How many Venues did your Tour before finding the right venue?

My wedding planner recommended us a venue that was pretty new and it was exactly what we were looking for and when we went to view it in person we both knew we wanted to get married there

Honestly it took us contacting a whole bunch, going to our first actual visit and then we realized what we really wanted and we able to find one that matched exactly what we wanted and picked the next one we visited. Moral of the story.. actually visiting can be very helpful in your search.

Our situation is a bit unique. We live and work in Nunavut and therefore couldn't tour any of the venues we contacted: Pearle Hotel, Dolce at the C-Hotel, Kortright Event Space, Royal Botanical Gardens, Spencer's at the Waterfront, Cellar 52 and Ancaster Mill. The last place we serendipitously came across was The Timber Barn (TTB) in St. Jacob's and we fell in love with it...well what we could see. The building exists but the inside is being renovated. A bit of a gamble but the owners, The Stella Collective, have proven their capabilities with their other venue Cellar 52, Gilt Catering and in house florist Soleil Floral! We have no doubts that this venue will be just as fabulous!


As for a winter wonderland wedding...which sounds wonderful 😉...is Ancaster Mill out of your area? We originally thought of them but found TTB to be better suited for our summer wedding. Ancaster Mill on the other hand is such a beauty to see in winter. We're gonna ask if our engagement photos can be done there in December!
Happy venue perusing and I hope you find the perfect spot and wish you all the best!

We contacted sooo many venues via email and wedding wire, both within and on the out skirts of our city. We toured a total of 3 venues that we really loved and chose the 2nd one we visited. Id advise to have a Plan B date in mind, incase your initial date is already booked at the venue you fall in love with.

Best of luck!

We looked at 2 one was booked for our date July 2

The second one was open it had more to offer then the first one as its a hotel.

you will find the right one

My fiancé and my I fell in love with 1 of them that we saw online. So we went in person and was still in love with it. Only thing that was a shocker was not wifi 😭😭 But that’s fine. We pick up and go! Hahaha

We've been scouring the venue market literally since our engagement last September and I (no joke) have an entire excel spreadsheet of every single one we were considering. Due to COVID a lot of the research I've done has had to be online since we couldnt physically go see things in person. We've been engaged just over a year now, and finally settled on our venue last night. Turns out we're booking the same venue my fiances dad got remarried at a few years back! Honestly, it just felt right and when you know you know! I spent months weighing budgets and pros and cons, and what ended up feeling right and perfect for us just sort of fell into place. I think its SUPER easy to over complicate things, and at the end of the day the venue is not going to make or break your wedding! Plus winter weddings are just stunning overall anyway and its a beautiful time to get married considering the scenery - you'll find the one!

We looked at the one venue my husband knew at the time and it was gorgeous though the price did seem high at the time. A resort near home being walking distance was double the price due to a couple of factors.

4 course meal falsely told as the main course is paid for each guest as the open bar for age group even kids.

The gazebo charge is $200 for the ceremony itself as the hall was about $180 for the guest count looking at reception.

The room rates were quite expensive even for the wedding discount.

We went with the first choice venue given the inclusive deal:

5 hor d'ouvres served of any choice

4 course meal plate service

Cake cutting service

Late night buffet

Open bar except for dinner being served.

Wedding set up done by the staff

Excellent Wedding Coordinator service

Less than half the price for the ceremony/ reception

I put together the seating plan with the coordinating meals to verify which guest received meat, vegetarian and kids meals when dinner was being served.

We looked at 3 and went with the first one we looked at!

We found our venue through social media (thought I knew of them all 😆) and fell in love immediately. We still went to two more but they were quite different and my fiance was only there to appease my need to see more than one. We ruled out any we'd been to weddings at before (which was a lot) and my original dream venue wasn't open for our NYE date we wanted (not open in the winter), which I'm good with now as it really wouldn't have been what was perfect for us in the end.

My fiance and I only looked at one and said yes right away, well technology looked through photos since we're getting married in another province then where we live currently and couldn't fly out for a weekend to see it . But I've been to the venue (winery) many times while I've been back home.

We contacted 22 and visited around 10. But we didn't piegonhole ourselves into one specific venue. We looked at country clubs, golf clubs, wineries, banquet halls, hotels, and alternative setups to ensure we can get a full picture of all the pros and cons of each.