Helpful hints for looking for venues

I'd make a list of important things to both of you. For my fiance & I, it was: dog friendly ceremony, bridal & groom's suite, indoor reception w/ outdoor cocktail hour and ceremony, nice restroom area. I'd ask if they have required or preferred vendors, what venue rental includes, how many hours, how many weddings they have per day, if they allow a rehearsal the day before, how wifi and cell service is, if uber & lyft is easy to get in the area, about parking, etc.

Specifics of what is included with the venue.

Is a bartender necessary/required?

How long you have the space--including before and after wedding

Does the venue do setup/tear down of space? Do they do decor?

Is wedding insurance required? (some venues require this)

What decor is/is not allowed (some venues are very specific about what decor they will allow, some don't allow candles/open flames, nothing tacked to the walls, etc.)?

Those are the big questions that occurred to me off the top of my head. I'm sure you'll have more as time goes on, I know I did. Good luck and happy planning!

Congrats on starting the planning process! Here is a list of the major questions I asked all venues so I could compare apples-to-apples for each:

(Prob. the most obvious of all of them) Is my date available? If not, what other days are available?

Security deposit amount and payment schedule? Extra fees for using credit card?

What is typical overall wedding budget at this location?

Max seating in ceremony/reception spaces? What is the rain backup plan if any? Do you provide a tent or rental for backup?

Can we use this space for rehearsal the evening before? What time?

Do you require insurance? Do you require security? (Many places required security if we had alcohol being served)

Extra fees? (Some all inclusive places have "event service fees", corkage fees, and kitchen use fees for caterers)

Are we tied to using only preferred vendors?

What are standard tables/chairs if included? Upgrades available at what cost? (Ask to see actual or pictures!)

Who on their end will be coordinating, to what extent?

Parking - is valet required? (A few places had this as a requirement!)

Restrictions on candles/confetti/streamers/sparklers, etc.?

Alcohol - BYOB available? or standard per person fees?

What is the fee if we want to change the date?

We're having 2 venues (one for ceremony and one for reception). These are the major questions we asked. I also have word documents that outline more in depth questions that are specific to our venues

Ceremony

What decor is allowed?

Areas available for bride & groom to change? (thankfully our venue actually has bride and groom suites that are on the opposite ends of the building which is convenient for when we are all getting ready)

Times you can have your ceremony (this was big for us because the ceremony venue is a non profit so I wanted to make sure we fell in their business hours)

Max guest count

Reception

Menu

Bar list & options for bar (ie: cash, consumption, cap, etc.)

Decor allowed

Max guest count

Coordinator available? (this helped us avoid having to hire a day off coordinator. We can handle the ceremony all on our own so thankfully our reception venue comes with a coordinator who hovers around the entire time to make sure everything is going according to plan)

Room layouts

Think about what you want your day to look like and ask if that's possible. Think about your guests and their needs (anyone need the building to we wheelchair accessible? Didnt think about this until a venue specifically pointed out that they were). Ask about approved/preferred vendors and what limits there are for bringing in someone different. Ask who will be with you day of, same person you communicate with along the way? Or will it be someone different? There are general lists for this out there if you do a search (in the forums or on Google). Many places cover the big questions, I just suggest you check out multiple places to start getting an idea of what you need to know!

Also, lol, I asked to see the bathrooms during all visits and it actually helped us to make our final decision.

I agree with a lot of what the other girls are suggesting. I see that you're considering a summer wedding, and if you're planning on it being outside, ask what your venue's contingency plan entails.

A friend learned this lesson the hard way at her wedding a few years ago. They rented a lodge in a state park with the ceremony outside and the reception inside. And wouldn't you know it POURED an hour before the wedding! The guys had to stop getting ready, rush to the venue, and rearrange the room. Since it was a state park they only provided enough hours to set up the tables and chairs and tear down at the end- nothing in between. Thankfully the rest of the day went smoothly.

I would make sure you know the general aspects of the venue. Where on the property will it be held. How many guests it can hold. If their are any nearby hotels in case guests need to stay. Bridal and groom's suites. Food and bar options. Decor rules. Anything personal to you like having pets. Some places dont even allow real flowers because of clean up when flower girls throw them.

Honestly, the only thing we had asked was if our date was available. Other than that, our venue was prepared with information, like a whole folder already ready for us. She answered any question I wrote down before even asking her. I asked her if, 1. Is there a fee to hold the ceremony? 2. Is there a bridal suite? 3. Is there another space for the ceremony if the weather is bad that day? ( If you're deciding to have the ceremony at your venue, I would make sure there is another space) That helped us a lot on that deciding factor for our venue. Both spaces, outside and inside, equally, were beautiful! 4. What is the best way to pay, check or credit card? and are there fees for credit card. 5. Are you allowed to bring your own decor/flowers?

How did your venue meetings go, Lauren? Have you found one you and your FS love yet?

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Yes! We went on a wedding tour and randomly came across our venue, fell in love and booked it all in one day! The date we were eyeing was open too, so it felt like it was meant to be

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That's amazing, congrats!! Where is the venue?