by looking through bridal magazines and the internet. This will give you a general feel for what is available in your area and at what cost. Once you have done this you should obtain brochures and take note as to the efficiency of the establishment you have request information from. If you are happy with how the initial the initial enquiry went, pay them a visit and make yourself at home remembering that you should be able to feel comfortable on the big day. Ask as many questions as you feel you need answers to and even take your camera for a few quick shots to help you remember what each of the venues you viewed was like. Any well organised establishment will be more than happy to answer your questions realizing that they have the experience and not you. Further into this article a listing of Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Sussex and Kent wedding reception venues is provided.

Before you can consider any wedding reception venue, factors need to be taken into account such as, the number of guests invited, where they are coming from and the accessibility of the place or places in mind. As a guide, venues in large towns or cities are safe from an accessibility and accommodation point of view but do not always offer a good outdoor setting and can therefore become stuffy. In large cities public transport may be good but the parking of private vehicles can be a problem. Large towns are generally a safe bet but, may not necessarily be able to cope with large numbers of wedding guests being able to stay in overnight accommodation and especially so, in small villages. Also, it may be appreciated by your overnight staying guests to have affordable accommodation. Surrey , Buckinghamshire , Sussex and Kent to name but a few counties offer some most exquisite wedding venues.

You will almost certainly have a wedding photographer and many of your guests will be taking their cameras. With this in mind, consider the wedding reception venue from an aesthetical point of view. Many photographs will be taken within the venue and quite possibly outside in the gardens, terraces and patios also. Rivers, lakes, ponds and statues offer a great backdrop to your photographs. On inspection of venues ask yourself if the exterior parts are as appealing as built structures.

It is an unfortunate fact that weddings are expensive events and therefore the amount you are able to spend on the venue will dictate to an extent what options are open to you. The cheaper end of the scale is the community centres, village and school halls along with small private barns but here you need to be sure that that any facilities that appear to be present are indeed accessibly to you on hiring such places. Intermediate priced venues may be restaurants, banqueting suites, purpose built barns and marquees. These venues should have all the necessary facilities but in the case of the marquees and barns, catering facilities may have to be outsourced. The upper end of the financial scale would be the grand old houses, listed building, castles and 5 star hotels. Unfortunately the big hotels can be impersonal and are often catering for more than just your wedding reception.

The Gardens of Oaks Farm Croydon

You will have a fair idea of the number of guest you wish to invite to your wedding reception but do be sure of this before you book anything. If you book something that is too small you may find that your guests are turned away by the venue management due to fire and safety laws and licensed capacity. The other extreme may be that the accommodation is too great in size leading to a feeling of too few wedding quests. When considering your venue requirements and size do remember that you will have guests seated, standing, at the bar and dancing. The number of guests you invite will therefore influence your choice of wedding venue and the cost involved also. As a guide you can consider £300 to be the lowest figure and ten to fifteen thousand to be the extravagant. £1500 - £2000 may be a realistic figure for the average wedding but do check carefully what you do and do not get for your money.

One of the difficulties in organising a wedding is setting the date. You may have a specific church or other ceremonial place in mind. A particular reception venue or maybe you are just trying your best to fit in with family commitments. However you are setting the date you must consider availability of any service you require in relation to the time of year and day of the week. We all know that summer weddings are preferred but it can be said that May – September inclusive is very popular. This can result in difficulty obtaining exactly what you want and especially so on Fridays and Saturdays. Midweek weddings can lead to significant savings and especially so out of season. During the peak months, the advice here is to book the services you require and especially churches and venues asap. Often the best of venues will be booked up two years in advance.

As to the venue, the question will always arise! What facilities are offered? For the most and broadly speaking they are all similar. They offer a place for you to celebrate your marriage. The main difference is what you pay, the surroundings you celebrate your marriage in and the quality of the environment and service you receive. The most basic offerings will be a small hall and cloakroom where you provide any and all additions. Do be careful here as the small hall without the catering, music and drink could cost more where booked separately. In general, the more you pay, the better the service and quality. At the cheaper end of the scale you need to be sure that a license is held for alcohol and is it possible to supply your own? Is power available for lighting and catering and are there any rules you need to be aware of concerning disco or band. Also, what time do you have to depart? In the case of mid-range wedding venues, are services such waiters and toastmasters included or is this at an extra cost. Not all venues will provide this as a standard package. Finally, if your wedding is a large event is any security or car park attendant provided should they be required?

Ultimately you will have to make a decision as to where your venue is held. How you do this is up to you but places that have been recommended are generally a safe bet. Having said this, you should investigate the venue for yourself as peoples tastes vary greatly and what one considers appropriate, you yourself may not. Collecting brochures is a tremendous course of action for selecting the perfect venue for you. Try to steer away from grand ideas unless you really can afford them, remember all this has to be paid for and it soon accumulates an unbelievable amount.

To book your venue you will have to pay a deposit where this will be in relation to the cost of all services they are to provide. All venues will have terms and conditions and you must read these before paying or signing anything. There will be clauses and cancellation charges should you have to cancel for any reason, should this occur, cancellation should not be delayed as you could find yourself having to pay the full charge as originally agreed. The cancellation should also be made in writing. This is where wedding insurance is necessary. Generally, venue deposit payments will be received in cheque, credit card or cash. A demand for the latter may be reason for concern but in any event a receipt should be provided. Payment by credit card may be beneficial as most credit card companies are in a better position to retrieve monies in the event of a dispute.

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