How many venues did you visit?

I only visited two venues, but we didn't have as much time to play with when making a decision...

In my opinion though if you love it and it's within your budget why bother looking at anywhere else, and I DEFINITELY wouldn't look at something outside of your budget, I would have been devastated if I fell in love with somewhere I couldn't afford, that's what a budget is for!

I went to see two. The first we thought would be amazing for a wedding, so reserved a date, which they would have held for a month. Then we went to the second (our actual venue) and just fell in love with the feel of the place! I had two more viewings booked that I cancelled and cancelled the first reservation. I do sometimes think about those other venues, but I'm glad we didn't go and see them as they were more expensive and didn't seem to include as much in the price. I would've hated to fall in love with them, after finding somewhere else we both loved for a reasonable deal.

I don't think there's a right amount of viewings to do, if you've found somewhere you love, in your budget, where you can imagine yourself getting married, then go for it!

Make sure you check all the details and small print before you sign on the dotted line!

X

Welcome to wedding planning!

I would say go with your gut. We went to 3, and stopped because the third one was perfect for what we wanted - we pretty much walked in and looked at each other and knew it was right!

I have to agree I don't see the point in looking at places over budget.

Good luck!

I definately wouldn't look at anything over budget. It would be like trying on a 10k dress when your budget is 2k and you would be heartbroken if you loved it and it just wasn't an option. I married abroad so didn't view any venues but previously when we thought we might marry in the uk I only visited one in the flesh. It was everything we wanted and would have booked it if they hadn't messed us about. I think when you find what you want and book it just stop looking.

Hiya :-)

We looked and booked only 1 for ceremony and 1 for reception. I did a lot of research though and most of the venues round here I had already been to for weddings / functions over the years. Completely fell in love with them so we went with our gut and just booked them straight away

:-)

We viewed six venues. I nearly booked the first one I saw as it ticked the most boxes. We very nearly didn't go to see our venue which was the last place we saw but as we walked in, I knew it was the one!

I didn't bother going to see any that were out of budget. A couple of places quoted me 22K just for venue hire and catering, therefore I didn't make appointments with them! X

We visited 3. We had a fourth one booked but they couldn't fit us in for a few weeks. I already had my heart set on a particular venue after seeing their website and when we visited it we knew it was the one so I cancelled the other viewing.

Hey Amelia,

We looked online at about 30, but actually went to view about 8. We looked at anything within an hour radius of home, so we had lots of weekends up and down the M6! We found 'ours' at a point when we were both becoming very despondent and thinking we'd never be able to find what we wanted for a price we could afford....then found our venue! Went to view it and fell in love. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day, so in case that was influencing us, we went back a week later to view again in grey drizzle, and still fell in love. I got a proper lump in my throat walking down where the aisle would be, so knew it was 'the one'....

If you both fell in love with first one, and you can afford it, go for it. There's no point looking at venues that are outside your budget, and if you've found something you love, trust your gut instinct.

I looked on line at all the available venues in our area and we narrowed it down to three that I thought would be possibles- two of which I'd been to weddings at before, one I didn't even know existed!

Went to look at one of the two I'd been to before as I'd always said I'd like to get married there and fell totally in love with it- it had been massively updated and refurbished since I was last there and my only concern was that this might have 'ruined' it but it had been done so well it had lost none of it's charm and atmosphere. Going there ruled out the other venue I'd been to before as it blew it's socks off!

We discussed going to look at the third venue but decided against it as although it was idyllic and a bit 'different' it was a bit further away from home than we wanted... so the short answer is we looked at one, loved it, made sure it was 'in budget' and booked it!

I'm another that thinks it's mad to go and look at venues outside your budget- what's the point if you can't afford them anyway? It'd be a bit like going to look round a Porche dealership when your budget will only stretch to a Vauxhall or used car lot!

Unless of course you think your Mum is going to magic a few extra grand for the budget out of the hat?! ?

The venue we booked was our main contender but we did have a problem with no free parking with it being a city centre venue. We had a look at the country houses etc but not our style at all. We looked at one other city centre place but we went back to our original when we found out the paid parking was literally behind it and was pretty cheap as city parking goes. So two in total.

Hi!

I looked at hundred online but chose just three (same price) to view. We fell in love with the first one and pretty much knew that was 'it', but decided to look at the other two just to be sure. Of the other two, on we hated, and the other was quite nice.

What at I would suggest is seeing if that venue you like will hold the date for you for a month? (Mine did, and I know lots of other ensues do to!). That way you can look at some other venues without worrying about losing the date you want, and knowing it's there if you still want it. But I agree with the posters above - I would not go and see anything you can't afford! For the exact same reason that I'm not going to be viewing any over-budget houses when I go house hunting...!

