Photos on the thumbnail courtesy of Katy Cox Photography.
Here on our wedding blog, we often talk about the importance of having some sort of timeline to utilize throughout the wedding planning process. Considering there will be a number of tasks to complete in the months leading up to your big day, this is a great way to ensure you don’t forget any important details and ultimately prevent any unnecessary stress along the way. Having said that, as you can likely guess, there is certainly a difference between items you should complete early on and ones that don’t need to be completed right away! On today’s blog, we’ll be highlighting one of those to-do’s that will be something you’ll want to take care of in the beginning stages of wedding planning.
The task that I’m referencing above is touring and booking your wedding venue. Unsurprisingly, a wedding venue is a significant decision to make for quite a few reasons. It will serve as the backdrop for your special day, can impact various other planning decisions and more! Throughout this blog post, we’ll highlight some of the different things you’ll want to look for in a wedding venue. Particularly, in bigger cities like Houston, there are more than a few beautiful venues to consider. We’ll provide you with some questions worth asking to hopefully ensure the venue selection process is as stress-free as possible!
Pricing & Availability
First things first, when you start your wedding venue search, it’s always a good idea to have two things somewhat finalized: the date of your wedding and an estimated budget. While they don’t necessarily need to be set in stone at the moment, having a pretty good idea for each will make your life so much easier. Having a budget established will help you in deciding which venues are possible options, while the date will be beneficial in determining which of those venues in your price range are actually available on your date.
All in all, one of the first things you’ll consider when evaluating potential venues is their pricing and availability. These are always two good questions to ask in the early stages!
Ceremony & Reception at Same Venue?
While every wedding is unique and the day-of timelines can vary, there are plenty of couples that opt to have their ceremony and reception at the same venue. This offers a number of advantages, including providing an easier transition from ceremony to reception and the assumption that more of your guests will be able to attend both parts of the celebration. We actually covered these benefits in more detail in a recent blog post. If you’re interested in checking it out, feel free to click the link HERE.
Nonetheless, thanks to these various advantages it provides, we certainly thought it was worth highlighting on this blog post. Furthermore, when inquiring about the possibility of having both at the same venue, make sure to ask about the spaces to be utilized for each. For example, at Madera Estates, a popular set-up involves having an outdoor ceremony in front of the Grand Fireplace before heading inside for a reception inside the Hacienda. However, that’s not to say we haven’t had outdoor receptions or indoor ceremonies too! Not to mention, having two spaces available can also be an excellent contingency plan in the event that the weather throws you any curveballs on your wedding day!
Past Wedding Pics
As we often say, an excellent resource for wedding day inspiration and ideas is social media. Decor, wedding cakes, catering, color palettes, you name it and you can probably find plenty of ideas to consider while searching online. With that in mind, I’m sure most couples have a general aesthetic in mind on how they envision their wedding. Well…one way to potentially determine whether a venue is the one is by checking out photos from past weddings held at that particular venue. This will give you an idea of what all is possible there and the general vibe of the venue. Obviously, you’ll also want to see the venue in-person as well, but photos online can be helpful early on!
To provide another real-world example from our team at Madera Estates. We love featuring previous weddings held at our venue on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Not to mention, for those familiar with our blog, you may know that we also have blog posts that walk through photo albums from past weddings as well. Click HERE to take a look at one we recently posted from Ashley & Guillermo’s special day!
Packages Available
In one of the sections above, we briefly mentioned the importance of having a budget established and asking about pricing for your particular date. To take this one step further, one thing that’s always worth discussing with potential venues is the various packages they have available. Unsurprisingly, this can have an impact on whether or not a particular venue makes sense for your wedding day!
So…in terms of wedding venue packages, what topics are worth getting more information about? One good question is whether or not they offer all-inclusive packages and if they do, what all is included with these packages? With wedding planning, all-inclusive packages can be incredibly helpful for a few different reasons. For one, it can help streamline the planning process. Just like we alluded to above, some of the bigger markets (such as Houston) have numerous vendors to pick from and unless you have a general idea of what you’re looking for, this can quickly seem a little overwhelming. As such, having a preselected group of recommended vendors from the venue can be a nice way to narrow down your options. In addition to this, another good question to ask would be about the possibility of bringing in outside vendors as well. You’ll want to know if this is something couples are allowed to do with all-inclusive packages and how this would impact pricing. In the end, all-inclusive packages can help connect you with reliable vendors and can also make the budgeting process that much easier, as more of your expenses will be grouped together.
On the other hand, if an all-inclusive wedding package isn’t what you had envisioned, then you’ll want to inquire about venue-only rental rates. Along with making sure the venue offers these packages, you’ll also need to confirm what all is included with them, such as tables & chairs, length of event, decor and so on! To sum it up, there is generally some flexibility in terms of finding a package that aligns with your vision and budget for the celebration.
Need a Wedding Venue Near Houston? Come Tour Madera Estates!
On a couple of occasions throughout this blog post, we’ve mentioned our wedding venue, Madera Estates. Located in Conroe, TX, Madera Estates is a luxury wedding venue and event space that has served as the backdrop for hundreds of weddings over the years. Since opening our venue, we’ve emphasized providing couples with a stress-free experience and have always been focused on bringing dream weddings to life!
If you’re searching for a wedding venue near the Houston area, we would be happy to show you around our venue and answer any questions that you may have! To see our online booking calendar and schedule a time that works best for you, don’t hesitate to click HERE. Have any general questions about pricing/availability or any of the packages we offer? Feel free to give us a call at (936) 441-9337 or fill out the contact form linked HERE and we can help!