Planning a Wedding: Location! Location!

Hooray! I’m engaged! Now wait a minute… where do we start…?!

Evan and I made a point of not making any decisions about the wedding the weekend right after we got engaged.  We celebrated with friends and family (though to be honest, the celebrations were originally intended for Evan’s birthday, since we got engaged on his birthday! Oops!) and just reveled in it.  To be honest, I wish we had waited a week… or more!

The sheen of a sparkly new engagement wears off a little too much once the hard reality of it all sets in of planning a big event. With everyone we know and love weighing in with questions, requests, and suggestions – I was feeling overwhelmed!  I’m no stranger to planning big events. I have planned events with thousands of attendees, tens of volunteers that I’ve coordinated and professional event staff. I’ve organized conferences, wine and cheese events, and more! I have been around the event planning block, so to speak. This isn’t my first dog and pony show, and I’m hoping these experiences will come in handy in planning my own big event.

I think some couples get engaged and plan a wedding a year or maybe more in advance. This amount of time gives a couple plenty of time to plan, deliberate and negotiate the various aspects of the event. I would imagine that they have the luxury of choosing a date first, perhaps something significant to the couple and then going to their desired venues with the likelihood that it will be available.

Not us. Ooooohhhh no. We are rebels! We like to do things outside of the box, and we are planning to get married this year. Yes! This Year!  So, in approaching venues, we are coming with a range of dates (late this summer or fall) as opposed to one date that we must have.  This gives us flexibility, and we are looking at venues based on whether they fit us, our wedding and our budget.

When I first started looking at venues, I quickly learned that not every location prices themselves the same way.  Some don’t charge a location rental fee, but require you to use in-house catering.  Some require a (relatively) small location rental fee, and allow you to choose from a short list of their exclusive caterers, from which they charge an additional percentage of the amount that you spend on catering (a Landmark fee) that will often go back to the upkeep of the venue, which is often associated with heritage or cultural centres.  Some charge a location fee, require you to use exclusive caterers, charge a landmark fee, and require you to use their bar services, as opposed to bringing in your own alcohol.  There are so many different ways of pricing it!

So, how to really compare the true cost of what the venue, the food and the drink would cost?  I created a handy-dandy Wedding Location Comparison Spreadsheet!  Oh yes I did!

You can download it here to use planning your own wedding, event or shin-dig!

Location_Comparison_Spreadsheet

Here’s how to use this cool spreadsheet:

• I wanted to ensure I was comparing apples to apples, so it was important to note the amount of people I would be hosting (I’ve inserted 85 here) and the number of hours (I’ve put down 7). Some venues charge a rental fee, per hour, and other charge a flat fee for a day/evening etc.

• I’ve input a spot where I can indicate with an “x” if the venue has exclusive caterers (or if I can choose my own) and if the venue provides the alcohol (or if I can buy and bring my own).

• As we are ideally hoping to have the ceremony and the reception at the same location, I’ve included that as an additional category, but you don’t need to use this part at all. The end total will add both the cost of the reception and the ceremony, even if its zero.

• Set a Budget! This is important! Venues that are waaaaay too far outside of our budget don’t make the cut, regardless of how much we love them.  And it’s helpful to see right up front how much we have budgeted to spend to make a quick comparison.

• As I make inquiries and I talk to venues, I am inputting all of the myriad of costs (big and small) into the spreadsheet. A location may charge less for the rental fee, but all of the little fees like renting linens, chairs or AV equipment can really add up and make a venue with a higher rental fee that includes all of those things work out to be less expensive in the end.

• Make notes. Where a location has an exclusive caterer, I am just inputting my budget for catering (the example here is $2000) rather than inquiring and negotiating with the caterer now – so I would make note of that.

I hope you find this spreadsheet helpful; happy location hunting!