Reception hunting

I had a semi-destination wedding (3 hours from where I live). It probably took me a few months before signing a contract with our venue (which included catering). I did a TON of research and relied heavily on reviews since I couldn't be there in person most of the time. And don't just check WW or the Knot for reviews, check Google, Yelp and any source you can find! Just google "vendor reviews/venue reviews" for whichever company and find out everything you can. You can absolutely do this! Good luck!

Maybe a month. We are on a time crunch but I had a few states in mind and one dream location. After seeing how pricey everything was, we ended up with my dream venue (I'd been following them for months on instagram in preparation for this day haha). Cost was similar but they provided a more intimate feel. We also loved that our venue was almost an all inclusive type deal. With a package we recieved the ceremony site and reception site, plated meals, some formal and one hour of photography. Vendors were recommended. If we want to upgrade we can! For example, we upped our photographer to 4 hours for an additional cost. In any event, they are making this easy and enjoyable.

We had a DW is our same state (8 hours away). We took a 4-day vacation 13 months before our wedding to look at venues. We rated our favs and negotiated with our #1 choice for 1-2 months to get it to work for us. Vendors we used their recommendations or looked up reviews. Never met any in person—they all were fantastic!

I'm having a DW in September 2020 in Jamaica. I visited the hotel and I'm in love with my beautiful country so there was never an option of where(country) I was getting married. I did have to choose between two hotels that I stayed at and had great experiences at. And it came down to pricing. I will say beware of contracts because they will charge you if you dont use their vendors (some can be pricey) and you need to be committed to a certain # and watch the hotel blocks to make sure it doesnt say you pay for the rest if you dont get the total # of guest expected.