Where to start?!

We decided to get married where we live because we have a really small budget and 5 kids. I can do what I want at the school I teach at to keep costs really low. We will be housing my parents and my brother as well as all 7 of us. But my mom will be taking care of the kids on the wedding night while we go to a hotel.

Awesome answer! We are struggling as well my FH works for a hotel who has several resorts accross the Province we went there last month to see if it was the right place for us and it was far to be what I expected. They are doing extensive renovations and in 2 years it will be up to our standards but I don't want to wait that long! Back to square 1!

Hi Stefani! Welcome to the community! I'm so happy you reached out! I'm so happy to see you already got such good feedback in here. You can start by looking at different types of venues in your area and see which ones fit within your budget and which ones you like best: Wedding Venues Montreal

It also depends on the style of wedding you want to go for. Do you want something big or small?

You can take this test to get a better idea: What is your wedding style?

What kind of setting would you prefer? City or countryside?

We live in AB but are getting married in NB... 90% of our guests will have to travel... I'm not sure that planning would be going as smoothly if my mom and one of my bridesmaids didn't live there.

We are getting married an hour and a half from where we live. The main deciding factor for me was that our families are not from the town where we live and so everyone will have to travel to our town, and I personally would expect to then house my parents, my grandmother, FH's mom and then there are also brother's and sisters who maybe can't afford hotels and I can't deal with a wedding and house full of relatives all at the same time. FH and I both have family that live in Calgary and there are so many more vendors in Calgary so I am going to stay in a nice hotel and just worry about the wedding, relatives can figure their housing out on their own! I know I am selfish but I don't want to be bridzilla. As several people have said get married where you want and where it makes the most sense for you! Figure out what your budget is and what your ideal wedding would look like and try to make them fit together!

You will know once you find it. I say visit as many as you can to get a good idea what you like. We had it down to two venues from twenty. Then decided to go with the one that offered us the date we wanted at a discount price because of it being a sunday.

I agree with Sam and Val... go with what you and your FH want ... its your day and you only are supposed to get to do it once .. pick you dream venue that works with your budget !

I think these two brought great points. It is what is priority for you and your FH and also what fits into your budget. I had to consider a lot of out-of-town guests so having accomodations near-by was a factor for us.

Sam covered the main points. It is totally up to you and your FH. There are so many factors in your decision that it's just what you deem most important.

We chose a venue a little over an hour away from us, mainly because I really loved the idea of getting married at a vineyard (not a traditional church type of person, and neither is FH) and the ones that were kind of near us weren't as nice and way out of my price range, so I searched in "wine county" near us and we just decided it would be in that city.. and then we visited our venue and fell in love! Cancelled all other appointments! If you can narrow it down to 1 or 2 in each city you're looking then I suggest visiting in person... I found it made our decision VERY quick and easy to actually see them

Hi Stefani! It's totally up to you and your fiance and what your priorities are! What's more important to you? The location, the specific venue, your date? Some venues might not be available on the date you want so you would have to change your date or find something else. Or if there's a venue you really want but it's out of your price range, you might want to consider "off season" when it's cheaper.

I generally recommend having you and your fiance each make a list of your top 3 priorities for the wedding so that you can build your budget off of that and figure out what you're willing to compromise on and what you want to prioritize. (location, venue, food, music, photography, dress, decorations, videography, etc) Your budget will really determine everything else so before you start getting quotes, you might want to do some research on what things actually cost (because of course it's always more than you think!) and figure out the range that you'd be willing to spend.

I live in California but am not a California girl so I knew I didn't want to get married there. I'm originally from Vancouver and my husband and I have been going there every other year for our anniversary so we decided that we wanted to get married there. We knew that meant that some of our guests might not be able to make it due to the distance (which was really heartbreaking) but it was more important for us to get married where we wanted so we went with it and were grateful to those who were able to make it.