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It was third one we looked at in person. But in the area I'm from, it's very easy to pare down the list off the bat due to location, cost, and capacity. So essentially we "looked" at about 15 places, but 3-5 met our criteria. Looked at ours and we were sold.
Well... we're not engaged yet... but we've looked at one. And, well, we have a date on hold. So... we looked at one. And I will never, ever regret that. It's everything we could have asked for and more.
@LovestheBear - I see you're in CT. Yay CT brides! What area/venues are you looking at, if you don't mind me asking? I looked at three after weeding out others from internet research/pricing etc. and honestly the two I thought I would fall in love with I didn't end up liking at all and the one I was totally MEH about ended up being the one. You absolutely have to see it in person before you can really know whether it's the one.
we'd made a bunch of appointments to see a bunch of places, and had looked over a lot of price lists/proposals, but our venue was the second and last one we saw! we knew it was perfect, and we wanted to nail the date down asap. i asked for a contract less than a week after we were engaged! my fi was convinced that we should sign before he even saw it (it's a hotel, and the food is catered by their restaurant which is one of our favorites, so we'd already been there and knew we loved it even though he hadn't seen the ballroom). it's been about 4 months and we've had zero regrets
Oh LOL I just realized I didn't even answer the actual question. We booked our venue before my ring was finished :) Had to lock down that summer saturday!
also, i should add that the first one we saw i thought was my dream venue, but then it was meh and we knew #2, which was totally different, was perfect!
Thanks for asking this question because I was dying to know this today. One of the reception venues we were hoping to get just emailed me to say that they are already booked for our date and the next Saturday after that also. I just didnt realize that venues would book this early! Plus I havent even thought about other places so now I have no clue where to start since this was the best in our price range.
We signed on October 29, 2009. It is a very popular venue and it is as close to my dream venue as I will ever get.
I saw 4 or 5 in person. It took about 4 weeks. I booked about 11 months prior to date. If you are sold, be sold! It's the best feeling once you have a venue...
I saw about 4-5 in person. The one I am going with was #2 and I was sold from there on out. I kept looking to appease my mother.
We chose our very first one....we knew it was it...why look at other places when the price is right and we got our date 10.10.10?!
Once we decided where (location) we were having it we looked at one and put a hold on it right away. But, before we knew the location we looked at 4 different reception venues. BTW - I used to go to school in Hartford and I know that Elizabeth Park (in Hartford - there is a rose garden there) is a good ceremony venue and The Pond House restaurant at Elizabeth Park is a VERY beautiful place for a reception!
Honestly my ceremony and reception are both in the same property and I was sold before we were even seriously putting money down. It's just something you decided first. If it makes you happy and you like the staff and the price- go for it, just make sure you and the FI agree :o)
i found my favorite #1 venue last year at this time searching the internet... i figured it was outta our price range and just put it on the back burner. Fall 09 i looked at 3 other venues in person which i liked, not loved. My mom called the original venue for prices and for an appointment. It was the last one we looked at and i'm soooo glad we took the plunge and did....... i loved it.! 4 months later we are signing/sending in contracts this weekend.
So for us, the venue (& church) will be booked 20 months in advance.
I knew which one I wanted but we went to one before our location, then we were going to go to one after (3 total). After we saw our venue, we were sold and cancelled the other site tour. When you know you know :) I researched alot before we went anywhere so I had already narrowed it down to a couple choices.
I think it all depends on when you're getting married and where you live. My hometown, while still a big city, really doesn't have that many reception venues, so they book up very early. I think spring/summer weddings book up more quickly as well, because of the nicer weather. If you love somewhere, go ahead and book it - saves you a lot of headaches later!
I was very organized in my search b/c I didn't want to run around looking at a million places. I came up with a list of questions (and made a questionairre form because I'm such an organization FREAK!) that I called around to different places and asked. I was then able to pair my 15+ location list down to about 5. Then I went to those 5. Reception sites was the first things I looked at, it ensures the date. I booked this past December and the wedding is in January 2011.
We booked our venue a week after getting engaged, so in the very beginning of January. Right now we are 1 1/2 years out.
I had an idea of where we might like, we looked at it in person, and booked it a couple days later. We only looked at 2 options. We had to book so early because our venue is on a military base in San Diego and they book FAST. I was even suprised that our first choice date was available.
FI's from a pretty small town, so our options were pretty limited. We're within 30 minutes of a large metro area, but those have all been done it seems.
I had the ceremony site picked out before we were engaged. After the engagment I filled him in and then at Christmas they had an open house. We looked at it, asked a few questions and were 100% sold. It has the general look tht we're going for and there's no way to beat it on price.
