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Just Said Yes February 2025

Need Help: Torn Between 2 Venues

Danielle, on February 27, 2025 at 10:47 PM Posted in Planning 0 5

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Hey Everyone, I need serious HELP! My fiancé and I are torn between two venues. Pictures below and breaking down the pros and cons:

Option A:

Need Help: Torn Between 2 Venues 1

Need Help: Torn Between 2 Venues 2

The ceremony and reception would be held in this conservatory so we wouldn't have to be too stressed about weather (other than outdoor pictures). This venue is about 90 minutes away from us and most of our guests. It is attached to a hotel so we wouldn't need to worry about transportation. We think it is so unique and our guests would rave about it and we wouldn't need to spend much on decor since the room comes with the potted flowers. The venue is all inclusive so they would handle the food, hotel block, and connect us with the bakery partner. There's some nice photo backdrops outside but if it rains, we'll be limited to the hotel lobby and hallways. The cons are that our full guest list that we intend to invite is at about 166, but the conservatory holds a max of 150 so we would need to cut a few more people. The "getting ready suite" is just a hotel conference room, so nothing special or attractive. Reviews have been hit or miss on the service side but everyone recommends hiring a day of coordinator, which we would do. There will be a wedding held in the conservatory 90 minutes before ours, which is fine except it could impact us getting pictures in the space before guests arrive. I don't think we'd want to take many pictures in it since our whole day is spent here, except if it rains and we don't have too many indoor options.

Option B: (ceremony space was from a video I took while in the middle of construction and reception space is a rendering)

Need Help: Torn Between 2 Venues 3

Need Help: Torn Between 2 Venues 4

This venue is about an hour away from us, so it's only 20-30 minutes closer than Option A for most of our guests. This venue is brand new and is in the final stages of construction, so it's not fully built yet and has not hosted a wedding yet (first one is April 2025). This venue requires us to book one of their preferred caterers (which we have reached out to) so there will be some additional points of contact. The conservatory, where we would have our ceremony, will have three chandeliers in it and a little greenery, but would need more money spent on decor compared to option A. The bridal suite and groom suites are HUGE and absolutely breathtaking with a balcony and everything, honestly more space than we need, but absolutely stunning and great for photos. The ballroom is very big (fits up to 300 guests) and would need more decor to bring it to the garden theme I have in mind, although not sure what I would do with it. I worry that the dance floor wouldn't look full if there's too much space (there is no dedicated dance floor, just hardwood). They are also going to be planting trees and flowers outside but since we are looking to get married about 15 months from now, I'm not sure how bloomed everything will be, so I wonder what our photo opportunities will be.

So for overall comparison:

1. These are pretty similar in price

2. The drive is not significantly different for too many people

3. Option A could be tight, especially when it comes to figuring out who will be at what table and limited options, but Option B has more flexibility when it comes to table arrangements but might be way too big for our guest list.

4. Option A will have all of the big moments (ceremony and reception) in the same room rather than changing it up

5. Option A had some not great reviews, Option B has no reviews and is new

6. Option A is in a hotel. Great for convenience, but wondering how I'll feel about everything being in a hotel rather than a traditional venue. Option B I would need to coordinate transportation to a hotel 15 minutes away for guests.

7. Option A requires a little more than twice as much as Option B does for the deposit to book.

I could go on and nitpick more, I know every venue is going to have it's pros and cons... would love some feedback on what you would choose given the information I provided!

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5 Comments

Latest activity by Danielle, on March 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM

Champion July 2019
Veronica · on February 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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Honestly I wouldn't go with either one. The first option is too small with bad reviews and the second has no reviews/experience. I personally would keep looking.
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Legend July 2022
Lisa · on March 1, 2025 at 12:27 PM
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The first one looks stunning! However, where would guests go while the room is being "flipped" from the ceremony setup to the reception setup? A different wedding being held an hour and a half before yours in the same space is also a concern: what happens if they run behind? When will everyone from that wedding vacate the space? Would that leave you with enough time to decorate/setup for your wedding before your guests arrive? Are you willing to cut down your guest list in order to have enough space for everyone? Would the venue feel too crammed at max capacity? What are the complaints listed in the negative reviews for this venue?

