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What made you book your venue?

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NakedFinger

NakedFinger

Brilliant_Rock
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Jan 8, 2009
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690
As many of you know I am a wedding planner, and me and one of my fellow colleagues were having a discussion. I mentioned that a wedding is an emotional buy, as much more is "invested" in it then lets say a meeting/dinner being planned.

I mentioned that the catering manger/event manager at the venue plays a big part in the bride booking the space. If you have a good relationship, have faith in their abilities and trust the person booking/overseeing the event, that may outweigh some "cons' of the space. Likewise, if you get an awful vibe from the person, dont trust them, etc etc, it may keep a bride from booking a venue she loves.

So tell me what made you book your venue? How much of it was the person is charge? How much of it was the space? How much of it was price? Etc Etc

Also, if your manager ended up leaving the venue lets say a month before your wedding, how upset would you be? Or does it not matter?
 
When I walked into the space (I saw 8 other venues), it was the only one that I actually could visualize getting married in. And, it was the only place that made FI excited. The space felt very "us" and it was a good mix of what we wanted with what our parents wanted...we wanted a more raw urban space, the parents wanted something slightly more traditional. This totally worked for us. I love it. Pictures don''t do it justice.

here''s the website in case anyone is interested...www.tribec.com
 
Well I fell in love with one venue, and my parents with another ....so they offered to pay for the honeymoon if I went along with theirs, I figured if it meant that much to them and I got a free trip why not? That and I figured if anything went wrong at the venue I chose I would never hear the end of it and it just wouldn't be worth it
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eta the managers at both places were nice, what I liked about them was that they were very obviously willing to give me whatever I want, and that was the most important quality in a venue for me. I had a very specific idea in my head about what I wanted (a holiday cocktail bar, christmas trees, etc) and if anyone said no you can't do that, that would've been it for me

eta2 while I liked the woman at our place, I wouldn't really care if she left as long as the service stayed the same
 
Date: 8/4/2009 2:51:47 PM
Author: marlie
When I walked into the space (I saw 8 other venues), it was the only one that I actually could visualize getting married in. And, it was the only place that made FI excited. The space felt very 'us' and it was a good mix of what we wanted with what our parents wanted...we wanted a more raw urban space, the parents wanted something slightly more traditional. This totally worked for us. I love it. Pictures don't do it justice.

here's the website in case anyone is interested...www.tribec.com
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Ahhh I've worked with Tribeca Rooftop. LOVE them!
 
For us it was exactly what we were looking for. We wanted something in the mountains without the traditional mountain feel (ie log cabin and antlers). I call it mountain chic.
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. It was somewhat out of our planned budget but it was so perfect and the staff was great, so we couldn't pass it up. Everytime I go there I get more and more excited. I love my venue more than my dress
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Here it is:
www.dellaterramountainchateau.com
 
Yay! I''m glad you like them!! It''s good to hear good things about the place considering I''ve never been to a wedding there!

Also, I thought you and your colleague might be interested to know that the sales person at tribeca was amazingly sweet and not pushy so she was definitely a plus. Had she been miserable, I probably would''ve booked anyway b/c I loved the space but would''ve been nervous the entire year planning.

Also...another example of that would be my band. I booked a band I loved but have been stressed about it since handing over the deposit b/c the guy I''m working with there is like a used car salesman. He makes me VERY nervous. Didn''t stop me from booking, but it did make me hesitate and does continue to make me anxious.
 
We wanted somewhere where we could have the ceremony and reception at the same spot, with bonus points for hotels within walking distance. We also didn''t want to pay an arm and a leg--our venue was the only one we both liked that fit those criteria. My coordinator had little or nothing to do with it. If she left, I wouldn''t really be bothered.
 
Combination of price, personal sense of style/uniqueness (didn''t want anything that looked generic or boring to me), and and date availability. Within these constraints, there was only one venue that worked for us...so that was it.
 
We got married in a Castle so the appearance of the venue was important to us, however the staff were the main reason why we booked it. They hold a wedding there pretty much daily, however with any contact that I had with them, they made me feel that my wedding was the important one. I knew that I could trust them to organise everything and that it would go off without a hitch, which it did.
 
price, location, date that they had available, and it was cozy for us
 
1) They allowed us to bring in our own alcohol. This was a savings of 80% or more compared to other venues for the open bar we wanted.

2) It was aesthetically pleasing.

