Vision to Venue

Planning an event is never as easy as you think it might be. Whether it be a birthday party or a wedding, every event needs a venue. Venues can range mean anything from hosting the event in a backyard or to an actual venue that you would rent out for the event. It is also one of the most important factors on the successfulness of your event. What that success is, is entirely up to you!

The hardest and the longest step in the process of planning your event is picking a venue. My tips on making that part easier?- Begin with how many people you anticipate will be coming to the event. Some people may say start with a budget plan but for venue picking purposes, starting with a budget plan limits your creative capabilities. No I'm not saying spend every single penny on a venue, I'm saying build a budget around your guest list. Having a rough idea on a guest count then gives you the ability to make better budgeting choices and would help you in deciding what venue you should be looking for. Everyone has a vision on what the perfect venue is, but what's the perfect venue if it's going to be too small...or too big?

Once you have a rough guest count, you can then go ahead and venue shop. I personally made that mistake of not creating a rough count before shopping for venues which is why I cannot stress enough to HAVE A COUNT! Every venue my fiancé and I went to- first question they asked off the bat- "how many people will you be having"? Now we were both looking at each other absolutely dumbfounded that we have a budget on what we want to spend but no rough estimate on a guest count. Venues base their prices off of two things. The first being which day your event will be and the second is the amount of people. They will then calculate a price for you based off that. Every venue has a minimum guest count. Which is also why it is important to start with that, you can find the perfect venue and fall madly in love with it, but if you don't have the people to fill it up with, the venue will deny you or charge an extra fee for a "small party".

After you've created the rough list you're clear to dive into finalizing your budget plan and finding the venue. Create a list or at the least a mental list of what you find important in a venue. Do you want the food and drinks to be taken care of, or do you want to hire a separate caterer? Are you looking for a venue that has optional extras or a venue that has the bare minimum? Something that looks or has unique touches or you don't care as much for uniqueness? Not every person has the same taste and desires, so those questions are for you to answer and yourself only. Or whoever else's event it is. All in all, you want to go with the venue that would give you the most value for what you're going to pay. For some people this means a backyard event with catering and an event decorator is the best and for others an extravagant ballroom is the best. There is no one perfect answer.

Ask yourself these questions, make that checklist, and pick the venue that hits the most off that list and make sure you feel that you are getting the best value.