Totally overwhelmed- how to chose a venue

View Quoted Comment Yes, knowing your style will help narrow things down. That’s how we got down to only scheduling 6 appointments. I knew that I did NOT want a ballroom at all. Otherwise, I can get that here in San Diego. For me it’s just too standard and they all look like the same windowless box with chandeliers (so that cut off a number of hotels). We want views and a location that lets our guests know that they’re in Vegas! Good luck in your hunt.

View Quoted Comment What 6 did you narrow down to?

14 is a lot! My head would be spinning too! I looked at about 20-25 venues online and researched them to make sure it was a good fit before showing FH. We're having a smaller wedding and a lot of the places I reached out to had crazy minimums for Saturday evenings. We're going this weekend to tour 4 of them and will have one more to look at once the space is done with renovations. Weigh them out. Did you get a feeling about some instantly and could picture yourself getting married there? Budget? Aesthetic? My guess is you could rule about 10 of those out pretty quickly and narrow it down from there. Good luck!

We chose our venue by thinking about places that we've been that are important to us and hobbies that we have that we'd like to share with those we love... thus having a wedding weekend in Milwaukee when we live just south of Chicago. We chose the Lakefront Brewery as our venue because Milwaukee was one of the first trips we took together as a couple and the brewery is our favorite place to visit there. The night before our wedding our friends and family will join us for the Cubs/Brewers game and we'll tailgate as a welcome party for them.

Maybe think about what you guys have enjoyed together and try to incorporate that into your ceremony, reception, and other wedding activities. Your passion for these things and one another will be contagious!

I would definitely agree to figure out a budget amount first. The venues that are left you can do a pro/con list for and compare. Also, it helps to figure out what you want your wedding to look like and see which sites compare the closest to it while remaining in budget.

I feel ya. My FH and I visited 20...in one month. Write down what is important to you and your FH about the venue/reception and consider you budget. My me, it was important that the venue space was elegant but not too stuffy, and for my FH it was important that there were separate spaces for cocktail hour and dinner/dancing.

My FH told me I have free reign with the choice of the venue, vendors, cake, and design. When I looked at venues I wanted a place with specific optics and a certain ambiance. I did a lot of research online looking at galleries and reading reviews. I narrowed down my venue list from about 10 to my top 3 and made inquiries. I ranked them in order of preference and set up my visits. My top choice ended up being my venue choice. My FH and I just got this feeling when we toured and knew it was the spot for us.

So my advice OP is to set your budget, list those venues within your budget, research them, see them, and then go with the one you just can't forget. Relax and have fun making your choice!

Ask for opinions! It will really help you weigh the pros and cons! My friends aren’t very opinionated, but they do have preferences and that helps a lot.

For us it was important to have our own catering as neither of us wanted fancy sit down food we are basically having a family and friends buffet party with all our favorite foods in Vegas! Previously we had considered a destination wedding, we wanted to get married on the beach but it was easier for my family traveling internationally to get to Vegas. A lot of places were charging like $15k just in food costs was way too much for us. And on top of that needing to book an inside room as back up. We chose one large room that can be sectioned off and been told it would also be easier and cheaper for sound systems as you only need 1 for the room.
So you need to consider how many people you plan to have, what catering, and how easy it is for people to get to

I would suggest narrowing it down to 3-5. 14 is a lot so I can see why you would be overwhelmed. Make a list of things you want in a venue then go over the choices and see which one has the most wants.