3) The people there were incredibly efficient, friendly, and knowledgeable. As it turns out, every vendor they recommended did an amazing job at our wedding. They were available 7 days a week to help us.
 
it was one of those places we went to and said '' i can see myself getting married here'' but we thought we couldn''t afford it so wei went round and round for months on different options, until we realized we could afford it by cutting the guestlist

instead of just deciding on this place, we made sure to check out all the wineries in the area to make sure and lo and behold, the other ones didn''t compare and we wandered back, the event manager and her assistant have been fantastic and the prices altho still pricey have been manageable
 
YOu will probably be surrprised by this one, but we booked our reception site SOLELY on
1) the beauty of the hotel
2) that it was a hotel and had overnight rooms for guests
3) the location
Our planner was HORRIBLE. she was kind of bitchy on day one but i really wanted the place and DH was good as we had looked at least 10 other places and nothing had everything this place did.
After we booked she got worse and worse. horrible. she even insulted my DH at one of our meetings saying he was cocky.
Everything we wanted to do, her first response was always NO.
i always felt terrified to ask her if we could do certain things as i felt like i was asking my mom permission to stay up late (as a kid)
She was aweful and we hated her.
Now that the wedding is over, we had yet to meet with her boss (the htoel manager) to let her know how bad this woman is.

The "day of" coordinator on the other hand, was fabulous. but unfortunately we only met her one week prior to the wedding and had to do all our dealings - with the "other one"
 
We booked our venue because they had a date available when we wanted, and it was my ideal setting for our wedding.

The staff was less than pleasant to deal with, honestly.
 
1. The location
2. The fact that it was built to replicate a historical Federation Building
3. Its all-inclusive ceremony and reception venue
4. The owner :D ----> Determining factor for me, I have to see eye to eye with the person coordinating the wedding for it to work. I HATE event managers who think they have something better to do than spend time to talk to you and help you out (there are lots of them out there)
 
I think a picture is necessary in this case. I just HAD to get married here:

http://www.spb.com.au/packages-angsana.html

We are paying $1700 to hire the chapel for the ceremony. Afterwards, they will transform the space into ''Chapel Reflections'', they take the pews out, and put in tables, white linen, private chef and waiter and we have our reception venue. We pay another $2000 for the reception hire.

It''s not cheap, not for 19 people, but we just couldn''t imagine doing it anywhere else. We CAN"T WAIT!!!!
 
Our venue was the only venue that included amazing elements (Glow bar, dumpling bar, gelato bar, spot lighting) so we wouldn''t have to worry about outsourcing. The rpice was nearly double what we wanted.. but with me studying full time and FI being very career focused I''d rather spend the money then having to stress about organising things myself
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If the manager left I would be disappointed, because he is lovely- but I trust that the venue would hire someone just as brilliance to replace him.
 
Date: 8/5/2009 12:08:35 AM
Author: honey22
I think a picture is necessary in this case. I just HAD to get married here:

http://www.spb.com.au/packages-angsana.html

We are paying $1700 to hire the chapel for the ceremony. Afterwards, they will transform the space into ''Chapel Reflections'', they take the pews out, and put in tables, white linen, private chef and waiter and we have our reception venue. We pay another $2000 for the reception hire.

It''s not cheap, not for 19 people, but we just couldn''t imagine doing it anywhere else. We CAN''T WAIT!!!!
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WOAH honey! That is a seriously beautiful venue!
 
We saw three hotels and decided within minutes that we had found THE ONE that allow us to have an outdoor lawn area for solemnization, dining indoors for 100 pax, fantastic rooms for our overseas guests. Here is the link - http://www.thesentosa.com/index.html

Our two wedding coordinators were professional and enthusiastic! In fact, we rejected another hotel (which was our top choice as we had our first date there) because the coordinator behaved in a bad manner - totally "vendor-like" with no passion in her work.

If our coordinator left a month before our party, I would be extremely anxious.
 
