As a bride, you may or may not have envisioned your wedding growing up! Maybe you have a vision of what exactly you want your wedding to look like! I knew for the most part what I wanted, but I still didn’t know how much variation there really was with types of venues; styles, locations; prices!
The pricing of weddings in Ottawa, I find, has skyrocketed over the last couple of years. I have looked here and there over the last short while to try and get a better idea for myself, and what I’m looking for. Even for a small restaurant wedding, often the minimum spend tab is $12,000+! I was thinking, for what I dreamt as a small wedding, could potentially be $10,000 total, not just for the venue!!!
Indoor or outdoor, which season, visual aesthetic, guest count accommodation, style of dinner, will your colour scheme work? Ballroom, restaurant, barn, field, hotel, event venue, vineyard, backyard?!
Talk about how many people you envision having for your big day. Is everyone invited to everything, or some for ceremony and others for reception. The guest list often gets carried away so you need to define your parameters for choosing whom.
Sit down and discuss budget!! Money is such a touchy subject, let alone when it’s for something like a wedding, not your house. I wouldn’t suggest just picking a number out of the air; do some research to see approximately how much things cost and come up with a realistic yet affordable number for the both of you.
Define your priorities! If the actual date numbers itself are super important to you, than so be it, but often its not, so I don’t understand why most planning websites say choose your date first. If your dream photographer and venue aren’t available on “your chosen wedding date,” what’s the point? Have a couple dates in mind, of course, but if you really want a particular vendor, ask them about their availability and choose a date that several of your priority vendors are all available on.
WeddingWire recently released this new tool in the form of a quiz, a few quick questions to see what kind of venue would suit you best! Check it out here!