Finding a venue

We looked at 3, but I wasn't very fussy! I zero-d in on ones with packages, in the end we went for one that I'd read about on an initial internet search for 'cheap wedding venues Essex'! It was the only one that didn't have a package.

The things we considered important were;

. Price

. Whether accommodation was on-site.

. Whether the venue is yours exclusively for the day or you have to share with Joe Public (eg hotels)

. What time proceedings have to end (we wanted mid-week, one place said we'd have to stop the disco at 10:30pm!!! We went for the 1am bar option!)

I went a bit OTT when it came to venues.

I looked online at every single venue you can get married in in more than three counties and made a spreadsheet so I knew which ones I had looked at. I noted down rough bits of info on each one.

I then made a shortlist of about 20 which I looked into further and in the end got that down to about 10. I researched everything I could about my shortlisted venues and made a really detailed spreadsheet with boxes for what they came with and the prices etc.

We viewed about 7 I think and in the end went with one that wasn't even on my spreadsheet :p

My spreadsheet was the only thing that kept me sane in my opinion.

At first I just googled 'wedding venues in xxx'. Then I used the search on here - very handy!

I looked at each one online as much as I could. Wrote down key bits - address, venue hire price, distance/time to travel from home and then looked at accommodation close by.

I narrowed it down to four that I need to book viewings for - Not sure where else I would look if one of the four doesn't suit.

x

Hi,

I also did a spreadsheet - it came in so handy. First of all, it' really important to have a rough idea of guest numbers - I had 50 day and 100 evening guests in mind. Then I started by googling 'wedding packages in xx'. Looking on the venue websites really helped me to disguard quite a few - you just know whether you like the look of a place or not.

What I found was that each venue offered something completely different with their packages, so I contacted most of them by telephone and asked them to clarify if they included any of the following. I popped the info into a spreadsheet.

This helped me to see which venues were better value for money, and which I could afford. All these little things really add up if you have to pay for them in addition to the package. I then shortlisted and visited about 5 venues. The best bit is, once I had all of this information I was able to play my top 2 off against the other! Because of the info I had on the other venue, I was able to negotiate free canapes, a reduced buffet price for evening guests (same menu so no compromse on food) and I was able to upgrade from one glss to freepouring wine during the reception!

Hope this helps

Total package cost

No. of day guests

No. of evening guests

Room hire fee, if applicable

Canapes

No. courses per meal

Child prices

Tea/Coffee (some venues charged extra!)

Evening buffet details – included or additional cost (how much for evening guests)

Drinks package – what’s included?

Red carpet arrival

Disco included

Linen, Napkins and Cakestand

Accommodation

Entertainment licence – we wanted a 1am licence J

Menus, name cards and table names

Chair covers and sashes

Menu Taster

Master of Ceremonies

Pets allowed

I looked at quite a lot online but narrowed them down to three.

Viewed one, hated it in real life, viewed my venue and loved it as soon a I drove in, viewed the third as we had already made the appointment but our hearts weren't in it after we had found our venue.

If you're stuck in a rut with venues but haven't seen any 'in the flesh' then I would if I were you, then you get to see what they're actually like.

I practically had a melt down trying to find a venue! I had a huge spreadsheet too with different columns so I could compare all the things which were important to us. In the end we went over budget slightly and moved the date to a bank holiday Sunday to make it cheaper without people having to be at work the next day. I'm glad we pushed it a bit though, we almost didn't go to see it cos we really liked somewhere else but there were litt,le things niggling me about it. The one we went for we didn't have to compromise on anything.

We viewed 5, all totally different types and styles from do it all yourself to full packages. In the end a lot of what narrowed it down was checking how far from our church it was as I didn't want people to have to travel really far. In the end it's now about 200 metres from the church and we plan to shlep up the high street after the ceremony - give the tourists something to talk about !

Thanks everyone that's very helpful. I feel better just talking to other BTB about it. Other people don't completley get it.

DerbyshireBride - where are you getting married? I'm in Derbyshire.

We have physically looked at 5. We both really like the first one but it's a bit over budget. 2 were hotels, they just felt like a hotel room to me. I'm not 100% decided if we should marry in a church. Does it make it feel more meaningful?? I don't know.

The other 2, one was self catering building and the other was a smaller place with lovelly views but not quite our scene.

Thank you for that list!!! I'll pop in in a spreadsheet and see how we go. It doesn't help the fact I just want to book somewhere and get married!!! lol.

We looked at one because we wanted outside caterers. Not many places allowed that!

We're getting married at tissington hall near Ashbourne. We also looked at cressbrook hall (lovely, just a few niggles which meant it wasn't quite for us), the Maynard (too hotel like), peak edge hotel (nice hotel, weren't overly struck on the ceremony/reception room). I struck off loads just from looking online!