doubts about venue?

What are his specific concerns?

He reckons people wont travel to the venue especially those that will only be invited to the evening and also he is worried that it is not special enough

Now this, I think, IS worth addressing. If it's not the place he envisages getting married, that's important and I'd be talking this through. However, if he simply doesn't understand what can be done with decorations/flowers, you need to have some time showing him ideas! Even the plainest of venues can be shizzled up beyond recognition.

Footlong speaks the truth.

We had evening guests who travelled over 150 miles and I love that they did. We started the evening do at 6pm to make it more worth the drive.

With regards to the venue, I had a similar experience. I thought I'd found somewhere but when I showed it to H he said it wasn't special enough. When he said that I realised I was compromising too without really realising it so we carried on the search and found our perfect venue.

I'm not saying this venue isn't right but I think you need to discuss what it is about it that he doesn't think is special enough.