I would have liked to have seen more than three venues really, as I haven't been to many weddings. I'd be curious to see others and I think it can help to reinforce your choice. However I also think sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing - sometimes you just have to eventually pick one that you love and commit to it!

I've just counted on my spreasheet and I looked only at 27, and saw in person 13 before booking our venue....lol. I must be picky!

I also agree that you shouldn't see anything above your budget because that's taunting yourself. On paper, one of the venues I saw was just in budget so we went to go see it but when we were there they were a couple of extra little things to pay for when we were discussing prices, making it over the budget. And I had fallen in love with it so I got pretty down about not being able to afford it for a couple of days.....def not worth it!

We also booked the first one we visited. We'd been there before and to most other on the list for other weddings etc. I didn't think I'd like it to be honest but when we got home we both wanted to book it. It ticked all our boxes, was within budget and they had our preferred date free. The last thing was that I really liked the wedding coordinator - am a bit of a control freak but felt that I would trust her to set up tables etc which was important to me. Good Luck!

We had a longlist of 60 venues, a shortlist of 16, and we went to view 9 of them. We ended up booking the very first venue we'd seen, but only after making a provisional booking elsewhere that didn't feel right. As we drove away from the provisional venue booking, neither of us were as happy and excited as you would expect, and we knew it wasn't quite right.

We got in touch with the first venue again, asked for another viewing and knew it was the right choice. The only thing that had held us back in the first instance was a concern over accessibility, but it's perfectly accessible. I'm still glad I got to see the other venues, because it helped me realise exactly what I did and didn't want in a venue!

I would recommend going to see a couple of serious contenders, just to be sure. I applied the same concept when looking for a dress - I found a beautiful dress in July, in the first local shop I looked in (after shopping with my mum in Cheshire). I was fairly sure it was "the one", but given that there are half a dozen bridal shops in town, what if one of them had a better/cheaper dress? It seemed silly not to check!

Hellooo!!

I wondered the same thing when we started looking. my parents really want us to get married in Derbyshire and i was so worried we wouldn't find anywhere!

We looked at 3 places:

Moddershall Oaks, Shottle hall and a new venue called the West Mill in Darley Abbey.

All were beautiful, some a little too expensive.

But when we walked in to the west Mill (This was only last weekend might I add!) I could just see us getting married there! ... I think you'll know once you've found the one

Defiantly check out The West Mill if you're looking for something a little different though - Its really quirky and not like a normal venue for a wedding at all.

Good Luck!?

I looked at hundreds online but only visited three places, I would say never go see a place that is out of your budget because if you do fall in love with it you can't have it anyway and then nothing in your budget will ever feel as good to you, only visit what you can afford to have

I think that if you've found the venue you love & it's within budget, then I would stick, like some of the other ladies have said - however I am a great believer in fate so could it be meant to be?!

We saw 5 venues in one day, mainly because it's very hard for H2B to get time off at weekends so we thought we'd just devote a whole day to it - they were all very different though. Two empty fields, two ready-made venues where everything would be included on on site, & one country house which was a complete blank canvas as the marquee is only up 3 months of the year.

We really liked each one, but fell in love with the one I thought we would like the least - I almost cancelled as it felt like a bit of a 'time filler'! We've gone for the marquee in the grounds of a country house option. We wandered around not saying much, then as we walked back to the car we just looked at each other with massive grins & knew it was our place. Really looking forward to visiting again in a few months time when the marquee is up for this year's wedding season as we viewed on a very cold & grey February Sunday - I've seen photos of the grounds in the summer & it looks amazing.

We did have a few more places booked up for odd times over the next few weeks but cancelled them in the end as we were happy we'd found the right place. You could argue that it's worth seeing lots even if it's just to be nosy as it's the only time you can see these places & have a good old rummage around, but I guess it depends if you think you have the time spare - & I'd personally worry about falling in love with something that was financially out of reach.

I did a tiny bit of research online (read: I looked at maybe 5 venues along the south coast), we physically went to one and provisionally booked it there and then.

We both got goosebumps, it was a reasonable price (for a Thursday in April!) and couldn't argue with the set up, staff and location.

I can't wait to get married there in a few weeks!

We looked at 4, but as we are getting married away from where we live, we took a day off work and visited them all on the same day, which really does help. In all the car parks after each visited wrote down the pro's and cons of each and what we liked the best. My parents are actually paying and my OH had final say, so we narrowed it down to two and I went with my mum. The one we both liked was in hindsight would have been a mistake, it was so beautiful and grand, but, my dad and OH loved the transport museum with a race track!

