Choosing a Venue: Price or Place?

Ultimately I went with whatever was cheapest aha

My daughter chose the one that allowed them to give their guests the best experience - upgraded food options, top shelf open bar, etc.. Had they gone with the one that wowed them, they would have had to go with the cheapest food and beverage package to afford it.

I went with one I liked but not my favorite because of the price. Ultimately, I’m happy with my decision. By saving over $3000 on the venue, I do not feel so restricted on many of the other things I really want (like real flowers!).

Thanks everyone! We're looking at a small wedding and the one venue has a food and beverage minimum of $12k! Yikes!!!

I chose the one we liked the best and it happened to be in our budget. Most places I would have loved either didn’t have my date or they couldn’t accommodate my 200+ guest list

We splurged on the one we loved but luckily my family is helping us out a lot which gave us some wiggle room to make it work.

That is hard. A lot of the more expensive fun ones will have more to offer like you wont need as much decor. You can always lessen it but cutting some things like your guest list!? We looked at venues in our range and chose based on venue (which was the most expensive) but we cut everything (very customizable place) to fit our ideal budget

View Quoted Comment Our guest list right now is looking to be 100 or less believe it or not. As upsetting as it is, I think we might end up going with the venue that doesn't require a food and beverage minimum. With our small guest list, we would be going ALL OUT just to try to reach a 12k minimum

The one we liked the best was actually the cheapest one, so that actually worked out well for us. Does the expensive venue include more than the cheaper venues? Will the expensive venue busy your budget? How will you be able to reallocate funds to make it work in your budget? These are all things you’ll have to answer to know what the right choice for you is.

We chose a venue that was the most us. We are having our ceremony and reception at an old hunting camp. We hunt and we are rednecks. It’s perfect for us. We can roast a pig and have a big post wedding reception bonfire.

View Quoted Comment Well you shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops esp when they're the ones that want your business! Do they work with you on the price at all or any customizations where you can try and reduce that?? Otherwise the cheaper one sounds great. I really wanted to checkout one that was a couple thousand more but decided not to even temp ourself because getting the cheapest package was still over budget so I understand!

We had it narrowed down to two venues we like equally, although they were very different. What ultimately decided it for us was the cost. The one we chose ended up being thousands cheaper than the other one, mainly because the first venue had nothing included (catering/beverage/tables/chairs/linens), and we would have had to rent it all. That's fine, except that when we crunched the numbers, the venue that had that stuff included was less expensive overall. We chose our hometown, where we grew up and first met, to get married in, even though we now live about 35 miles away. So, all of the venues we were looking at had some memories attached to them, as they were all part of our small town upbringing. But I'm super happy with the place we ended up at. It's sentimental, as well as affordable. I can't wait!!