A groom with a view - venue ideas
The biggest chunk of your budget will go on the venue, so it has to be perfect!
Whether you choose a giant mansion or a small restaurant, your reception will be something that you’ll remember forever - so it's got to be right! Hitched.co.uk spoke to three grooms to find out how they chose their locations…
"What were the factors that made you decide on your particular venue?"
Charlie: We wanted to get married and have the reception all in one place, so straight away we knew that we needed a venue that catered for everything. I think it’s just easier having guests come to one place rather than have to move around after the ceremony.
Simon: Finding one venue for everything for us difficult. We have gone for a small hotel near the church, but we are arranging transport to take people over, just in case the weather is bad.
Pete: Before we even got engaged we knew the wedding venue where we wanted to have our reception. It's not close to the church, but it'll be worth it.
Simon: Amanda and I always thought that a small wedding would be better and we wanted an intimate venue.
"The average number of guests to invite to a wedding is 123. How many guests are you inviting to your reception?"
Pete: Our venue holds a maximum of 160 guests, so we have gone for the whole amount. When we sat down and worked out the list we did end up with over 200, but we did some narrowing down and have a reserves list just in case.
Charlie: We are having 110 in total to the ceremony and the sit down meal reception. I didn’t feel comfortable sending an 'evening only' invitation to anyone.
Simon: We wanted our wedding to be quite intimate and thought that 60 would be enough for us to cope with. Mainly this is just really close friends, and our family of course.
Pete: Both Vicky and I come from big families and met at the same university so we have a lot of mutual friends.
"Are you using a planner at the venue, or have you sourced one yourselves?"
Charlie: A wedding planner came included in our overall price. The country manor that we are getting married at specialises in events like weddings and parties, and we have had someone to keep in touch with through out the whole process. I think she will also be there on the day, even though it’s a Saturday.
Pete: We definitely wanted a planner as we had a lot of guests attending. But we also wanted to remain independent with the planning and do things our way.
Simon: Because we don’t have a huge wedding to plan we have been able to do most things ourselves. The venue is providing the smaller details like chair covers, napkins… and I think they will decorate the venue for us as well.
Charlie: We are still having our say in a lot of the planning regarding the organisation of the reception. I’m happy for them to take care of the minor details, as long as we get to decide on the main aspects.
"The venue is a big portion of the overall budget. Have you had a hard time in sticking to the venue budget?"
Pete: We were happy to pay the price for our venue whatever it cost I think. We have had our hearts set on it for quite a while, and couldn’t really envisage anywhere else.
Charlie: I think including everything to do with the reception, not just the venue we have gone slightly over budget, but we managed to get a deal on the honeymoon so we have compensated spending a little more on the venue.
Simon: We have managed to stick to the budget. Not having a huge wedding we have been able to monitor the money closely.
Charlie: I would have gone over budget quite happily if it meant having a better wedding reception. The reception is the bit that people will remember the most, and I want them to have a really good time.
"And finally, did you look at alternative venues before making your final decisions?"
Simon: We looked online and in bridal magazines.
Charlie: Our venue actually came recommended by a work colleague of mine who had just got engaged.
Pete: We always knew we wanted the reception at the country club as we had been there as a couple many times before.
Words: Darren Noel from hitched.co.uk