Choosing a Venue - Stressed/Disappointed!

alipops1986

Hello All,

So, my OH and I have viewed two venues so far.

Venue 1:
Function room within a pub, set in the countryside a little although not too far from the city centre. Gorgeous surroundings, by a river. Room is adequate although with rectangular tables in rows.

Basically, we could put our stamp on it with chair covers and decorations. However, they just set the tables and serve food, they dont prepare the decorations etc like a wedding planner would. This said, I've located a reasonably priced wedding planner who could help us out with this, fortunately my OH agrees this is a possibility.

Budget wize, very good.

Venue 2:
Totally, gorgeous! However, comes a rediculous price. So rediculous it's not worth talking about and it would definately mean we'd have to scrimp on other areas. That said ,I am disappointed.


So, i'm investigating how we could decorate/jazz up venue one and we're viewing another venue in a few weeks.
Who knew finding the venue could prove so difficult?!

Alipops x

sugarwalsh

I thought that about our chosen venue. We almost settled for the cheaper option - sounds similar to youe first one - but then we went to over priced but fantastic one. We negotiated hard - got them to agree to less numbers than required, arranged the ceremony in a cheaper but stunning venue, and got them to reduce final quote from £4500 to £4100. I then thought long and hard about where would make me the happiest and it was the more expensive one. I know, not very MSE, but sometimes you have to go with your heart. It's your special day, try not make too many compromises if possible.

Megan

paperalice

I really do feel the same way. I've just started looking at venues and I'm beginning to feel lost about the whole thing - my H2B is getting fed up with me constantly changing my mind about what I want and how much I want to spend. My head is saying 'it's only 1 day and you could do something far more sensible with the money' but my heart is saying 'Shut up head, this is your wedding day and you deserve to have everything you want'.

I'm sure there is a middle ground but I haven't found it yet!

alipops1986

Thanks for you replies.

I'm torn, but to be honest, i've just downloaded a wedding budget for excel and inputted our current estimations for Venue 1 and it's coming out at £6800, and our limit is 6.5k so not too far off even with decorations/jazzing it up. I'm beginning to come round to the idea as i don't think we'll find an alternative that's as good value for money.

I'm also changing my mind, but i'm tryin to avoid seeing anywhere which i think will be too far out our reach, although i think i failed on that with Venue 2!

I'm going to continue research on venue 1 and what we could potentially do, until we see Venue 3 in a few weeks!

Alipops x

White_Sapphire

paperalice wrote: »

I really do feel the same way. I've just started looking at venues and I'm beginning to feel lost about the whole thing - my H2B is getting fed up with me constantly changing my mind about what I want and how much I want to spend. My head is saying 'it's only 1 day and you could do something far more sensible with the money' but my heart is saying 'Shut up head, this is your wedding day and you deserve to have everything you want'.

I'm sure there is a middle ground but I haven't found it yet!

I think you've just summed up the thought processes involved in almost all aspects of wedding planning for a lot of us!!

Alipops, if you love the expensive venue, see if there is any way that you can negotiate/get extra things thrown in/cut back on other things etc. If you find that it will just send you way over budget regardless of what you do then move on. We saw two venues that we absolutely loved but simply had no way of affording, so we just had to let them go.

As for the cheap venue, could you hire in nicer tables etc? There are pros and cons to having a 'blank slate' type of venue; you can put your own stamp on it and decorate it exactly how you want, but it can prove pricey to hire and buy everything you need, not to mention stressful and time-consuming. I say can, not always - it depends on what you need/want from the venue and the size of your army of willing minions helping you craft/book/move things around!

Our venue search went on for months before we found what suited us, and at one point I just couldn't see it coming together at all because nowhere was right. You will find the right venue at the right price eventually, I promise! Even if you have to visit the websites of twenty venues to get there....

sweetilemon

Can you compromise on the day/date of your wedding and ask what discount would be availible for your flexability? How far off budget is it?

alipops1986

I'm not even sure if i'm approaching this search in the right way?

I've googled all the locals ones in our area, worked out their costings online to see if they're within our budget, close or not.

Unfortunately most aren't or those that are have been used by close friends or family in the last year or so.

Plus, we'd rather not have it too far from where we live, as we don't want to cause guests more expense than is necessary.

alipops1986

Venue 2 is currently miles off - we're talking about 1-2k, don't think they'll compromise as they're v popular although we have sent an email to find out.