Did anyone have venue regret?

I'm on the other side of things...I'm really happy with our venue for the ceremony but it was SO CHEAP (reception is in a second location). We had an incredibly difficult time finding a venue that would host a smaller wedding without swallowing it whole. I don't regret it, but there were so many beautiful locations that I would have liked but couldn't even consider because they were set to hold 300 people (and priced for it).

I tried so hard to get my mom to consider another venue. I HATE the hotel space for our reception, but we ended up picking it because they have connections to the ceremony site, which was important to us.

I totally get the regret. I'd just try to "make it yours" as much as possible with your decor and such. That's my plan!

It's been a while for me here, I've been on lurk status for a while, but I did and still do have venue regret, and not because of anything that happened before, but because of what happened during and after the wedding...and there's nothing I could have done to anticipate it. I think it's too late for you to turn back now, but as long as your venue executes your wedding perfectly, you won't regret a thing!

@OriginalLaura I live in Houston, but our wedding is in FH's hometown of New Orleans. Coco I think is everyone's dream venue in Houston, either it or Bell Tower. The good thing about Coco is you can take bridals or e-pics there for only a couple hundred bucks. I know a few couples, since they loved it so much they just took their bridals and/or e-pics there that way they get to capture the beautiful venue they love without spending so much.

Hey @KM you're back.

Yeah, def too late to change. Just coming across it and having to do all the work we are doing now, I really wish we had the other place, not as much work and so beautiful.

Yes and no. There are so many reasons why I love our venue, but I think we should have considered more options. I have successfully put it out of my mind, because we did not have the money to start over from scratch!

@Melissa are you talking about The Windsor and The Cathedral? You went with the Cathedral, no?

I would have if we would have booked with the runner up venue we found. It just so happened I went to my photographer a few days before we were to book the runner up. She suggested our venue and we went to look at it that same day. 3 days later the deposit was down and it's right down the strip from our original but with half the price tag!

We absolutely loved the first venue that we saw. It was on the Hudson River, beautiful views, and a beautiful ballroom with amazing chandeliers. Then we heard the price.....We would have to have 150 people minimum (we are having a very small 60-70 people wedding), or at least pay for it. Just for the venue (including catering) it was close to $15,000....There was NO way that was going to happen. Luckily our second venue was a big hit! Although its not on the water, it does have a pond, bridge and waterfall out back and a HUGE crystal chandelier which completely matched all of our expectations. I couldn't be happier! Plus its almost 8 grand less!

I absolutely did. I toured a dream venue when I first started planning, but was thrown by the cost. They also said we needed to have a guest list in the 250-300 so the building didn't look empty.

Looking back, it included bartenders, parking assistants, and a lot of general staff. All things I don't have now. They had chairs and tables on site, that once rented would be set up for me, and I would have had all weekend to decorate.

I decided to throw a park wedding - Will give all the advice I can to future brides... Bad idea. My site rental is 10%, but I still have to rent chairs, tables, and decorate the morning of.

Pro - amazing view of the lake, real bathrooms

Con - no bonfire pit or amazing barn wedding (The barn didn't have real bathrooms)

Right after I signed the contract for our venue. I originally had my heart set on a gorgeous botanical garden/art museum venue but it cost $8k and didn't come with anything except 200 lawn chairs, there was no rain plan for the outdoor reception, and it would have required me to bus my 148 OOT guests to the venue. I'm over it now but I sometimes think about how gorgeous the pictures would have been.

I feel the same way. I love my venue but my "dream venue" is always sitting there in the back of my mind. There is no way we could afford it though and I wouldn't be able to justify spending all of that money even if we did have the funds for it.

We were able to afford the honeymoon we wanted because we went with our second choice venue though which is worth it to me!!!

I don't! It wasnt my dream venue. It wasn't what I would've picked if money wasn't an issue. But most of us don't have unlimited money.

For $1200 a day of coordinator was included, tables, chairs, linens and ceremony and diner space. For the price we got a LOT. the colors (an upscale ballroom with lots of gold) wasn't my taste but decor helped change the look! I also like that it was the only space in the building for events so we didn't have multiple weddings in the same building for guests to get confused by. Additionally we were able to come in on Friday before and decorate which saved tons of time!

Yea I love the pictures, the thing that turned me off from Cocomar is you can only visit it once. That did not fly with me.

ETA But I LOVE the idea of doing bridals there and will have to look into that! Thanks!

I booked my venue without looking anywhere else because its been my "dream venue" I went down the street to a park that has an indoor carrousel (where people have weddings) and a light house right on the beach. I instantly fell in love. Too late now but I still love my venue.

I booked my dream venue and every now and then I get a pang of regret because it is SO expensive. When I booked it, we had set an overall budget but I hadnt actually priced anything out. Our budget seemed so huge to me that the venue seemed so doable. There was another venue we loved almost as much that would have saved us around $2k. At the time, that didnt seem like such a huge difference.Now I catch myself dreaming about all the things I could do with that extra $2k in my budget. but I do love my venue.

Nope. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it online. It was more than we wanted to spend but every time I think of it, it gives me all the feels. They are having an open house in a couple of weeks and I'm so excited to go back and wander the grounds again!

I wish we would have chosen a different location all together....one closer to home.

Yea I do a little. I originally wanted to get married at a county park. It has beautiful mountain views and a really nice building with a covered patio. Alcohol is not allowed since it's owned by the county. We found another park that is privately owned so we booked that one. It's very pretty, too, and gives us access to a kitchen unlike the first park, but no mountain views.

We only visited 2 venues. We put a soft hold on the first venue and after seeing the second in person I KNEW the first was THE ONE. Now looking back, I do wish we looked at other places. Not that I regret our venue but it would have been nice to have a longer "wedding shopping" experience, if that makes sense.