How to Select Wedding Venues: An Insider's Guide and Tips

We are often asked in Indianapolis about how to select wedding venues.  Since we have more than 40 individual venue types on our site for the greater Indianapolis area, we dedicate a lot of our blog to writing stories about how to pick from indoor or outdoor, small or large, rustic or modern.  We thought the BridalTweet community may also benefit from a post or two about what we find to be true in our own city for brides. Enjoy!

Start with a Plan...A Communication Plan

Sit down with your fiancé and discuss your overall vision for the wedding. Do you want a small intimate wedding reception with only close family and friends present? Or do you want a formal black tie affair with extended family and friends? Are you looking for a truly unique wedding venue? Or a more traditional space? When you picture the wedding and the reception in your mind, do you have seasonal preferences? This may help steer you toward a specific month or date.

What are your "absolute must haves?"

Next, list out all of your needs and wants in the categories of "must-haves" and "would-like-to-haves." I recommend you code these as A-B-C so you can then really focus on the A's and B's and (hopefully) also get some of your C's too. This list should consist of everything including price range, capacity, location, space onsite for a ceremony, outdoor space, etc. Do not be shocked or disappointed if you cannot get the "perfect" place that meets every single one of your criteria exactly the way you envisioned at your price point.  No matter what you pick, you will really enjoy the day if you focus on the event and experience for yourselves, your family and your guests. Remember, the wedding venue is merely window dressing for you!

Start Searching High and Low

After categorizing your needs and wants, you can begin your search in a variety of places, although we find most brides in Indy tell us they start by searching online and asking friends and family members for suggestions. While not every bride thinks of it, we recommend you consider engaging a professional event planner to help you with this step.  Some planners will do a free basic consultation with you to get you going in the right direction and many of them know about "hidden" venues you otherwise might not know existed, or were available for weddings.  Everyone assumes that they cannot afford a planner, and this simply isn't always true.  A great planner will help you cover their costs by saving you money in other areas. It is certainly worth investigating.

Evaluating Multiple Venues

Now that you've identified several wedding venues that meet your needs, it's time to dig a little deeper. We feel one of the very first questions you should ask venues is about available dates, and price differences for Saturdays vs. Fridays, Sundays or other weekdays. A lot of this step is driven by whether or not you have a specific date you must adhere to, or if you are trying to get a specific venue and will move your date to get the space.

Feel confident to ask the venue managers for references of other couples who have used their venue, and make sure you follow up with them asking questions about their event and overall experience. Many online services also post reviews now. We also think it's a good idea to ask for a copy of the contract in advance so you can see exactly what their standard policies are for services, fees and other possible hidden charges. Being armed with this information after you look at the spaces may help.

Before signing a contract, sit down with the venue manager with a prepared list of questions surrounding preferred vendors, deposits, extra costs and contingency plans. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Venue managers should be eager to answer all of your inquiries as you plan for one of the biggest days of your lives.