Booking venue for 2010?

[Mannequin]

My first official BWW post since my engagement! *happy dance*

Okay, here's the background:
FI and I want to get married next year. I am a teacher with limited time off during the school year and tons of summer vacation time. You need that so that children don't die, dontcha know...

He's an engineer and can take vacation anytime. My school year calendar is already finalized for next year. I have a midwinter break (Feb) and an Easter break (Apr) that are one week each, but not likely choices for holding a wedding. The 2009-2010 school year ends on June 18th, and we won't go back to school officially until after Labor Day. I really don't want to try to get married during my school year, things get hectic enough, so it will need to be a Summer 2010 wedding.

I've been looking at reception sites and halls for a few weeks now while he's been at work, and I've showed him what I've been looking at when he has time. I found one reception venue that I really like that still has a few dates open for next summer in the ballroom sized for our guest list. I've booked a tour and tasting for us on Friday. FI likes it, but is hesitant to book it without doing all the same research that I just did so he can see the halls and prices for himself. He wants to have two weeks to do this "shopping around" - I am worried that the hall's open summer dates are going to disappear since they are in prime wedding season and they are less than a year away. I want to give him a chance to look to if he absolutely insists on it, but should I be worried about the timing?

ETA: I should mention that this isn't my first time planning a wedding. I did my first tour through BWW in 2006 and I am not sure if my experiences from before are still all that relevant due to the changes in the economy and wedding industry.

 

[marlie]

YAY!!! Congrats on your engagement!!!

I''m a summer 2010 bride also so I''ve just seen how quickly everything books up. We originally wanted a June wedding and ended up with a 7/31 date b/c all the venues were snatched up already! I know that my FI didn''t understand at first why we needed to get on the ball with stuff right away...he wanted to take time with everything too but after the first venue meeting he clearly got it when he saw how few dates they had left. I''m sure your FI (yay!) will see your point of view after the appointment on Friday.

Best of luck and have FUN looking!! Such an exciting time!!

 

[musincy]

First, congratulations on your engagement!!

I''m a teacher too, so maybe I can help you a little bit. I completely understand wanting to do the summer wedding thing... I did that too, and was not willing to get married any other time. It''s too difficult to do anything else during the school year, and trust me, you will appreciate not having to go back to work right after your wedding!

I think booking venues depends a lot on where you live, what venues you are looking at, etc. From my experience, everything in the summer books quickly. I started looking for venues last July (so I was looking a year in advance). Almost every place I looked was booked except for one or two Saturdays during the summer. I didn''t feel like I was looking at the "must have" venues for my city, either, so I was a little shocked that everything would be booked more than a year in advance.

Having said that, you can find something. I was being picky because I wanted to have an outdoor wedding and have the reception in the same location. There are only so many places where you can do that. I probably could have found a church in the area with more flexible dates, but I don''t know about reception venues. I would discuss it with your FI, and explain to him that places book quickly in the summer. My husband had no idea...

I hope this hasn''t made you worry, but it''s what I experienced. Maybe on Friday your FI will fall in love with the place too and be ready to put down the deposit.

 

[Mannequin]

Date: 8/4/2009 5:11:22 PM
Author: marlie
YAY!!! Congrats on your engagement!!!


I''m a summer 2010 bride also so I''ve just seen how quickly everything books up. We originally wanted a June wedding and ended up with a 7/31 date b/c all the venues were snatched up already! I know that my FI didn''t understand at first why we needed to get on the ball with stuff right away...he wanted to take time with everything too but after the first venue meeting he clearly got it when he saw how few dates they had left. I''m sure your FI (yay!) will see your point of view after the appointment on Friday.


Best of luck and have FUN looking!! Such an exciting time!!

Thanks for your post, marlie. I hope my guy "gets it" too after this tasting. He tends to analyze everything very carefully - heck, he made an elaborate Excel chart/matrix to help him select the center stone for my ring! I don''t want him to overthink the decision and lose the availability in the meantime.

 

[Mannequin]

Date: 8/4/2009 5:13:22 PM
Author: musincy
First, congratulations on your engagement!!

