Choosing Your Wedding Venue

What’s your vision?

Before getting too caught up in the practicalities, take some time to imagine your ideal wedding. Think about how you want the day, or perhaps the whole muti[le days celebration, to look, feel and flow, without worrying too much about budgets, availability or other constraints at this stage.

Compromises will probably come later, but for now, give yourselves the freedom to dream. If you had a fairy godmother to create your perfect wedding, what would you ask for?

Practicalities

How many guests?

How many guests would you like to invite? Will everyone be there for the whole day, or would you prefer a smaller celebration with close family and friends during the day, followed by a larger evening party? Do you have a large family, or will your guest list focus more on friends? Will you offer plus-ones?

Think about what feels right for you. From our experience of hosting hundreds of weddings, we know that couples often worry more than necessary about the people they cannot invite. Generally, those who receive an invitation will be thrilled to celebrate with you, while those who are not invited will understand that every wedding has practical and financial limits.

Start by dividing your potential guests into three groups:

• The people who absolutely need to be there
• The people you would find it difficult to imagine celebrating without
• The people you would like to invite if space and budget allow

You do not need to make any final decisions yet. Come back to your list once you know more about your budget and the capacity and costs of the venues you are considering.

Location

Where in the world would you like to get married? Perhaps you love the idea of a wedding abroad, or maybe staying closer to home feels more important.

An overseas destination wedding can be incredibly special, but it is worth considering the cost and practicalities for your guests, particularly elderly relatives, families with young children, or anyone who may find travelling difficult.

However, your wedding does not necessarily need to take place near where you live. You might choose somewhere close to one of your families, or a neutral location that everyone can travel to and enjoy for a few days.

At The Green, we welcome many local couples, but we also host couples whose families and friends live in different parts of the UK, or even across the world. For them, choosing a neutral location makes sense. Nobody has the advantage of being close to home, and everyone can settle in, relax and enjoy the celebration together.

Think about where the people who matter most to you will be travelling from, how easy the journey will be and whether you want your wedding to feel like a single day or a short break away together.

Time of year

For some people, their dream wedding has always taken place on a beautiful midsummer’s day, and there is no doubt that summer weddings can be stunning. However, one important consideration is that winter weddings are often less expensive than summer weddings.

There can also be less pressure when it comes to the weather. A wet day in August may feel disappointing because expectations of sunshine are higher. A bright, crisp day in January, on the other hand, feels like a wonderful bonus and may come without the higher price of a peak summer date.

If your venue has plenty of beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces, you can choose a time of year that suits your preferences and budget, confident that your wedding will still feel special whatever the weather brings. At The Green, our range of indoor and outdoor spaces means couples can stay warm, dry and comfortable without losing the atmosphere or beauty of the day.

If you choose a winter wedding, consider arranging an earlier ceremony. This will give you more time to enjoy the daylight and take outdoor photographs before the light begins to fade.

Finally, try not to base your decision on what the weather was like at the same time the previous year. British weather is far too unpredictable for that. Choose a season that suits you, your vision and your budget, then make sure you have a plan you will be happy with whatever the weather decides to do.

Of course, you can always try burying a sausage the night before the wedding. This old wedding superstition, which is said to keep the rain away, has become increasingly popular with couples. We cannot promise that it works, but it certainly cannot hurt to have every possible advantage!

Budget

This is a big one, and something we will return to throughout this guide. Before you start looking at venues, have an open and realistic discussion about your wedding budget. The last thing you want is to fall in love with somewhere that you simply cannot afford. Having a rough idea of your budget from the outset will help you focus on suitable venues and avoid disappointment later.

If you think your families may contribute towards the wedding, do not be afraid to talk to them about it. It is much better to understand what, if anything, they are comfortable contributing than to make plans based on money that may not be available, or to underestimate the help they would be happy to offer.

Think about how much you already have saved and what you could realistically put aside each month before the wedding. Also look carefully at how and when each venue expects to be paid. At The Green, we have a set payment schedule, but couples can choose to make monthly payments towards the balance, provided the required payments are made by each deadline. Other venues may have different arrangements, so make sure you understand the payment terms before booking.

Finance may also be available, either through the venue or a separate finance provider, but this will usually be subject to application, approval and individual circumstances.

At this stage, your budget does not need to be exact. You simply need an honest and realistic starting point before you begin your venue search.

A overnight or multiple day wedding

“It goes so quickly” is something almost everyone who has been married will tell you. Your wedding day really does fly by.

Imagine hiring a venue from 10am until midnight. Although that sounds like a long time, much of it will be taken up by getting ready, the ceremony, photographs, the wedding breakfast, speeches and your evening celebrations. If you invite 60 guests and want to spend just 10 minutes speaking to each one, that alone would take 10 hours. In reality, there may be some guests you barely get a chance to speak to.

