Wedding Venue Comparison Excel SpreadSheet.

Have you tried excel?

I have Excel, but I was wanting to see an example of one...I have no clue where to start, starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. haha.

It's an emotional decision, not just a fact decision. If you find a place that you love and you can afford, don't worry about whether you've got four hors d'oeuvres or five. Go with it and don't look back.

The Excel sheet I made had the following columns:

1. Venue Name

2. Website

3. Rental Fee

4. Catering Option (i.e. buffet, seated, etc)

5. Catering $ per person

6. Bar Option (i.e. full open bar, x hours, etc.)

7. Bar $ per person

8. Service fee, etc. (I also listed tax here)

9. Additional fees (for example, one venue we looked at charges an extra fee for going off their preferred vendor list, others had catering minimums for Saturday night, etc.)

10. Total Cost assuming XX guests

ETA: I totally agree with Celia, but my FH is very much a 'compare and contrast' kind of guy. I knew he'd still want to go with our gut-feeling first choice, but he wanted to see all the options laid out.

I agree with bookcasecat. You should also add a column for gratuity. You'll be surprised how many ways this can be broken up. Also add a column for notes describing how u felt about the ppl u interact with during your tour. Although the main objective is to find a place u love, there are other factors that are equally important. Especially not having any last minute surprises and running to open some envelopes.

Thanks Bookcasehat and Gonefishes! My FH and I are most likely paying for this wedding ourselves so we have a budget to stick to, so cost of the rental facility and what they have to offer for the price will have a lot to say as well as how much I love the place. I appreciate it. Not getting much help from family as far as advice so I am literally trying to figure out how to plan for a wedding. Ugh Thank goodness for WW!

My excel columns were as follows:

A. Venue name

B. Status (where you are at in contacting)

C. Location

D. Visited (yes/no)

E. Dates/ times available

F. Available to book(some venues only allow you to book up to12 months in advance)

G. External caterers allowed?

H. Total Cost to reserve

I. Deposit amount

J-L . Nearby hotel information which was important to me that there was shuttle service from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to the venue

M. Reception capacity

N. Reception space fee

O. Kitchen fee

P. Security fees

Q. Reception: indoor or outdoor?

R. Reception: has Windows? (Y/N)

S. Reception chairs (notes if I needed to cover them, rent new ones, etc)

T. BYOB info

U. Ceremony capacity

V. Ceremony cost

W. Ceremony Room type (chapel, ballroom, etc)

X. Ceremony Windows? (Y/N)

Y. Ceremony Chairs

Z . Other costs

So helpful! Thanks

Getting married in 2 years, but I am a person who does early planning, what should I do in terms of listing categories for different venues?