How to know if a wedding venue is right for your big day

If you want a religious ceremony at your chosen venue, is it licensed to do so? Whether civil or religious, if the venue has no licence you won’t be able to get legally married at that venue.

An alternative is to have a legal ceremony before, such as at a registry office, and have a celebrant lead a ceremony at your venue with all your friends and family there to celebrate with you.

Some venues are multi-purpose and will hold more than one event at a time. If you don’t want the kid’s birthday party up the hall disrupting your special day, you need to find out what the score is with your chosen venue.

Will the building be exclusively yours for the date booked?

If there is a hotel attached, will the other guests be able to access your booked area?

Knowing if anyone other than venue staff will be around on your wedding day will put your mind at rest and determine if this venue is really right for you.

Some wedding venues have exclusive contracts with their own suppliers, meaning you can’t bring in your own caterer’s, florist, entertainment, etc for your big day.

Most venues will have their own list of recommended suppliers which can be a useful way of finding suppliers used to working with that venue layout and any potential restrictions, but do check that you’re not contractually obliged to use them if you prefer to retain full control over your wedding.

This problem often isn’t considered until the day arrives and you discover there’s no on-site parking available except for suppliers. This is often the case with historical buildings, but city centre venues can also pose this problem.

Ask if there are car parks nearby and how costly they are to use.

Some venues, particularly those of historical importance, may not welcome all decoration types inside, or outside their building. You might be surprised to learn that confetti isn’t allowed and fireworks are a definite no.

Some venues will allow flower petals instead of confetti as an alternative and have other tricks up their sleeve to ensure that decoration restrictions don’t ruin your plans but do ask in advance and make sure you let your guests know in advance.

Live bands need a lot of electrical sockets for their amps and equipment, something that a lot of older venues are unable to provide.  There may also be restrictions in terms of space around the electrical points.

Ask about this when you’re visiting the venue and see what kind of entertainment weddings hosted there typically have. It’s also worth asking about a sound limiter restriction – some areas only allow a certain volume to be played and only at certain times. Your band/DJ will know what to do with that information.

How to know if a wedding venue is right. One of the best ways to see if this venue is right for your wedding day is to see what recent weddings have looked like. Some venues will offer a discount if they’re allowed to use wedding photos for testimonials/promotions, so ask to see recent examples.

Look out for how many guests, what the room looked like, the entertainment, and the reviews given by happy couples.

Once you’ve gathered this information for each venue you’re interested in, sit down with your fiancé and go through it all until you’re both confident and happy with your final decision.