This is one reason why many couples are choosing overnight or multi-day weddings. Having more time together makes the whole celebration feel more relaxed. You can enjoy proper conversations with your guests, rather than trying to greet everyone in a rush, and spend quality time with the people who have travelled to celebrate with you.

An overnight or multi-day wedding also creates opportunities for relaxed time together outside the main wedding day, perhaps over drinks the evening before, breakfast the following morning or an informal gathering after the wedding. The celebration feels less like a few hours that disappear in a blur and more like a shared experience that everyone has time to enjoy.

Accommodation

Wedding venues with accommodation can appear more expensive at first, but it is important to look at who will actually pay for the accommodation. Most guests expect to pay for somewhere to stay when attending a wedding and would not usually expect the couple to cover their hotel bill. If your venue allows guests to contribute towards their accommodation, this can significantly reduce the overall cost to you as a couple.

At The Green, most of our couples ask their resident guests to pay us directly for their accommodation. This allows them to enjoy the benefits of an exclusive-use, multi-day wedding without having to cover the full accommodation cost themselves.

Research

Now for the fun part. You have thought about your dream wedding and considered some of the practicalities. Now it is time to match what you want with the venues available. But where do you start?

Many couples form their ideas from weddings they have already attended. They may have loved a particular venue or enjoyed the style and atmosphere of the day. In fact, many couples who book their wedding at The Green first discovered us by attending somebody else’s wedding here. There really is no better way to understand a venue than experiencing a wedding there for yourself.

Of course, this is not always possible, particularly if you plan to marry somewhere away from where you live. Fortunately, most good wedding venues have detailed websites with plenty of photographs, videos and sometimes virtual or 360-degree tours. They should also have lots of recent customer reviews, which are well worth exploring. Look beyond the overall rating and read what couples say about the service, organisation, food, accommodation and how the venue handled any unexpected problems. Read what our couples, guests and suppliers say about their experience here.

Wedding venue directories such as Bridebook and Hitched can also be useful for discovering venues in the area where you would like to marry.

Choosing a venue is a little like choosing a wedding dress. It is worth considering several different styles, even if only online, before deciding what feels right. A venue you had not originally imagined may surprise you.

At this stage, your aim is to create a shortlist. Check that each venue can accommodate your likely number of guests, offers weddings at the time of year you are considering and broadly fits your budget.

The word “broadly” is important because advertised prices do not always tell the full story. You may need to do more research, ask questions and possibly visit the venue before you can understand exactly what is included. A venue that initially appears cheaper may include far less, while one with a higher starting price could offer better overall value.

Once you have created a shortlist of suitable venues, you are ready for the next step.

Book a visit

Once you have created your shortlist, the next step is to arrange some venue visits. By this stage, you should already know that each venue broadly suits your guest numbers, preferred time of year and budget.

At The Green, couples can book several types of visit online. You can arrange a one-to-one viewing with a member of our team, take a self-guided tour using a written guide we provide, or come along to one of our Venue Viewing Days. Different options suit different people, so think about whether you would prefer plenty of time to ask questions, the freedom to explore independently, or the atmosphere of a larger viewing event.

Do not feel that you need to visit a long list of venues. So much information is now available online through photographs, videos, virtual tours, pricing information and reviews that couples can research venues thoroughly before travelling to see them. Over the years, we have noticed that couples are visiting fewer venues in person. Typically, our couples visit no more than three, and many choose The Green after visiting only us.

A venue visit should help you confirm what you have already discovered online. It gives you the chance to experience the atmosphere, understand how the spaces connect and picture how your wedding might flow. You can also meet the people who may be looking after you throughout the planning process and on the wedding day itself.

Visit enough venues to feel confident in your decision, but do not assume that you must keep looking simply because you have only seen one or two. If a venue meets your practical requirements, feels right and gives you confidence in the team, you may already have found the one.

What to do on a visit

However, it is also important to consider the practicalities. If possible, you may want to arrange a second visit. Many couples at The Green do this, using their first visit to experience the venue and a later visit to explore the details more carefully.

If a second visit is not practical, prepare a list of questions in advance. This allows you to enjoy the atmosphere, understand the venue’s style and imagine your wedding there, while still having a prompt to sit down and discuss the things that really matter.

Questions you may want to ask include:

• How many guests can the venue accommodate for the ceremony, meal and evening celebration?
• What table layouts are available?
• Is the venue accessible for disabled guests or anyone with limited mobility?
• What is the wet-weather plan?
• What time must the music and celebrations finish?
• What is included in the price, and which items cost extra?
• Are there any restrictions on suppliers, decorations, food or drinks?
• What are the booking fee, payment terms and cancellation conditions?

You are looking for both an emotional and a practical match. The right venue should make you feel excited about your wedding while also meeting the needs of you and your guests.

If you think The Green may be right for you then we’d love to meet you