I''m a teacher too, so maybe I can help you a little bit. I completely understand wanting to do the summer wedding thing... I did that too, and was not willing to get married any other time. It''s too difficult to do anything else during the school year, and trust me, you will appreciate not having to go back to work right after your wedding!


I think booking venues depends a lot on where you live, what venues you are looking at, etc. From my experience, everything in the summer books quickly. I started looking for venues last July (so I was looking a year in advance). Almost every place I looked was booked except for one or two Saturdays during the summer. I didn''t feel like I was looking at the ''must have'' venues for my city, either, so I was a little shocked that everything would be booked more than a year in advance.


Having said that, you can find something. I was being picky because I wanted to have an outdoor wedding and have the reception in the same location. There are only so many places where you can do that. I probably could have found a church in the area with more flexible dates, but I don''t know about reception venues. I would discuss it with your FI, and explain to him that places book quickly in the summer. My husband had no idea...


I hope this hasn''t made you worry, but it''s what I experienced. Maybe on Friday your FI will fall in love with the place too and be ready to put down the deposit.

Thanks for your response, musincy! I totally understand the busy school year stuff - I teach 7th grade ELA and I am SWAMPED in papers for most of the school year. I''ve shown FI the list of open dates in Summer 2010 from this reception site and there are only three or four that we could possibly use out of seven. I hope he really likes the place as much as I do. I love historic buildings and this is an old Masons building with really nice Art-Deco features. the ballroom I want to use has a jazz dinner theater feel to it. I''ll grab a picture from their site and post it in a second...

 

[musincy]

Date: 8/4/2009 5:27:04 PM
Author: equestrienne

Date: 8/4/2009 5:13:22 PM
Author: musincy
First, congratulations on your engagement!!

I''m a teacher too, so maybe I can help you a little bit. I completely understand wanting to do the summer wedding thing... I did that too, and was not willing to get married any other time. It''s too difficult to do anything else during the school year, and trust me, you will appreciate not having to go back to work right after your wedding!


I think booking venues depends a lot on where you live, what venues you are looking at, etc. From my experience, everything in the summer books quickly. I started looking for venues last July (so I was looking a year in advance). Almost every place I looked was booked except for one or two Saturdays during the summer. I didn''t feel like I was looking at the ''must have'' venues for my city, either, so I was a little shocked that everything would be booked more than a year in advance.


Having said that, you can find something. I was being picky because I wanted to have an outdoor wedding and have the reception in the same location. There are only so many places where you can do that. I probably could have found a church in the area with more flexible dates, but I don''t know about reception venues. I would discuss it with your FI, and explain to him that places book quickly in the summer. My husband had no idea...


I hope this hasn''t made you worry, but it''s what I experienced. Maybe on Friday your FI will fall in love with the place too and be ready to put down the deposit.

Thanks for your response, musincy! I totally understand the busy school year stuff - I teach 7th grade ELA and I am SWAMPED in papers for most of the school year. I''ve shown FI the list of open dates in Summer 2010 from this reception site and there are only three or four that we could possibly use out of seven. I hope he really likes the place as much as I do. I love historic buildings and this is an old Masons building with really nice Art-Deco features. the ballroom I want to use has a jazz dinner theater feel to it. I''ll grab a picture from their site and post it in a second...

Oh I love art-deco. Can''t wait to see it.

 

[Mannequin]

Here''s the photo - this is the 4th floor Crystal Ballroom. The place is called the Lafayette Grande.

Mimzy had her wedding here in December, but in a different ballroom:
Mimzy''s Non-Pro Wedding Thread!

 

[princessplease]

Congratulations!!!!!! Welcome to BWW!!!

Marlie and I getting married on the same day, and I completely second what she said. FI and I originally had picked a Friday for the wedding, but when my family decided to spring for the extra money for a Saturday reception, it took me almost 3 days to coordinate a date where all of my vendors were available. Picking a Friday was easy, but I was in complete shock at how few Saturdays all of my vendors were available. If the venue has 7 Saturdays in the summer available, I wouldn''t worry too much because they have quite a few days available. I hope that FI loves the place, and decides that venue is where the wedding will take place. Congratulations again, eq, and enjoy the tasting and tour. AQnd please take some pics of the venue to share with us!