When choosing a venue for your reception, there are four main types of venues to choose from. The most traditional choice being a Hotel. Other common venues include community halls, Golf Courses,  and Unique Venues. Options for a unique venue site varies greatly based on city or community where the wedding is taking place. Some examples are a museum, an art gallery, botanical garden, historical site or even a private property.

  Before choosing your venue, you need to determine the approximate number of guests you plan to have at your reception because the most important thing is whether or not the venue can accommodate your guests comfortably. After you determine an approximate number of guests, then you can go searching for your reception venue. Let’s take a closer look at your 4 main options

  I personally prefer hotels and Golf Courses because everything is inclusive. This means that the venue can provide food, tables, chairs, PA system, …everything is already provided for your use. These venues will also have staff for set-up and take down of your reception items, such as tables, chairs, and dance floors. All food and beverage services are looked after in-house.

Hotels are also great if you have a lot of out of town guests. In this way, you won’t have to worry about transportation to and from your wedding for these guests. The main disadvantage to these two types of venues is that it can be more expensive at first glance.

  Halls, on the other hand, can be cheaper, however it takes a lot more work, organization, and logistical planning to pull everything together. Pay close attention to what is provided with your hall such as tables, chairs, plates, and cutlery. What may appear more budget conscious at first can really add up if you have to bring everything in.

  Typically halls do not have in-house staff to look after all your needs. You will need to arrange set-up and take down of all the décor, tables and chairs etc, and you will need to arrange a caterer to look after the food and beverage. For set-up and take down, make sure the hall will give you enough time before and after to accommodate this. With halls, you will also need to consider transportation to and from the venue for your out-of-town guests.
Unique venues are traditionally more expensive than other venues, as there will be costs associated with set-up/take-down and catering surcharges, however if budget allows, unique venues are great because they allow for lots of creativity and personalization.  Also, they provide your guests with a different reception experience from what they may be used to.

Technorati Tags: Halls, Hotels, plan, Reception, Venue, Wedding

Alright, so your boyfriend has finally popped the big question and you more than willingly said “YES!!”. So now all you need to do is pick a date and start hiring vendors…right? Not so fast….to start out planning your wedding, you should have at least 2-3 dates in mind. Once you have picked these dates, the first people you need to talk to are your venues for your ceremony and reception. These two vendors will ultimately determine your wedding day. There is no point in being set on a date if either of these places are unavailable, so book these two places first. The next vendors you need to book are your music (d.j. or live band) photographer and videographer (and yes, I strongly recommend a videographer). The reason why you need to book these vendors next is because they can only be at one wedding at one time. If they are already filming another wedding on your wedding day, you are S.O.L. whereas other vendors like invitations and flowers can provide for more than one wedding on one day. So book these three vendors right away because nothing is worse than coming across a vendor that you really want and not be able to book them for your special day!!

Stay tuned for more articles on how to find the right vendors!

Technorati Tags: plan, planning, vendors, Wedding