Top 3 Tips for Picking a Wedding Venue

Ahhh I'm super excited, this is my first official wedding post on the blog & hopefully there will be many more to come.  Since the moment we got engaged I'm going to admit, I felt a slight pressure to pick a wedding venue quickly.  With everyone getting married around me I was afraid that among the small list of dates that were even possible for us, venues wouldn't have them or people would take them.  

Pretty quickly after we got engaged we started emailing venues and starting to talk through what we wanted.  Let me tell you,  this is one part of wedding planning that to be honest wasn't really that fun for me.  BUT the good news is you can learn from my mistakes and hoepfully these tips will help you when you're picking a venue for your wedding!!

1. While it's good to know a time of year and dates that you know have conflicts, don't get your hopes set on dates only to find that venues you love don't have them.  One of the hardest parts for me was narrowing it down to 3-4 dates that we wanted as options and then getting shot down almost everytime by venues that were already booked! We origionally didn't think about a Friday wedding (but more on that later) so when we opened our minds up to the possible dates the venue had we were able to find something we really loved.

2. A beautiful venue won't require as much decor! This is something I went back and forth with because like most girls I had a dream of what my wedding would look like.  Unfortunatley when I found a venue I loved, it was definitely tighter in our budget.  When comparing it to other venues we considered, I realized that a beauitufl venue will require less decor and so costs can be cut in other ways.  Will I have as many flowers? probably not! Will I have as many cute decorations? probably not! But will I be happy with my pictures because I think my venue is beautiful as is? Yes I definitely will! 

3. Stay true to who you are!  This is a HUGE one and if I could give one piece of advice it's to go with your gut.  I will include some pictures at the end of our venue and a potential venue we considered when making this decision.  We toured two venues in one day and the second one we toured was gorgeous and it fit our wedding so much better in certian ways but I just kept thinking about the first one.  We talked pros and cons of both but when it came down to it, the first venue was us and the second was just a gorgesous venue that just didn't fit either of our styles.  You might be tempted into choosing something that isn't necessarily you but I would encourage you to stick to who you are and how the venue makes you feel when you're there!

When it comes down to it that's the place you're going to marry the love of your life (swoon!!!) and so you should be able to picture it happening at that venue.

This first venue is a beautiful venue called HighLine Car House in downtown Columbus.  While we didn't choose it, if you live in Columbus and love the urban wedding feel- this should definitely be on your list to look at!!

The pictures below are from the venue that we are getting married at next year.  It's the Franklin Park Wells Barn in Columbus, Ohio.  We will have our ceremony under a big white tent in the back gardens and then our reception in this beautiful barn.  

Hope you all enjoyed this post & that it was helpful for anyone out there planning a wedding in the near future.  Definitely stay tuned for more wedding posts and don't forget to follow me on instagram @clothewithloveblog for more updates!

Love Always,

M