Before your special day, you’ll need to make countless wedding-related choices along the way. These include your dress, guest list, bridal party and food. However, one of the first decisions you’ll make for your wedding is choosing the perfect place to say your “I do’s.”

The venue you choose sets the tone of your wedding and should reflect your vision of your special day. It’s important to find a suitable venue early on in the planning process, as this helps ensure you get to book your preferred dates and allows you to move on to other aspects of planning your wedding.

There are quite a lot of venues to choose from, from rustic farms to traditional churches and everything in between. How do you know which one is best? 

Here’s a quick step-by-step on how to find wedding venues for you and your spouse-to-be.

 

How to Find a Venue for a Wedding

Some guides that give tips on how to find wedding venues tell you to contact your wedding planner first for help. However, for a productive meeting with your planner, it’s best to have important information—such as your budget, preferred style and guest list—handy.

This saves you and your planner from unnecessary back-and-forth. It also empowers your planner to give recommendations that align with your vision, saving you time and effort.

 

Step 1: Set Your Venue Rental Budget

Take the time to sit down with your spouse-to-be and figure out how much of your wedding budget to allocate to venue rental fees. Generally, the venue, along with catering, can take up to 40 percent. However, that number might go higher or lower depending on your vision and how much it would cost to bring it to life. Factors such as décor and floral design will also drive the costs up.

 

Step 2: Estimate the Number of Guests

Imagine choosing the perfect venue for your beach wedding, a bed-and-breakfast on a picturesque farm, only to discover that it’s too small to fit all your guests. For this reason, it’s best to determine how many guests you’re planning to invite.

This early on in the wedding planning process, you don’t need to finalize who you plan on inviting or start writing down names. Instead, to help you choose a venue, all you need is a ballpark estimate.

Generally, small weddings have no more than 50 guests, medium-sized weddings have 50 to 150 while large weddings have upwards of 151. Most couples have medium-sized celebrations. According to The Knot Real Weddings Study, the average guest count in 2021 was 105.

 

Step 3: Choose the Wedding Style

Wedding style refers to the overall look and theme of a wedding. The popular styles include:

• Beach
• Garden
• Bohemian
• Whimsical
• Traditional
• Destination

Then, look for venues that align with the style you have in mind. For example, you want a whimsical fall wedding. You can then start looking for venues with magnificent fall foliage as a backdrop, such as a farm, mountain resort, garden, or national park.

When it comes to wedding styles, the only limit is your imagination. You can get many more ideas for wedding styles by browsing “wedding inspo” on Pinterest, Instagram and other social media platforms.

However, keep in mind that an influencer’s dream wedding might not necessarily be your own. Therefore, it’s best to choose a style that feels authentic and accurately reflects your partner’s and your personality and tastes.   

 

Step 4: Consult a Planner

Finally, call your wedding planner. Due to their expertise and experience, they are an excellent resource and can provide you with guidance on how to find a venue for a wedding. Apart from having extensive experience in planning weddings, wedding planners have a lot of contacts. They’ve done weddings in countless venues, and they might be able to recommend ones they’ve used in the past.

Tell your planner about your chosen wedding style, the number of guests you’re inviting and your budget. They can provide better, more personalized recommendations when they fully understand your vision for your special day.

 

Step 5: Tour Potential Venues

The last step is the fun part: creating a short list of possible venues and touring them. Visiting venues in person helps you get a much better feel for a location than simply viewing pictures. However, if you’re planning a destination wedding far from where you currently are, watching video tours is also a good option.

 

A Picturesque Special Events Venue in the Texas Countryside

Hollow Hill Farm is a family-run event center with many memorable wedding spots, from a pecan grove and a windmill to a unique, rustic barn that can accommodate up to 250 guests. Our friendly staff is more than happy to assist couples with transforming their chosen space into the venue of their dreams through décor, flower arrangements and music.

 

Schedule a tour via our website to see Hollow Hill Farm in person. We also offer virtual tours.