As for the second venue, it's a risk to host your event at a venue that has not held any events yet and therefore has no reviews, but that might not be a dealbreaker. I'm not sure when your wedding is (your profile says you are already married) or when the venue plans to begin hosting weddings, but with the venue still under construction, how confident are you that the venue will finish construction and be allowed to officially open/host events by the date of your wedding?

In this case, I agree with Veronica. If it were me, I'd keep looking for another venue that has fewer concerns associated with it.
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Super December 2022
LM · on March 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
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I would keep touring venues within 1 hour max of your town. Option A requires a room flip which, if they have so-so service, may be slow and draw out your cocktail hour and throw off your schedule. Plus, if there is a ceremony? or reception? right before yours, the venue staff may have less time to evacuate drunk stragglers, to clean thoroughly and set up on time. Few pics are possible pre-ceremony. Also, your guest list is beyond capacity. Last, if marrying during a hot month, the all-window conservatory will be oppressive to guests due to heat, glare, and ventilation.
Option B has no experienced personnel-- managers, organizers, or serving staff. Beware if you only have 1 choice of caterer. Trial always. Do note, you take few pics in the bridal and groom suite and it doesn't matter the space's view or ambiance. No good photographer dares to get pics of a bride not fully made-up, and they only get 1 or 2 pics of the wedding party (with bride) . . . Find a garden location that is within your budget that is already well-decorated and you can save on non-essential plants/ trees/ flowers.
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Just Said Yes February 2025
Danielle · on March 1, 2025 at 1:39 PM
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So to answer your questions with the first one, there would be a ceremony in the space from 430-5 and then mine would be at 630. Most brides don’t have any significant decor since the space is really ready to go, chairs stay the same but putting in our smaller touches. We would also have a day of coordinator to help with this. After the ceremony, we would go to a different space for cocktail hour and then come back for the reception. We do have our guest list cut down to 150, with 16 people on our B list. We never intended to have a B list, but we also know to expect about 15% to RSVP no. Although we really don’t think many will. I’ve talked to brides that say 140 is the sweet spot and that they had that amount and nothing felt too crammed. But of course it’s something I worry about, especially considering we won’t have much flexibility with the table layout and will need to make sure we can sit the exact number per table. The complaints with the venue are just saying that the staff doesn’t necessarily go above and beyond, so everyone recommends hiring a day of coordinator, which we would.

For the second venue, it’s in construction until this month. Their first wedding is in April and my wedding wouldn’t be until June 2026. They have about 6 booked for this year so far. I’m not too worried about the lack of reviews, because the caterer has a lot of good ones and that’s where the main service comes in. There’s 3 caterers we’d get to choose from, but we have our favorite one picked. What I forgot to think about is the landscaping, and that the trees and flowers may not be fully grown and bloomed by next summer.
I hope this helps! Ultimately, my fiancé and I keep naturally gravitating to option 1, because we feel if we didn’t book it, it would be the one that “got away”. I just get worried about space and if we would regret having everything (ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception indoors in a hotel). We have toured SO many venues and narrowed it down to these two.
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Just Said Yes February 2025
Danielle · on March 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM
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What is the reason for 1 hour max? While most of our family is local to us, we have some that would be closer to Option A too. So the distance isn’t a make or break since it’s only a 20 minute difference.

The ceremony before ours would be at 430-5 and ours would be at 630. The other reception would take place in a separate room so we wouldn’t be impacted there. We would also have a day of coordinator to help with set up time but luckily our decor would be less involved since the space is so beautiful by itself. The conservatory has heat and air, so I’m not too concerned about the temperature. We have narrowed it down to a 150 guest list with 16 on a “B list” which we didn’t want to do necessarily, but we’re willing to. Our concern is that we don’t get many nos, but we also know we’ll get some and are targeting to be at max 140.
The second venue has experienced caterers, there are 3 to choose from but we know which we would go with and they have great reviews. The venue will have had at leave 6 or so weddings before ours, but the service would come from our caterer and day of coordinator. Unfortunately we have toured SO many venues and have narrowed it down to these top 2 as the closest to matching our theme so even as we keep seeing if there are more that we can find, there’s no others that we have found and have interest in.
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