Arguably one of the most important decisions of any wedding, the venue.
My name is Alexander Lewis and I am a wedding photographer in South Wales. Although my passion is photography, I enjoy publishing tips and insights into the wedding industry. Here are some of my top tips to choosing the right wedding venue for your special day.
We are extremely lucky in South Wales that we can boast some of the most beautiful wedding venue’s in the country, all readily available to host hundreds of events each year.
There are a number of things to consider when choosing a wedding venue. These range from things like, how many guests can I invite to my wedding? Where is the best location? and does this wedding venue fit in with the theme of my wedding?
Let’s shed some light on some of these questions.
How many guests can I invite to my wedding?
The first decision is deciding if you want a large wedding or a small intimate wedding. The size of the wedding venue is incredibly important in making that decision. If the wedding venue is too small guests will feel stuffy and overcrowded however, if the wedding venue is too big guests may feel lost and the day may have an empty feeling.
Making an estimated wedding guest list will help. You can then gauge roughly how many guests you will be inviting to your wedding and this will help you make a better decision on choosing your wedding venue.
A great tip is to ask the wedding venue for a seating plan. This will help you envision how your guest numbers will fit into the space. Viewing the wedding venue when it is set up for a wedding or viewing photographs from a previous wedding at the venue will also help you to imagine how your wedding will work in the space.
Where is the best location to choose my wedding venue?
Guests attending weddings will be coming from all over so it will be difficult to please everyone however, it may prove useful to choose a venue that is within a near distance to the majority of friends and family.
Of course, this is not always possible and, in that case, choose a venue that is easily accessible, has accommodation on site or nearby hotels.
These are important factors as the last thing you want on your wedding day is guests getting lost, arriving late, having to leave early to travel home. Your guests’ comfort and experience of your wedding day is also important.
Does this wedding venue fit the theme of my wedding?
Wedding Venues in South Wales all have a very different theme. So, you really are spoilt for choice. For example if you want a Country House Wedding Venue with beautiful gardens you might want to look at Brnyngarw House or alternatively if you want your wedding reception in a beautiful marque then look at the New House Country Hotel. Perhaps Craig-Y-Nos Castle is for you with its amazing architecture, history and breath-taking views.
Think about how the weather may affect the day as this can play a part in choosing your wedding venue. For example, will there be a space indoors for great group shots (Talk to your Wedding Photographer). If you know your friends and family love to dance late into the night then you need to check a large dance floor space is available in the wedding venue. Consider parking for your guests, perhaps a quieter space for the older folks or maybe an outside area for sparklers.
Choosing the perfect Wedding Venue will be a great feeling and a huge accomplishment in regards to the Wedding. This will determine the date, location and will set you on your way to organising all the other aspects of your Wedding Day.
Other aspects to think about are what sort of wedding cake shall we choose? Where should we order the suits from? And what wedding photographer should we use?
Make sure that you follow us on social media as we plan to reveal more answers to more of your questions.
