Choosing a Wedding Venue: Setting the Tone for the Party

Choosing a Wedding Venue: Setting the Tone for the Party

The next thing to do is choosing a venue because this will set the tone for the party.

It’s essential to know before sending out the wedding invitations (While for the “Save the Dates”, it is only important to know the city where the ceremony and reception will take place). Once you have the venue, you can plan everything else: decor, table arrangements, any food bars that you may have the space for (i.e. alcohol, coffee, candy, donut, dessert), etc...

The average wedding venue cost is about $13,385.00. And that may or may not include music,
photographers or cake. And for a college student on a tight budget, it is a significant cost!

When it comes to booking a wedding venue there tends to be three major options. There are some options
for reducing the cost on this item, and thereby, the whole wedding. These are the three options ranging
from least expensive to most expensive.

• Backyard ($)

(Image credit: Ruffled blog)

• Cons:
• You will have to plan everything yourself: from the decor, set-up, and pick-up, etc.
• Scheduling your own vendors.
• The limited guest list, depending on the space of the area.
• If space is limited, some aspects of your wedding (i.e. the dancefloor) may also be limited
• Pros:
• Cheapest option: This is the cheapest of the options. It ranges from free (if you are going to have it at your parent’s backyard) to a five hundred dollars (if you are going to have it at a friend’s backyard or facility and you want to compensate them for their favor).
• Flexibility to pick and choose your vendors and decoration.
• No time limit (depending on whose backyard it is).
• Can be a sentimental value (i.e. the home where you or your fiance grew up in).

• Other Facilities: church, city hall, Airbnb, etc. ($-$$)

(Picture from An Romantic, Elegant Wedding at Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey)

• Cons:
• Need lots of decoration to improve the aesthetics.
• You have to schedule vendors.
• More expensive than a backyard wedding.
• Pros:
• Not as expensive as other commercial facilities
• Close to ceremony (if same site as religious ceremony).
• Flexibility to choose your favorite vendors.

• Commercial Venue: Wedgewood Weddings or Grand Island Mansion  ($$-$$$)

(Photo at Beautiful Wedding Venues San Diego)

• Cons:
• The most expensive of the three options (from four to five figures)
• Many times these venues have their own catering and liquor licenses--limiting your choices (or costing you an extra fee for outside vendors or a corkage fee).
• Limited time for the wedding (or extra fee per hour on some venues).
• Restrictions on certain things (ie. allowing only flameless candles).
• Fees!
• Pros:
• Beautiful aesthetically, some themed (ranches, hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc.).
• Many come with a Wedding Coordinator that will walk you through the process and take care of everything so you don’t have to worry.
• Have partner vendors to make your decision-making process easier.
• More of your one-stop shop.

The most ideal for a wedding on a budget is a backyard wedding, but for that, you need to have the right connections: to be able to have a big sized backyard that will be able to fit all of your guests.

In the end, the choice of venue comes down to the couples' priorities and budget. It is recommended that you and your significant other talk about your needs and what is a possibility financially.

Please leave comments and questions below & share!