Choosing a Venue
Selecting your ceremony and reception venue is one of the the most important decisions you will make during the wedding planning process as this often determines the overall budget (about one third), feel, size and style of the wedding day.
Even though the situation at the moment surrounding COVID-19 has made touring venues difficult there are still many ways you can keep researching and planning. Virtual tours and live streaming ceremonies are now readily available. Local destinations are also a wonderful option for couples who want that holiday experience without having to worry about current travel bans and restrictions overseas.
Choosing a venue
Some great ways to discover venues is through your family and friends, social media, bridal blogs (Polka Dot Bride and Easy Weddings are great) online directories (try the Wedshed) and Facebook groups. Many venue coordinators have set up online video tours of their spaces, this is a wonderful resource to help you decide on a venue. It is important to consider other details such as the date, hiring, venue inclusions, capacity, catering, seating, accessibility, if beverages are supplied or BYO and how well the venue fits with the theme of your wedding. If a particular venue does not have an online tour or you want to ask some follow-up questions now is the perfect time to get in contact with the coordinator to set up a zoom call and figure out all of those details.
2021 is set to be a very busy year for weddings so considering a Friday, Sunday or even weekday wedding can help you to secure the venue and other suppliers you want, and these days sometimes come with a discount. When it comes to selecting which venue is right for your wedding consider if you will be having the ceremony and the reception at the same venue, this is a great way to save money and minimise transport costs. Venues that are ‘blank spaces’ are a great option, they allow you to fill the space with the styling elements you want for a fully customised wedding day. Lightspace, The Refinery and The Joineryare a perfect example of this.
Going live
With the current travel bans in place for international travel, we are unlikely going to be able to accomodate our family and friends from afar anytime soon. So live streaming your Ceremony is a great way to include them. Using modern virtual technology such as Zoom is an inexpensive way to stream your ceremony live. For a more polished production, Select AV have introduced some custom audio visual packages.
Unique venue
The trend right now is hosting your wedding in a unique setting. Couples are looking for a venue that reflects them as a couple. Think warehouse spaces, rooftop terraces, inner city wineries, art galleries and museums and funky hotels.
It can be overwhelming when scouring the web to find your perfect venue. There are just so many to choose from!
We have shared our hidden gems around Brisbane in the recently released WHITE Venue Directory.
John Macdonald, owner of Lightspace, an urban warehouse venue, talked to us in a previous Wedding School episodeabout the questions you should be asking when selecting your wedding location. He spoke about ways you can save money on your venue hire, avoid hidden costs and what to expect from your venue coordinator. This is a must see if you are looking at a warehouse style wedding.
Destination weddings
When choosing a destination wedding overseas options can be challenging to organise at this uncertain time, travel restrictions can make it difficult to secure details for international venues and guests may have trouble travelling. If you can’t push your date back to a later time when travel restrictions ease a wonderful option is to go to a destination within Australia, beautiful Byron Bay has many versatile venues. There are gorgeous private properties and beachfront resorts such as Elements At Byron which provide wedding packages that have accommodation, catering, drinks etc. This is a gorgeous resort with luxury accommodation set just outside of the main town and is very easy to access for both you, guests and suppliers. On the day the marquee for your wedding can be set up practically on the beach and the easy accessibility means beautiful locations for photography.
We wish you all the best with your venue searching. Don’t forget if you get stuck please contact the white+white team, we are more than happy to shortlist some great options for you.
