Choosing Your Wedding Venue with Photos in Mind…
Written By: David Rook Photographer
When choosing your Wedding Reception Venue, it is crucial that you take into consideration your wedding photos!
First and foremost, you need to decide on the type of wedding that you want. The reception venue will set the tone for you wedding. Will you have a casual, or formal wedding? It’s your wedding and it should reflect who you are as a couple.
Planning your wedding can be really hectic and there is not a lot of time. Time is very precious and so it is important that you have good time management in order to make sure that your wedding day runs smoothly.
Getting your wedding photos taken is fun and an important part of your big day, however travelling between the ceremony and photo locations can take up a lot of time. To take the stress out of your big day and to save time for all the partying and celebrations, it is crucial that you choose a wedding venue that is beautiful in location – a location chosen in mind of your wedding photos.
I love taking wedding photos as they are a very important part to your big day, however you don’t want to spend all your day moving from one location to another to get the perfect photo.
Your wedding is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you only get one chance to get the wedding photos of your dreams. Therefore your chosen Wedding Venue Location has to be taken into consideration in the planning process to make sure you get those perfect photos!
As a wedding photographer, I have my favourite wedding reception venues. I love a venue that is beautiful and has a variety of perfect photo taking opportunities. If you have booked a quality wedding venue they should also supply nibbles and drinks while you are having your wedding photos. Having your wedding photos at the reception venue will make your wedding day run a little smoother.
If you choose your wedding venue wisely you can save time, by capturing all your gorgeous photos at the one location!
Here are some tips to help you choose the perfect venue…
Before you make an appointment to see a wedding venue, go window shopping and use Google image search creatively!
This is a tip I use to plan a wedding shoot and discover hard-to-find wedding venues.
If it’s my first time covering a wedding at a new venue, I enter the name of the region plus the words ‘wedding venue’ into Google e.g. ‘Toowoomba wedding venues’.
Then, click on Google images tab and scroll through other weddings that have taken place in that area.
This will lead you to blogs of local wedding photographers. They will have lots of photos of other wedding receptions at unique wedding venues you may never have discovered by doing a typical Google search.
When you have found a wedding venue you like on Google then get a little stalker-ish!
When you have found a wedding venue that interests you, it’s time to let your inner-social-media-stalker out.
After you have done your research on google and found other weddings that have been held at your favourite venue – look at their social media accounts and look for reviews from previous weddings.
Don’t be afraid to try hashtags. It’s a great way to get a more personal view of a wedding venue. Look for links to other wedding photographer’s blogs for further photos and ideas.
When you do go in and see a wedding venue go in prepared!
Chances are you and your fiancé will meet with a few different wedding venues before you decide on the one!
If you see them all over the one weekend or in one day, then they can become one big blur.
I always suggest you get a little prepped before you go. My biggest tip would be to take a few selfies or photos of each of the venues.
Taking photos/selfies during your viewing is fun and you can share them on social media.
The biggest advantage is you won’t have to trust your memory to remember all the unique and beautiful elements of each venue.
If you don’t know where to start, ask your photographer for their advice!
If you know where you want to get married but are struggling to find the right venue, ask your photographer! Wedding Photographers will know most, if not all of the best local wedding venues.
From their personal experience, they will be able to tell you which venue photographs the best. An experienced photographer might have a few suggestions of other venues you haven’t discovered.
Do some extra looking and visit wedding blogs!
Wedding blogs are a tremendous source of inspiration for ideas when it comes to styling your wedding reception.
Please keep these ideas in mind when you are choosing your wedding venue…
Contact the venues first to see what dates are available (dates in the spring are the most popular).
Choose the Venue that best reflects who you are as a couple (if you love the country lifestyle, go for a country venue – after all, it is your big day!).
Write your guest list before you start to look at venues (if you want 300 guests and the venue can only handle 50 people you might have to rethink your venue of choice).
Good planning also requires a good budget (have a budget and stick to it).
Think of your guests and do they have special requirements (are any of your guests elderly and have walkers/wheel chairs?).
Think about your photos and is the venue in a beautiful location (if all they have is a gravel carpark, it won’t make for beautiful photos).
Stay true to yourselves (It’s your day)!
