Choosing a Wedding Venue

Your choice of wedding venue will affect the character of your wedding day more than almost any other decision involved in the planning of a wedding. For many people the choice of venue is the starting point around which everything else must be planned. For some the venue is chosen years in advance, perhaps even before their choice of partner! However, if this isn't the case for you, hopefully this article can help.

If you plan on leading with your head as much as the heart, then the first question you have to answer is 'how many guests are we having?' The answer to this question may immediately rule out many venues because they may simply be too small. Another obvious issue to consider is whether you will be having a religious or a civil ceremony. Civil ceremonies are more common in the UK. However, if you like the idea of getting married in a church then you will need to be aware of certain conditions attached to this. While this may vary from church to church, most religious venues will require you and your partner to have been members of the congregation for a certain length of time beforehand.

While an increasing number of couples are choosing to hold both the ceremony and reception at the same venue, it is still more common to hold them separately. For many couples, their choice of civil or religious venue will largely determine whether the ceremony and reception are to be held in the same place. For most religious venues, holding a reception simply would not be an option, while, conversely, many civil venues would only be to happy for you to hold your reception there as well. It largely goes without saying that your ceremony venue must be fully licensed in order for the marriage to be considered legal, but you really can hold your reception anywhere you want.

If you and your partner do not feel that either a civil or religious venue are right for you, then there may be a third way. A humanist ceremony can be held in front of your loved ones anywhere, opening up exciting possibilities such as getting married on a beach or in the middle of a poppy field in full bloom, which would look stunning in your wedding photographs. For the marriage to be legally binding you would of course need to arrange a quick visit to the registry office at some point though.

Quick Tips for Choosing a Wedding Venue

• If you have a certain special place in mind for the reception, but feel it is a little on the small side, a buffet (as opposed to a traditional sit down meal) can be a great space saver
• So you desperately want to get married in a castle, but can't quite afford it? Consider off season and/or mid-week weddings for discounts that can sometimes be quite staggering! It is easy for a venue to book a wedding every Saturday in summer, but very difficult to fill a Wednesday in winter
• If you don't ask, you don't get! So your venue doesn't say that it includes glasses, tablecloths or flowers? It can sometimes be a long shot, but it is always worth asking if they will throw something in for free. Your custom is worth a lot to them, especially if you are considering a winter or mid-week wedding.
• Small budgets can still create stunning weddings if you think outside the box! The humanist ceremony is perhaps the best example of this. Nothing is cheaper than free, and beaches, fields and forests would certainly be stunning.
• When you view venues for the wedding ceremony, pay attention to the lighting. If you don't want distracting flash photography during the ceremony, but still want a wedding photographer to beautifully cover those events, look out for venues that have good natural light and/or strong artificial lighting.