3 Tips for Your Wedding Venue Tour
Venue tours are a very important part of the wedding planning process which means they can often be a little bit overwhelming, especially if you are doing a venue tour of sorts and checking out several venues back to back. Here are a few tips for making the most out of your venue tour:
1. Don’t bring huge groups
This is a big one. I have seen many tours go ary due to too many conflicting opinions. While it is obviously tempting to bring both sets of parents, maid of honor, sisters, and maybe an aunt, it can be overwhelming and confusing for the bride & groom when everyone starts to weigh in on the packages or the chair color or the bathroom soap scent.
I usually recommend limiting it to the couple and maybe the financially responsible parties. This will help to really focus on what the couple wants and not what everyone else thinks. There are plenty of opportunities to bring everyone else to the venue prior to the wedding (but by that point, the big decision will have been made - hopefully that will limit any complaints).
2. Have a budget in mind, but pay close attention to the
exact package inclusions
Sometimes I will have couples come to see our venue with a very specific venue budget to where it is a little overwhelming to look at some of our larger All Inclusive package price points. When looking at a venue, you have to look at every item included to really gather the total value of the packages.
When you stop to calculate what each individual cost would be if you had to provide it on your own (for example: chair rental, table rental, table cloth rentals, set up and tear down, etc.), not to mention the extra time and stress it would be, often venue packages are a much better bang for your buck!
3. Have an open mind about dates
Unfortunately, there are only 52 Saturdays each year and while we would love to make it to where there were more, alas we cannot. Even though Saturdays may seem more convenient for guests, oftentimes guests still have to take off a Friday or a Monday to accommodate travels. Fridays and Sundays are still a wonderful option - especially with us being located only 40 minutes from Branson! Many of our weddings’ guests opt to make a mini vacation out of attending their loved ones’ weddings.