We booked our venue mainly because it was clean - how terrible does that sound
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, seriously most of the venues I looked at (not inexpensive either) were dirty
The second reason was that they have a fantastic rep and the food is AMAZING we went there for dinner, they don''t do tastings and the serivce and food was top notch the co-ordinator is lovely but if she left it wouldn''t make me upset I would still go there
The final reason we booked the contact terms were more then reasonable :)

This is the venue :)

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/dee-officially-has-a-venue.111314/
 
I actually had booked a venue, and it was fine. I wasn''t in love and FI was indifferent, but it seemed nice enough. Then we happened to go to one more place and my FI''s smile was huge. He is not big on emotions and really didn''t have too many opinions on this wedding stuff, but when I saw him light up I just knew that was the place! And it is. I cannot wait to get married there! I am not in love with the coordinator at the venue but my caterer is amazing and we are brining him in and he will take care of a lot of it for us. https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-venue.111002/
 
The church was chosen on pure sentimental reasons - my parents were married there and it's my local parish church from my childhood. Of the three churches in the parish we could have used it's the one that's least suited to our numbers, and it's the ugliest (seriously), but that doesn't matter a jot!

The reception venue was chosen for its blend of old and new. The pre-dinner drinks will be in interconnecting formal 18th century reception rooms that still have their original decor, and they have French doors leading to a colonnaded terrace that overlooks formal rose gardens, and beyond that, a golf course complete with folly! Dinner and dancing will be in a modern banqueting suite.

I'm in love with both of our venues even though they couldn't be more different!!!

ETA - this might be helpful for you to know, but we had originally booked a different reception venue. We cancelled it after we found out that (a) they had concealed certain things from us about the venue; (b) as soon as they had the deposit cheque they became impossible to deal with, whereas before it was 'nothing's a problem' now it was 'like it or lump it'; and last but not least, (c) they sent me a flyer recommending that my bridesmaids and I participate in a bridal boot camp or I wouldn't fit into my dress - and they stamped the envelope 'urgent' in bright red ink!
 
1. Price ("wedding" prices were way out of budget but "banquet" prices were well in budget)
2. Location (a bonus but not a must)
3. Bumper boats (sealed the deal!!! seriously)

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ETA: My situation is unorthodox, as I chose the location from overseas and have only corresponded with staff through email (which is a major pain). So the people there didn't have much to do with my impressions--if anything, they have been a negative, but this is probably due more to the fact that they are unaccustomed to having to communicate solely through email and that I have an excellent memory and can easily remember when they emailed me something previously that doesn't correspond with what they're currently telling me (and then email their own messages back to them so they can't weasel out of anything).
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Date: 8/5/2009 6:35:30 AM
Author: Delster
The church was chosen on pure sentimental reasons - my parents were married there and it''s my local parish church from my childhood. Of the three churches in the parish we could have used it''s the one that''s least suited to our numbers, and it''s the ugliest (seriously), but that doesn''t matter a jot!


The reception venue was chosen for its blend of old and new. The pre-dinner drinks will be in interconnecting formal 18th century reception rooms that still have their original decor, and they have French doors leading to a colonnaded terrace that overlooks formal rose gardens, and beyond that, a golf course complete with folly! Dinner and dancing will be in a modern banqueting suite.


I''m in love with both of our venues even though they couldn''t be more different!!!


ETA - this might be helpful for you to know, but we had originally booked a different reception venue. We cancelled it after we found out that (a) they had concealed certain things from us about the venue; (b) as soon as they had the deposit cheque they became impossible to deal with, whereas before it was ''nothing''s a problem'' now it was ''like it or lump it''; and last but not least, (c) they sent me a flyer recommending that my bridesmaids and I participate in a bridal boot camp or I wouldn''t fit into my dress - and they stamped the envelope ''urgent'' in bright red ink!
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Like a few others, I visited or researched quite a few different venues. For me, all of them were too costly, so I started browsing The Knot and found my venue by accident. I sort of knew it was the right place for me when everytime I visited, I got butterflies in my stomach. I honestly was and am still in love with the venue, that I changed my wedding date because the date I originally wanted wasn''t available. The deal breaker for me in regards to the venue was the landscaping. The trees, wildlife, view of the river, just did it for me. The indoor space (reception area) is nice too, but nothing compared to the outdoor space. My wedding coordinator at the site was also a factor in whether or not I booked with them. She was very involved, always followed up, and very accomodating. So I was shocked when they let her go due to budget cuts. The guy I''m working with now is good as well, but I honestly like my original coordinator better.
 
Date: 8/4/2009 2:45:45 PM
Author:NakedFinger
As many of you know I am a wedding planner, and me and one of my fellow colleagues were having a discussion. I mentioned that a wedding is an emotional buy, as much more is ''invested'' in it then lets say a meeting/dinner being planned.


