How to Choose a Reception Venue

The reception venue is the place where you and your guests can relax and enjoy yourselves. It can be quite difficult to find a reception venue, so you must start looking for one very early in the process of planning your wedding. In fact, it should be one of the first steps of your wedding planning.

After setting a budget, follow the steps below to make it a little easier to choose a venue that will suit your wedding reception:

Decide What Type of Wedding To Have
When choosing a reception venue remember that the type of venue depends on the type of wedding. Therefore, the first thing to do (after setting a budget for the reception venue) when looking for a reception venue is to decide what type of wedding you are going to have. For example, is it going to be formal or informal, is it going to be a lunch or a dinner reception, etc.? If you are going to have a formal wedding you can go for a reception at a nice hotel or restaurant, whereas if you're planning to have an informal wedding you can have your reception in a park or at home.

Find Prospective Reception Venues
Once you have decided what type of wedding you want you should start looking around for prospective reception venues. Have a look at our business directory, which lists all the wedding suppliers you might need, including reception venues. You could also ask any newlywed friends and relatives you might have where their receptions were held and if they were good. Another thing to do is to ask some of your other vendors if they have worked with any good reception venues in the past. The DJ, for example, might know of some good reception venues where she or he has been. You should also go to bridal expos. They have information about all aspects of wedding planning. In addition, bridal magazines/books, online business directories and the yellow pages are good sources of wedding suppliers such as reception venues.

Meet Someone At Each Prospective Reception Venue
When you have narrowed down potential venues to about four or five you must book a time to meet with each one of them. Have a look around each place to see if it suits your type of reception.

Ask Questions
At the "interviews" ask as many questions as you like. First of all you must ask how many people each venue can hold. You must also ask what is included in the basic price. For example, apart from the actual space, ask whether decorations, food and drinks, and catering staff are also included. Some venues may only include in the basic price the space itself, and then you will have to pay extra for catering, etc. If the venue provides catering ask if you can taste-test their food. For more information about catering, click on Catering. Click on Questions to Ask Reception Venues for information about what questions you should ask reception venues.

Sign a Contract
When you have finally chosen a reception venue you have to sign a contract for both your own and the reception venue's protection. The contract should, at minimum, include:

• date, time and number of hours
• date for final headcount (about 1-2 weeks before the wedding, especially if the venue is also going to provide catering)
• price and payment schedules, and when the final payment is due
• exact list of what is included in the price, e.g. venue, catering, decorations
• who the supervisor or manager is
• cancellation policy

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