Here is part II of our tips for choosing wedding venue/reception - Mostly in Melbourne area, but most advice here is applicable everywhere.

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Check flexibility. Another very important factor about your considered wedding venue. Check carefully how flexible they are with:

-        Your wedding day schedule; especially the time between the wedding ceremony and reception if both are held at the same place. Purely from a photographer’s point of view, if you want to have great location images set aside at least 2 hours for this kind of photo session.

-        Food options (gluten free, vegan vegetarian friendly, other allergies safe)

-        Can they provide accommodation for guests? Maybe they have a deal available for their wedding reception guests with an accommodation provider nearby?

-        Ask about transportation options, are they easy to find, have good and visible signs for your guests or they are able to set up boards with information about your wedding?

-        Can they accommodate enough parking spaces for your guests?

-        Can you bring your own alcohol?

-        Are they happy with your own wedding suppliers or do they require you to use only their preferred list of vendors?

-        Changing the layout of tables to suit your preferred seating plan for guests.

-        Alternations of their package inclusions – this can be very influential on your final bill.
One piece of advice: if you can’t deduct something from the package, try to exchange it for something more valuable for you.

-        Pay attention to lighting, ask if this can be altered if you are not happy – this builds all ambience for the wedding reception. In some cases the DJ or Band will be helpful with their lights setups or you will be required to hire additional vendor to take care about this issue, ask for possible options.

-        Special effects 😊YAY! Everyone likes something with the ‘Wow!’ factor on their wedding day (besides just the bride), ask your reception if they are fine with fireworks, sparkles, confetti, dry ice fog at your wedding day- find what you like- Pinterest will be your big friend here.

-        Do they offer on site wedding venue coordinator? If yes, ask them to have same person for the entire time – this will save you a lot of time and headaches 😊

-        Are they flexible with formats of payments (cc, bank transfer, cash)

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Dedicated venue VS Hotel/Restaurant/Club-based reception. This determines how personal your day will be. Dedicated wedding venues immediately create more intimacy and let your guests feel more at ease. You will be also less stressed knowing that around are only your invited guests. I have observed at some venues, situations that made it difficult to recognize who is part of the wedding or who is just a hotel guest.

Dedicated venues are usually more flexible with seating plans, alternations of their collections and weekdays deals, as well as more possibilities with them to make your dream come true if you are person with attention to details. In some situations, you can spend a whole week on decorating your wedding room if you prefer to be hands on yourself. Also, wedding end time is more flexible with these kind of venues.  So simply ask if you have exclusive use of your venue on your wedding date.

Hotel/Club-based wedding reception can be overall cheaper but less flexible, big advantage is that usually they offer guests accommodation on site. I often heard when guests discuss how nice will be if after the wedding they don’t have to drive back or take the taxi/uber to go home especially when wedding ends around midnight and the venue is remote from the city. Another advantage of hotel based event is a broad spectrum of available places around Melbourne in every price range.  Hotels also have more options in terms of catering as they are used to service high amount of customers in tight timeframes (conferences, events etc.).

Remember, since weather in our best city on the World can be unpredictable, it's crucial to have a plan B for an outdoor wedding. Before booking, ask what the plan is and walk through it with them. Make sure that you like the backup spots in the event of wild weather. From my experience, it’s very helpful if backup location is close to main wedding ceremony location 😉 regardless if a hotel or dedicated wedding venue.

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Check online reviews – obvious point but don’t rely only on the opinions from wedding portals (mostly paid), or wedding forums. Use websites like www.tripdavisor.com , www.zomato.com , or Google/Facebook Reviews. This will give you a better look at the service history of your considered place. If you find some negative opinions, don’t be afraid to ask your wedding venue contact person about this review. Some opinions are made in according to elements that for you, will not matter as they won’t have any influence on your wedding day. At least this is what I will be doing if I have to find venue for myself in the Internet era 😉

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Make this process not hard work but fun for you and your fiancé. It’s like choosing your dream car – take a lot of test drives with different models to find one that is right for you!
Don't book the first venue you see, don’t get pressured into signing right away. You may want to get it over with but trust me. Select at least seven places that may be a good fit for your budget and style; then write down the pros and cons of each one. Schedule appointments with food testing and visit venues with an open mind. Take a lot of photos or videos from the places (what you like and what don’t like) starting with the image of the venue sign or name so you don’t mismatch them later on during your review time. This will be helpful when brainstorming with your fiancé later on (prepared by my document linked below will be helpful). If you discuss something important with venue coordinator send him/her a “Thank you Email” with included discussed information, this simple trick will allow you to have everything in writing if things do not go the way that you expected. Don’t be shy to ask for referrals. And have a fun – you are planning your Wedding Day!!!

Final word: This looks like a long and painful process but trust me if you pay attention now you will avoid regrets later. Keep in mind that Your date isn't officially reserved until you sign your contract and, in most cases, make a deposit so before that be sure that you have gone through all your checkpoints with green ticks.

As this article is written with dedication to our Melbourne “brides to be”, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email or give me a call to ask if you have any doubts. I’m always willing to help, I know how important this day is for you. No obligations here. Spread the love and love will come back to you in abundance 😊

To help you more, I have created this wedding venues planning data chart mentioned earlier  - download to your Google Drive or save as XLS document and enjoy your planning! And don’t forget to sign in for my Email list at my official webpage (Home page pop-up form) as more handy wedding tips from me are on the way! 😊

Your faithful wedding photographer,

Arek

www.lifelonglove.com.au