Venue searching has been exhausting/stressful/and not successful. I'm worried if I'll even find

My FH is the same way. Tells me he doesn't care, it's my thing, blah blah blah. Then when my mom and I do something that will be in the wedding, he shows interest and comes up with new ideas. Too bad, it's done! MEN!!! But he's lucky he's cute. Now I just pretend to listen to his ideas and take them into consideration. Meanwhile, the entire wedding is just about done being planned.

Our venue is a barn that one of my friends got married at 10 years ago. It's old and awesome! We'll get married under a big old weeping willow tree then party barn style! Minus the animals and with running water. Honestly, the day I told my parents we were engaged, my mom and I set off on a marathon venue hunt. You can't base it on a specific date anymore, it's all about what they have open for your planned year and season.

Your best bet is to check with a local wedding and event planner in your area. Based on your budget and some basic info about your wedding any good planner will be able to give you a short list of what's available. And most planners will know of venues that don't even show up on search engines or wedding sites. Good Luck, Cheryl

Thank you for responding! I've started to pretend to listen as well hahaha.

So ya I have been hunting with that same attitude, no specific date just going off of what each venue has available and seeing if its a fit.

I know I'm not a picky, snooty, type of person who pulls the whole I want this thats it type thing. But, I'm starting to question myself if my expectations are too high or if I'm searching for something that doesn't exist. Ive been waiting for that "ah hah!" feeling, the one that your body just screams , this is the place. And nothing.

Thanks Cheryl! Are they super expensive? If they are worth the help I have no problem shedding out the cash for it.

Im having a winter wedding but i from van (it rains in the winter ......a lot....) so im going were the snow is. I looked at all of the local mountains most said they would not do a winter wedding or they were bordering on DW so i went with mt seymour. only problem i didn't like there food so I fond an amazing caterer and book a cute little hall (closer to home) with a wood burning fire place for the reception. with out asking people that have had or gone to weddings in the area i never would of found my hall. thats were a wedding planer can really be worth it

K Ann this website has alot of awesome options for wedding venues....if you can, if its an option you could always look for a venue an hour or two away from you to give you a few more options. Our venue is about an hour and a half away, and my mother was actually married there 7 years ago. We didnt have a theme or any idea of what type of wedding we wanted...but after picking the venue things started falling into place, like if the wedding is formal or not..colors, and all that Good luck in your search and don't get down!! And my FH has pretty much taken a back seat with all the wedding planning, he doesnt really want to be bugged about it...the most he has done is pay for everything lmao.

I had the same problem. I have 3 kids in Football, Cheerleading, and Baseball, and I have a full time job working about 50 hours a week. Who has time to go look at venues and tour places?!! I did look at a couple and was not impressed at all. So I decided to have my wedding and reception at a cute little Mexican restaurant that my friend is the manager at. And it is free to rent it out! Can't get better than that. My friend suggested it when I was ranting to her that it was so hard to find a place. I don't like the typical ballroom type of places. I wanted something to fit my personality. Have you thought about non trafitional venues? In my search for that I came across aquariums, museums, and art galleries that looked pretty cool.

I feel your pain there are soo many wedding venues in MA/ NH and the price range and options are all across the board! I feel like I looked at every venue in MA/VT/RI/NH... then I settled on a place in ME, ha!

What's your budget for venue? What distance are you okay traveling? What type of venue are you looking for, wedding hall, museum, state park?

Oh and I had the same issue with FH, I'd come up with a list of venues that were in our price range, the right size, right travel time. We'd show up he'd find one thing wrong with it and be like "okay wheres the next one" bah. At least when we walked into "our" venue he was just as wowed as I was and we both knew we had to have it. I swear planning this wedding is way more work than deciding who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with!

Jennifer D. , love your wedding venue idea!

K Ann K ... have you ever considered hiring on a wedding planner??? I do wedding planning on the side, and one of my many jobs is to locate the perfect venue for my brides. It's kind of like having a real estate agent...honestly. Isn't it easier to have a person showing you the houses they know will fit you then trying to find them yourself by researching online and driving from place to place? Wedding planners know the best venues and values and can truly help make your planning experience a million times better....just a thought

I know your pain. Seriously. My FH and I couldn't find anything we both liked and price was a huge issue for the both of us. Two of our friends, who are also getting married around the same time as us, actually told us about our venue first. When we saw it, we absolutely fell in love.

