Wedding Dates and Venue Availability

Hi ?‍♀️
I’m a October 2022 bride and we booked our venue through a virtual viewing. Many venues are offering different types of virtual viewing and depending on what type effects how good the viewing is if that makes sense. We had one which was done through a system like google maps which was ok not perfect. We had another through zoom, where a wedding planner spoke through all the different rooms and options and we were able to ask any questions and they were extremely helpful.
We wanted to wait to view in person but was getting nervous having heard back from venues they couldn’t do our date and I was keen to do something and have something to look forward to. For us in the end we knew we loved the venue all our questions were answered we felt we got a feel of the place and the only thing holding us back was that we hadn’t seen it in person. However we didn’t think that we had any questions in person that would make us change our mind so we went ahead and booked. Sorry for long story but if there is a venue you love speak to them if your worried about dates some will let you reserve your dates for a very small fee until you can visit in person.
Best of luck with your planning

Hi Laura,

Im planning for February 2023, we saw a few venues in person before Christmas but had a virtual viewing yesterday through zoom, we were showed a video with all the rooms and she talked us through how it would work on the day. It has been our favourite venue yet and we found it very informative. Hope this helps.

I have just started a new thread about this as I am finding that venues are asking for dates to be booked without us actually setting foot in the places. We are wanting a Saturday in July 2022 so lots of competition I suppose as everyone is moving from this year to 2022. We have only visited one place in person before Xmas and all the others won't hold dates much longer and are only able to offer video viewings. It is good to hear this has worked for some of you but I am nervous about it. I suppose you can only try and see how the place comes across on video?

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Hi Katie, I've experienced the same thing! One venue has said they would take a deposit now to hold a date but when we do come to view in person, if we don't like it, they'd give us the money back. I still don't want to risk it though!

We have our first video tour tomorrow so will post how it went in case there are any curious brides in my position as well!

My mum and dad are joining the virtual tour too, so hopefully having them there will calm our nerves a little too.

Thanks all for your comments

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Hi Laura, yes let us know how you get on. This particular venue haven't asked for any deposit money yet but I am assuming if I say I want a certain date (even without seeing the venue) they will want some cash! Another venue are holding the date on a rolling basis and they are the only place we have actually visited, but I feel it would be a bit silly just to visit one and then book it even though we really liked it!

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I'm not 100% sure as we haven't seen any venues (he proposed on Christmas Day, so we haven't had the chance to go out and see anything at all) but are we supposed to know our venue is 'the one' like we know with the dress? If so, maybe the one you did visit is it? If you can't forget about it, it had to be special?

Fingers crossed for you!

I forgot to give an update! We've had a couple of virtual tours via Zoom and I still feel like I need to visit the venues to really know.

There was one venue where I love all the pictures, the menus and everything included but I just couldn't grasp the atmosphere and vibe from Zoom, and I think it may be because it hadn't been set up for a wedding, so it was difficult to vision. My OH hasn't had this issue though and turned out he absolutely loved it!

Our second VV went better, there were tables set out and the ceremony room was set up so that probably made it easier to visualize.

A couple of other venues have sent us video tours and want to set up Zoom calls for any questions. Both me and my partner think this worked in favour for one as they offered a 20-minute video as well as a real wedding video, so there was a lot of detail! The other venue's video lasted for about 2mins so we didn't really feel like we got to see it all.

If you have had any experiences let me know!