We had our reception venue picked out shortly after becoming engaged. . . I'd say within a week. We're having a tented reception on his parent's property. Now we just need to find the best rental company, but the location is selected.
I don't think there's anything wrong with falling for a place early on as long as you maintain a clear head when it comes to the financials.
We're getting married in a small coastal town and there aren't any traditional wedding facilities or hotels. Everything we looked at required some imagination. My parents looked into about 5 or 6 possibilities and took me to look at their top 3 picks. When we saw the sailing club we all agreed it was perfect and booked it right away as they only do a few weddings a year and dates were limited.
In my opinion, If you find something you love and it fits your budget, book it as soon as possible. The prime dates book up fast.
We looked at about 10 venues and I liked alot of them. I managed to find my dream venue and have it be within a price range we could afford, not so much what I wanted to pay, but I love it! I am hopefully signing the contract for the venue we choose this weekend. Our wedding is not until March 2011. Good luck! :)
It literally took me 6 months to find the right venue. I was constantly in tears because nothing was working out.... if something was available, it was too expensive or you had to use their catering, which we didn't want, or if it was just right, it wasn't available.
I started with a list of about 10 places in two different cities, but once I found my venue I just kinda knew that was the one we were going to end up with. It's unreal how much I love it.
I was pretty much the same way. I was sold on the first venue we went to see, and that's the one we chose. We looked at 6 venues total and emailed an additional 5 venues to get pricing info.
To answer your question - we chose the venue about a year out, 8 months after engagement. We started looking at venues in April (Christmas engagement, so 16 months out).
Part of the delay in signing the contract with the venue was that we had to coordinate with our church and meet with our pastor a couple times before we could start looking at dates. (We also tend to only do wedding planning on weekends, so things take us a while sometimes.)
We looked at about 15 venues, I know, those were some long weekends. But we were limited to oour budget. So, it took about one month after we had set the date.
So jealous! I've been engaged since October and we can't find anything in our price range that meets our requirements!
It took us 3.5 months to book ours, and we didn't get our first choice venue - it was just too expensive ($10K over our entire budget, as it turns out). We picked another state entirely, after searching long & hard - we looked at easily 50 venues across 4-5 states.
My advice - before you start looking, know what you want for sure (I still want to just run away!) and know your budget. Oh, and research all the little things they throw in there, too: cake slicing fee, bottle corking fee, cake serving fee, linen fee, chair fee, etc. I still can't believe where our money is actually going...
Also, make sure your reception venue & ceremony location are available on the same day: FSIL hurried to book her reception venue & 3 months later, is still hunting for a church that will marry her and FH, and will fit her 300 guests.
We searched for about 2 months, then signed the contract on our venue 11 months prior to the wedding- it was their last available Saturday during a pretty popular month for weddings in AZ.
Engaged: 12/25/06
Booked Venue: 1/29/07! I was SOOO excited and really wanted to start planning. I looked at 3 venues before I found ours and as soon as I saw it, I was SOLD!! incidentally, so were my parents and my husband....but look at the front door...wouldn't you be?!?!?
Sarah_J_MandM_the_club.jpg (86.9 KB, 27 downloads) 2 years old Sarah_J_Maro_and_Mike.jpg (49.4 KB, 29 downloads) 2 years old 
we looked at a million. literally. months and months of looking. it took lots of tears. but that's just because we couldn't find one we loved, in our price range. if we found it, and it was the first one we found, i might have looked at one or two more, but there's no reason to spend a lot of time if you already know it's the one.
We looked at 3, booked the 3rd. It was the first major thing we booked, since it dictated the date for everything else. We did it all in one weekend and it was great to have it set.
we didn't look at any at all - we picked THE one and gave them a credit card, about a year in advance. I didn't have THE dress, shoes, the anything but THE groom and THE venue :)
We're not getting married until Oct, but we know exactly where we want to have ours. We've already met with the lady and she's checking on our date.
Take a word of advice - go to see the venues that you might think are out of your league. Right now alot of venues are negotiating great rates (below their published rates) to serious shoppers and someone that is willing to put down a deposit in the immediate future.
The venue we booked was originally in the "dream" catagory - and we swore it was waaay out of our budget, and they were fantastic in working with us. They want your business even more than you want theirs.
Remember: Right now there are endless venues - but very limited serious and established couples getting married. You are more important to them than you think!
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How soon did you find your venue? We are going to a reception venue this Sunday, and I'm already sold. I know, I know--bad idea, right? I want to be able to negotiate, but honestly. Between the prices their rep sent me and the location, I'm pretty much sold. Sad, I know, but nothing else is really standing out to me now. So am I being crazy here? How many venues should I check out before I sign my name on the dotted line?