Do you have any other friends who are getting married or have just gotten married? Ask them first before you hire any kind of wedding planner! You'll never know what kind of advice they'll offer. And don't be afraid to ask your parents or their friends. They're older so they've obviously been to a lot more weddings. After we booked the venue, tons of people have told us that they've been to our venue for a wedding!

If still nothing, then i would maybe hire a planner. Good luck!

I am doing an all inclusive wedding package... maybe you could google places like this if it's your cup of tea...

Here is mine

http://www.mountaintopinnga.com/weddings/rates.asp

I think all of us can relate to your pain. I seriously had an absolute bervouse breakdown at venue visit #10. You spend all this time searching, scheduling and visiting (mind you on a week day b/c the dont show on weekends so you have to sit in 2 hours of rush hour traffic after work) only to show up and it not be ANYTHING you thought it would be. A few words of advice. Your venue is out there - if you arent on a time crunch then take your time. If the venue says they seat 150 that is b.s. - by the time you add catering tables, dance floor, etc it seats 75. Dont waiste your time unless you can cut the guest list. Confirm clean up details - do you want your guests/wedding party having to clean the place after you leave. We found this to almost always be the case or they would charge $500.00 to do it for you.

Venue #13 was our lucky - we found a beautiful old Victorian home on 10 acres with a giant pavilion. Comes with all rentals, linens, day of coordination.....

And they set up/clean up. if their are any other DFW brides looking for an outdoor venue try the 1899 Farmhouse. We had to go a bit out in the country to get our dream place at a dream price but its worth it. Hold in there you will find it!!!

As for the FH issues - i really lucked out - He wants to be involved in every step (visits and all) but always ends with - Baby the final decision is yours

Same story here...BUT! When I changed my search we found the exact place we fell in love with! I started simply searching for best restaurants in our area (we have a small wedding and food is important to us). The first place we found that way was absolutely stunning and we decided that's it! FH was cranky at first because it seemed out of our price range and too far away. But when we calculated everything, it actually came exactly as we planned, and it's just a little further than we planned. But oh so worth it.

Depending on how big your wedding is, and what kind of feel you'd like, search for something other than "wedding venue". Also, I did not keep FH in the loop until I was sure I wanted to see it :-)

Wow!! This website's resources are a huge help, but even more is the support you get from other brides! Thank you all your help input and suggestions. I really appreciated it all.And I have wonderful news.Just when I was at wits end, it happened. We found our venue! Another late night of communicating, at least trying too haha, and a last minute change of plans to have FH come today must have been the fates working in our favor.Before today, he had pretty much gave the no go to venues a little farther away, wouldn't consider certain dates, etc.., but I guess that all changes when you are right where you're supposed to be. It is everything I was searching for a venue to feel like, offer our guests, and represent us. "Traditional" venues just didn't feel like me, or him (even if he didn't know it yet) We are a little further away, but not far!, and we are getting married on a Sunday, but it still feels perfect even on a Sunday! GOD DAMN this feels GOOD!! Let the games begin huh! haha

I'm in the same boat.My venue and wedding is in another state so finding a venue is absolutely a pain in the A**. We have run through a lot of different options and have only toured one venue in person. The worst part of it all is I am already playing referee btw my FH and mother on how much we should spend, and where the wedding should take place. Deep breathes and ibuprofen!

We're getting married on a Sunday too! FH actually picked our venue by accident. We love fish/aquariums (we have 3) and when we took my sont to the FL Aquarium last summer he said "wouldnt it be cool if we could get married here" so I looked into it and it was in our budget! So we only looked at one venue and booked it. here are some pics..

Reception Area

Ceremony

Our Penguin ring bearers!

First off, I understand the stress of finding a venue. I think I have FINALLY found mine, though we've not finalized it yet. Hopefully we will soon. When we first got engaged, we already had a rough idea of what we both liked &wanted, but it was just a matter of finding it. We searched &searched and found a few places all scattered around the state. We crossed off the places too far away on our list. We are trying to keep things as close to home as possible. One of the first places we found ended up being way out of our price range, then the next place really seemed like a winner. We had a meeting with a Wedding Coordinator for the second venue, & price was great, the venue was prefect, but the coordinator encourged us to 'wait' on finalizing everything, well, that was a mistake, & she became completely unreachable, &never returned phone calls. Very stressful. We eventually learned that all the prices she gave us during the meeting were not set prices, &they were under new management.