Photos on thumbnail courtesy of JMG Photography.

Without a doubt, one of the first tasks that you’ll find yourself working on in the early stages of wedding planning is going to involve researching and touring potential wedding venues before booking your favorite one. Along with other items like creating a general budget for the wedding and deciding on a wedding date, you’ll find there a few select items that we always recommend prioritizing right away! This is also another reason why we encourage couples to utilize a timeline or checklist to stay on schedule as you work through the wedding planning journey.

Is this your first time stopping by our wedding blog? If so, we welcome you to Madera Estates! As a wedding venue that has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of engaged couples, we always look forward to hearing what couples have envisioned for their big day. After all, as we often say, when it comes to planning a wedding nowadays, the possibilities are endless. In the opening paragraph, we mentioned how the venue selection stage tends to be one of the first things you’ll find yourself completing in wedding planning.

Why is this so important? First off, you don’t want to find your dream venue, only to learn that it’s already booked on the date you’ve selected (venues can get booked several months in-advance, so keep this in mind!). Secondly though, your venue rental will occupy a significant portion of your wedding budget, so it definitely makes sense to get this solidified as soon as possible. Not to mention, it’ll also serve as the backdrop for your big day and possibly impact other decisions too (such as the opportunity to reserve all-inclusive packages). In the end, there is certainly plenty that goes into booking a wedding venue and we’re here to answer some of your questions with this week’s blog post! Throughout this blog post, we’ll be tackling a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when you start scheduling tours with Houston wedding venues. Let’s dive right in!

Define Your Top Priorities

As you can likely imagine, there are a plethora of possibilities when it comes to planning a wedding nowadays. Whether that be in regards to the wedding timeline (having a first look before the ceremony, choosing a twilight ceremony, etc), the vendors you’ll hire or anything else, you’ll find that wedding planning encompasses quite a few decisions along the way. The same methodology is true with venue selection (specifically) as well. Just think about the many different styles of venues out there! So…with that being said, our first topic of discussion is going to revolve around determining what your top priorities are when thinking about possible venues.

Indoor or Outdoor (or both!) – When discussing venues, you’ll be deciding between an indoor venue, outdoor venue or one that offers both! While weather will play a role in this decision (depending on your geographic location), we can confidently say each has their own unique advantages.

Scenery – A key aspect of venue selection will revolve around the scenery and natural elements. After all, this will play a major role in your wedding photos, so it’s worth finding a venue that has plenty of picturesque backdrops!

Experienced Staff – The last thing you want on your wedding day is stress. Take a little time to do your due diligence, check out online reviews and look at social media to determine their credibility and experience.

In the end, we understand every couple will have different priorities when it comes to selecting their wedding venue, but listed above, you’ll find some of the primary items that couples prioritize!

Know Your Total Budget

In the opening section, we talked about why setting a general budget for your wedding should be a priority item in the early stages of wedding planning. With that in mind, our next item that couples should consider before booking venue tours is going to involve knowing your total budget. This concept can be broken up into a few different categories:

Have conversations with everyone who will be contributing – While it’s important to have a number in-place, you’ll want to make sure this comes from conversations you’ve had with anyone who will be contributing!

Know what all goes into that budgetary number – As you journey through the wedding planning process, you’ll realize there are several items that will require a portion of your budget. Caterer, photographer, DJ, decor, invitations, the list goes on! Utilize estimated figures to get an idea of how much you can spend on each component, including the venue rental.

All in all, there’s a reason why wedding professionals encourage establishing a budget before even touring wedding venues. By the way, for those curious what these costs may look like. According to The Knot’s annual Real Weddings Study, the average wedding cost in 2024 was $33,000.

Look Into What’s Included

When you start the process of reaching out to possible venues to discuss pricing, you’ll realize they may offer different services/packages. Some may include tables, chairs, linens, set-up and clean-up, which can obviously be one less thing for you to worry about! At the same time, you’ll also notice that some venues may offer all-inclusive packages. Here at Madera Estates, we offer customizable all-inclusive packages, which have certainly become quite popular thanks to their ability to streamline the vendor selection process. Nonetheless, you’ll want to inquire about what all is included with each venue’s packages.

Estimate Your Guest Count

While you don’t necessarily need to have your guest list finalized when scheduling tours, it would be a good idea to have a general ballpark number in mind for the guest count. Why is this such a worthwhile piece of information? Well…your guest count will impact a few different factors, including price and logistics. For one, you’ll want to make sure the venue has enough space to accommodate your guest count. That’s a no brainer! However, you’ll also want to consider how different-sized guest counts can impact pricing, including any food and beverage minimums. Logistics? This goes back to what we mentioned about the venue having an adequate capacity for your guest count with parking being something worth highlighting!

It’s likely no surprise that crafting your guest list is an important part of the planning process. Nonetheless, for the sake of this blog post about items worth emphasizing before the touring stages, you’ll want to have an estimated guest count set.

Prep Your Questions

A venue tour is the perfect time to ask any questions you may have. While you’ll still want to ask some of the basics beforehand, like in regards to pricing and availability, it is definitely a smart move to have other questions prepared before your tour. What are a few worth considering?

Is there a back-up plan in the event of bad weather? For those couples wanting an outdoor wedding ceremony and/or reception, you’ll want to make sure there is a contingency plan if rain were to appear in the forecast.

Do they have vendor recommendations? Especially for those tying the knot in a major city, it can be a little overwhelming going through the dozens of vendor possibilities. With a list of trusted vendors that also may have experience at that particular venue, you can rest assured knowing you’ll have reliable vendors at your wedding!

When will you have access to the venue on wedding day? From the getting ready moments through the final send-off, it’s worth knowing how many hours are included with the different packages.

Are there any policies or procedures you need to know of? Every wedding venue is likely going to have their own policies and procedures for weddings. This can include items like having pets/animals at your wedding, overall capacity and so on.

How about add-ons? Are there any additional services/items we can add? While wedding venues will probably have base packages to pick from, it’s worth asking whether or not those can be customized in any way. This can be in relation to decor, linens, lanterns, table numbers and so on. For those considering Madera Estates, be sure to ask about our in-house styling service, Madera Luxe.

To sum it up, it’s worth taking a little time to prep some questions prior to arriving for your tour!

Touring Houston Wedding Venues? Come Check Out Madera Estates!

While it’s definitely a good idea to do your homework prior to scheduling venue tours, we also encourage couples to avoid procrastinating on getting this process started. After all, venues can get booked up more than a few months in-advance, especially for popular dates. With this in mind, we recommend prioritizing this task early on in the planning process. Plus, once you have your venue finalized, you’ll find that many of the other planning items are much easier to complete. This is particularly true if you’re going with an all-inclusive package!

Are you engaged and searching for a wedding venue near the Houston area? If so, we would love to show you around our Conroe wedding venue and answer any questions you may have. Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to host hundreds of weddings and feel confident in our ability to deliver an exceptional experience every step of the way. To learn more, click the link HERE to request a copy of our Pricing Guide.