Freaking out about venues

View quoted message We did, thanks! It's such a relief having all the biggest things booked! We had appointments to view a couple but while looking at one we knew it was perfect and didn't bother seeing the rest.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts!

Hey Shyrelle, did you end up finding a venue? Your wedding is coming up, so I hope everything is coming together

Gosh, venues are the hardest to find. We started scouting places and getting requests for proposals from venues and a lot of the ones we were interested in were already booked... some venues came back to us letting us know that unfortunately we were like the 10th couple to ask about a particular venue that was booked 2 years in advance for our specific date. Also, we had a huge guest lists (300), so some other venues we considered didn't even fit our guest count so we ended up looking at reception rooms at hotels that had the room size to accommodate us.

If you have 5 months left, most places will have been booked especially if you're having yours in September. If there's no dates available or places are out of your price range, have you considered having your wedding on a weekday or even hosting a canapé cocktail hour instead of a full on reception? I've been to several weddings where the bride/groom had their ceremony, and had an intimate luncheon with only family after the ceremony and then at night opened the area up for friends to have just light cocktails, canapés and dancing.

Goodluck with planning!

We had that issue along with the venue we really loved being too small for our guest count.
We ended up booking a reception room in a hotel, this allowed us to make it look like we wanted and really do anything with the decor. Our hotel was also super flexible and the prices were so reasonable! I wanted outdoors but was worried about the weather as well, so to compromise on an indoor venue, we will be taking our photos outdoors (if weather permits).
Good luck!

Venue is hands down the most difficult thing to find! For me and my FH we started looking over a year in advance and some places were already booked!!!

My advice is that if none of the venues that you love are in your price range/ in your time frame - perhaps you could do a destination wedding instead? What about a small little ceremony for now and a wedding next year to give yourself more time?

As for hos much my FH had a say - this was the one big thing that he almost had more say in it than I did! I doesn't care too much about the decor part, but the bones of the wedding are a big thing.

We had a similar problem, we booked a hall they provide the space, use of kitchen, tables and chairs but everything else is up to us. So where we thought we were saving money going with the cheaper venue we are picking up costs and tasks in oher areas. Pick the 3 most important things to you and your fiance (Food, Music, Venue) and let everything else be what it is.

If you're having difficulties with things being booked up, I recommend considering an unconventional day of the week. We started looking at venues just under 12 months in advance, but we had no issue with availability since we wanted a Sunday wedding. Five months is pretty tight, but I'm sure you will find something. It may just take a bit more research.

We sat down and discussed what we really wanted and our budget. That narrowed the search down quite a bit, so we didn't waste any time contacting or visiting venues that were outside of our budget or didn't fit what we wanted in the first place.

I knew I wanted my reception at a golf course, so I started looking for ones in the area.

my parents actually showed me the one we ended up choosing. It was important to me that my FH liked it but I think he would’ve chosen whatever I liked.

I think like others said, if you’re looking for something specific, a venue might be hard to find in 5 months.

My venue was booking 2021 and 2022 when we booked ours for 2020.

i would try looking at banquet halls, or something similar.

Unfortunately anything wedding books up close to 2 years in advance most of the time. So planning a wedding with less than 5 months is going to be very very difficult but not impossible. Contact all the local banquet halls I'm sure somewhere will have your date available. Maybe you and your fiance should sit down and make a list of things you really really want then what you can afford then what is possible in the short time frame. Have you considered pushing your date back? You'd have a much easier time booking things with a bit extra time. If not then you'll just have to sit down and power through. My fiance luckily has been amazing during the 2 years of wedding planning but a lot just go along for the ring lol and that's fine, now all guys are into planning a wedding just give him your expectations on what you expect of his part in the planning and go from there. Good luck!

Hi Shyrelle,

Have you looked at the Munroe barn at Sheppard Park in High River? Depending on which week in September you're getting married, they may still be available. (But they do get booked around the Balloon Festival...)

Creating a list of venues in your budget is the first place to start. That way you aren’t falling in love with a place and then not being able to book it based on price.

I went through all the venues in our area that I could see myself getting married at and made a chart. Compared prices, packages, location, if there was a ceremony and reception space etc. We only ended up seeing 2 venues that were our top choices and picked the first one we went.

You can still do something cool and different and not break the bank. Just have to be creative and it may include more DIY!

Picking a venue is one of the biggest decisions. My FH and I went and toured 5 venues and the one we booked was our last stop. After each venue we wrote out how we felt there, what was included in the package, any cons and what was unique about it. We talked about all of them with each other but found very quickly that we agreed on the same one.
Price pays a large role in venues so keep in mind that places that have both an indoor and outdoor option are a little more expensive.
Hotels are a great place to start, a lot of them
nowadays have a ballroom that you can have the reception in and they have a ceremony space normally. We found that they were usually
pretty inclusive with their packages as well. Plus our venue has a hotel on site and everyone loves that they can arrive, attend the wedding and then leave all without driving around to different locations so that’s a huge bonus for guests.

I found that picking the venue was the most difficult thing since it’s sort of sets the tone for the wedding. I totally understand wanting to have a simple, fun, and cool wedding but with such little time I think that’s going to be a difficult feat!


FH and I began by looking at what we could afford and looked at venues based off that. We live in a place that’s highly populated with banquet halls (no fewer than 20 venues within a 20 minute drive of our home), so a banquet hall was the logical choice for us despite neither of us actually wanting to get married in a hall.

I think you need to look at what you can afford, what’s available, and remember that at the end of the day it’s just a venue. Your wedding is going to be fun and special no matter where you have your reception, so just book what makes sense and the rest will come together ☺️