The Wedding Planning Process - From an Event Planner/Bride's Point of View

Part 2 - Venue Selection - So many pretty spaces to choose from!

Before you can think about a venue, you really need to sit down and figure out approximately how many guests you would like to invite to your wedding.  I know some couples who have picked a venue first and then have had to decrease or even increase their guest coin tot make the venue work.  This is fine if you think you have a flexible guest list and if you're open to "cutting" guests (much easier to add guests usually, assuming you have the budget).  I personally think that it is best to sit down with both families and begin the discussion about the size of the wedding and guest lists for each party before even thinking about the venue.  


In smaller areas (basically most areas outside of NYC) you often need to book your venue a year or so ahead of time.  Saratoga, where I chose to host my wedding, is one of those areas.  After I had decided to host my wedding in Saratoga Springs, it became time to pick the perfect venue and I was in a rush to beat all of the other brides for dates the following Spring!


Luckily, I already had a few venues in mind at the time that Joe proposed (this is what happens when you're a wedding planner and also when you've been with your fiancé for 7 years, you have lots of ideas for your wedding before you even receive your ring, haha).

Venue #1 - Hall of Springs 

Since I had worked for an outside caterer while up in Albany, I had never had the chance to work an event at Hall of Springs, but had viewed many photos on local wedding blogs and found it to be absolutely beautiful and a very clean, classic space.  Joe and I live in a loft in Brooklyn Heights, all white, modern, high ceilings, if this gives you an idea of our style aesthetic ;-) Hall of Springs seemed like the perfect option.  

Venue #2 - Canfield Casino  

When working in Albany before moving to NYC, I had planned several weddings at this venue.  I made an appointment to go take another look, this time as a bride, and brought my fiancé and parents with me.  

From the outside, looks like a Brooklyn brownstone, perfect for two Brooklynites like Joe and I.  Best part about Canfield, this is the outside.... and then this is the inside.... not exactly what you would expect from the outside!

Decision

Prior to my venue visits, I would have told you that I wanted to have my wedding at The Hall of Springs.  Being an event planner/designer, I wanted a clean and classic space so that the focus would be on the decor.  After viewing both venues I was very torn, I kept going back and forth that weekend until I couldn't sleep one night because design schemes were running through my head!  After some thought, I had figured out a way to make Canfield Casino feel "less formal" and more "us" (more on this later in a blog about my wedding decor/design).  

Moral of the story...go in with an open mind!  

You may have a specific type of venue in your head as your perfect venue, but that can change.  Take a look at tons of photos and even bring a designer with you, the venue is the frame for your wedding, but there's a lot you can do with decor to make a venue fit you and your personality.