I really wouldn't advise the over budget one, unless it is so over the top and you want to be nosey. We did this after, and was so ridiculously expensive and way too big, but I did fall in love with the self playing baby grand piano in the entrance.

We did quite a bit of research online but then only visited 2 venues (Temple Newsam House and Skipton Castle.) We had planned to visit more but we absolutely fell in love with Skipton castle.

The castle was the first place we visited and when we visited the 2nd place we knew nothing would live up to the first so we rang them and booked it while we were still at the 2nd venue!

I think you feel it when you find the perfect place and in my experience it's good to go with your gut!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do

I wouldn't usually advise viewing an out of budget venue but it worked for my friend. After getting a price for the package she wanted she told them they couldn't afford it and they knocked thousands off immediately. She got married on a Saturday but as it was October they were able to get it cheaper than during the summer. The same venue threw in loads of extras such as entertainment for another couple I know that got married there.

We originally ruled out our venue because of the price but I had told my mum and dad we loved the look of it and they forced us to book a viewing. I then found out that they were going to insist on paying for the venue. It is expensive but we've reduced the cost a lot by getting married on a Sunday. It's a bank holiday weekend and no one has had a problem with the day, as far as I know only one guest has had to book a day off work. We also saved thousands by not choosing exclusive use of the venue, which means that other guests will be able to use one of the bars and book rooms. I'm not concerned about this though as it's a very small hotel, the wedding party is using half the rooms and there's hardly been any guests around every time we've visited.

My other half and I went to a wedding view open day a year ago and thought that was 'the' place we'd get married at. One year, a baby and a new house later and it was just out of our price range. We arranged an appointment to get the cheapest available day (it would be pushing it) but a few days before I trawled though all the venues on hitched and another site as I did a year ago, and not particularly liking the look or the style of venue wrote a short list of possible alternatives. We visited an alternative (which wasn't a barn which is what we hoped for, but a 3 wedding a day venue) that I kept going back to, I just had a feeling that I'd love the place and I did, it was amazing.

I think if you can say you can see yourself getting married there and you love the place then go for it. When you know you know. I would advise against going to see something that is way out of budget, they'll usually only knock so much off, why deal with problem of falling for a place you can't have?

We only looked at one, but I spent a lot of time researching and narrowing down the list. We had some very specific requirements that only a handful of venues could meet. In fact, I haven't even seen it. My parents had to view it for us.

The budget issue depends on a variety of factors. How do the packages compare, and how far out of budget is it? A venue may be more expensive but if it is inclusive of others things like flowers or invitations, it could be in your budget after all. Or maybe there are other items in your budget that are not as important to you that you can take money from in order to pay more for the venue? If the places your mum wants you to look at are not your style at all or wildly out of your price range then there's no point in looking at them, I agree. But if it's something you love and you could swing it if there's a good package or you alter your budget in other areas, it might be worth a look. Do you think she would be willing to pay the difference if you find a place you really love, and that's why she's encouraging you to look at more places?

We only looked at one but I looked at tons on line. I think we'd have gone to see more but we have quite specific wants and most didn't meet them or the price scared the hell out of me! The nay other one we were going to look at didn't come back to us so we didn't bother chasing them.

I really wouldn't look at anything out of budget though. If you love the one you've already seen then go for it.

We're going to see our first one on Saturday (eeeeek!). We’ve fallen in love with it online, and even if it’s not 100% perfect we think we’re going to go with it anyway. It offers everything we need, and the lady I’ve been speaking to there seems really nice. Venue options are really seriously limited in our area, so we don’t have much choice – and to be honest, we’re not too fussy. As long as the quote comes in on budget for this one, we’re totally going for it! ?

Only saw two. Did most of the narrowing down through researching online and after that it was really easy! x

We visited 5 but in truth we knew the one we wanted even before going to see it - they didn't do weddings and were doing restoration work so took some convincing.

We went to see another similar style (old wooden tithe barn) which was a wedding venue to see the difference in price and approach but still preferred ours. But we also went to village halls as a back up plan if they wouldn't agree. Thankfully they did and we had an amazing wedding there!

We visited around 5... we had to do it in a weekend as we were getting married 500 miles away. We ruled a lot out without seeing them due to numbers and we didn't want to have a marquee. We saw a couple of venues out on a Loch but realised if we took the view away we didn't like the venue all that much.

We loved our final venue and ended up getting married in January so it was a little cheaper. If you think you love it then go ahead!

Hey everyone, thanks for your advice! After visiting the first initial venue that we loved. I went to see 5 more and none of them compared. It was more so to keep my Mum happy but I think she could tell that I just didn't feel the same about any of them.

So after 6 weeks of trawling through over a hundred wedding venues online we have booked it today ?

thanks again everyone xx