I mentioned that the catering manger/event manager at the venue plays a big part in the bride booking the space. If you have a good relationship, have faith in their abilities and trust the person booking/overseeing the event, that may outweigh some ''cons'' of the space. Likewise, if you get an awful vibe from the person, dont trust them, etc etc, it may keep a bride from booking a venue she loves.


So tell me what made you book your venue? How much of it was the person is charge? How much of it was the space? How much of it was price? Etc Etc



Since reserving my space, I''ve read some not so nice things on other forums about it, but mostly relating to the cost. My venue is a reasonably priced place in the middle of a city (Columbus, OH) and people complained about the rules and being charged because they didn''t follow them. They have been very up front about costs you will incur if you screw up their space due to the fact it is a historic location on the registry. So duh, follow the rules, get out on time, and if you don''t want to be charged $1/head for favor placement, then find a way around it.

Anyway- i love my location. It was where I wanted, close to hotels for OOT guests, and still let us bring alcohol. it felt upscale, and gave a discount on booking fee for reserving 2 weeks after touring. we could get the wedding we wanted for the price we wanted. i didn''t meet too much with their staff, but it "felt right." the spaces they offered were beautiful, and even though there will be other weddings going on in other rooms my same night, it feels private and i know they will make it my day. since i don''t know a lot of people living in my area, i probably wont go to another wedding there and feel "wedding envy" or anything, and it doesn''t feel like the "typical wedding hall."



Also, if your manager ended up leaving the venue lets say a month before your wedding, how upset would you be? Or does it not matter?
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We picked our ceremony site because we wanted an outdoor wedding, and being on a budget with a Friday wedding a lot of places were either too expensive or in our price range but too far away from the cities. So we went with this really beautiful little park we used to meet up for lunch at, surrounded by old Victorian homes.

Our venue was a little more difficult - we wanted an open bar but wanted to be able to provide the liquor ourselves (so we wouldn''t be pay beaucoup bucks), we wanted somewhere in the cities, someplace that was unique and someplace that only rented for one function at a time. We narrowed it down to two, went to visit one and pretty much decided to go with that. There are a couple things that I''m not too fond of (the ballroom has no windows and an ugly red border across the top) but we''re just going to use lots of candles and do some swag draping around the room to cover that up. Plus, FI really liked the guy we worked with for our booking process.
 
We booked our venue because they have fantastic reviews all over the internet. Then, when I began to call other vendors, they told me what an incredible place it was to get married as well. The owners really go out of their way to make your day special. They tell you over and over that although they see wedding after wedding, they understand that this is a very special day for YOU.

The food is incredible.

The venue is beautiful, but I did have reservations about the main room. It is small. So, if the weather does not permit an outdoor wedding, I feel we will be cramped.

All flowers, except personal flowers are included. Cake is included too.

But, to answer your question, yes, I chose the place due to the service. I''m told they really take care of you. If you need a glass of champagne while you''re having your pics taken, they bring it. If you need a relative, they will go grab that person for you. Need a bite to eat? etc.. They plan everything for you and they don''t nickle dime you for the little things, such as cake stand, cutting utensils, etc. They even give you inserts for you invitations that includes a map, history of the building, and a warning about the cold evenings. If the ownership changed right now, I''d be extremely upset.
 
We were looking for a very unique venue on a fairly tight budget and two places fit the bill, one was a little too public for us (at a train station so there was a potential for random strangers coming through) We ended up choosing http://www.rialtosquare.com/weddings/ceremonies-receptions.htm . Our situation is a little unique, because there is a event coordinator that handles all the logistics and paper work, but is not directly involved in day-of execution. We didn''t meet the coordinator until after we had already decided to book, and since the contract was signed it has been a HUGE PITA. I don''t think we would have changed our decision if we had known about the problems in advance, we have instead hired a DOC to handle all of the things that I think a event coordinator would normally handle.
 
I totally agree that a lot has to do with the person in charge! The place we went with is in a lovely location (on the Hudson) and the building is beautiful, but I'm sure with more looking we could have found a more unique space. However, none of the other places we looked had such wonderful people willing to do whatever we wanted to make us happy. Those people are a big reason we chose to go with their place! The price was also very reasonable. I wouldn't have picked the cheapest place if there were things I didn't like about it, but the price made the deal just a bit sweeter.

ETA: The majority of places I emailed had a 100 guest minimum which was way too high for us. This really helped narrow it down!
 
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