Organizing Potential Wedding Venues

I used an excel spreadsheet. Names of the venues down the side and things like the price, capacity, amenities, etc. across the top

Thanks, I love Excel! I may give that a try!

I second using Excel! Super helpful for comparing all the different costs, amenities, etc. on one document.

Also, when we started the venue search, one very helpful thing my mom did was make a checklist of things that were important to us in a venue (for example, space for the number of people we were inviting, safe parking on site, ability to bring in own cake, etc.). She printed out the checklist each time we visited a venue or spoke with someone on the phone, and then just checked things off as they were discussed. This was really helpful to keep us on track, not forget to ask any questions, and to make sure we were comparing all the same things between each venue! Then once we visited all the venues, we compiled those checklists into one Excel sheet so we could review everything together.

I have a wedding binder and a spiral notebook I take notes in or write info into. I'm sometimes better seeing everything on pen and paper as opposed to a computer screen. On my venue notes page I wrote out details of specifics and whatnot.

Excel ...all day!

I identified everything we wanted (open bar, extras that we wanted, etc) that the venue included (or estimates of what we would need to rent) and got came up w/ a cost estimate of what that total would be at each venue- including state tax/gratuity (easy to forget!)

it it was easy to see what was really within budget, or allowed us to see how badly we wanted a place vs. offerings. I did this with photographers too and it eliminated a lot very easily.

goid luck!