Feature Article
by Tracey Baxter
At The Bridal Showcase, the biggest question I heard was “How do I choose a venue?” The best place to look first for a great venue is right in your own mind! No joke! Think about the style of your wedding. Really imagine it – if you could be ‘on location’ in the perfect venue for your wedding, what do you see in your mind? Are you in a ballroom or lakeside? If you are outdoors in your vision, you have effectively eliminated a lot of venues right off the bat! Or if you are in a mansion or historic site you’ve also effectively eliminated many! This is great! You’ve saved yourself time and energy and can avoid visiting places that you wouldn’t prefer to host your wedding ceremony, reception or both.
When choosing a venue, when you walk into the space, do you feel like it conveys your style? Keep in mind; I am using the word style – not the word theme! Eliminate theme from your wedding vocabulary and think style. Themes are for 2nd grade slumber parties and amusement parks. Both fun? Absolutely! But theme is not fun for at least 90% of weddings! Now, yes there is that 10% or less that want to do some sort of over the top “theme” but pulling that off without creating a hot mess needs cautious planning! In my experience theming is not what most brides are looking to achieve on their wedding day – it’s style!
Let’s talk for a minute about this because if not theme, what constitutes style? Style is not something that you beat your guests half to death with by making everything matchy-matchy like something out of "The Stepford Wives". It’s not the favor tags, seating cards or other details, although those elements can enhance the style if used properly! Style is like the big picture. Style is a ribbon of continuity throughout your wedding that creates a feeling or ambiance. Style starts with your save-the-date cards or invitations, ends with your thank you cards and includes everything in between, but it is not any of these elements individually. So now with style clarified, again picture your perfect wedding day. How does the venue make you feel? When you go on site to check out a venue if you don’t get that very same feeling you’re imagining at this moment, you’ve not found your venue yet.
The reason finding a venue that is suitable to your event style is critical is because to create that feeling of your style, in a space that doesn’t naturally convey it, can quickly become time consuming and costly. To a degree, it’s like reinventing the wheel! Yes, you can bring the outdoors in but if a ballroom is bright yellow and grey, it will be take more to mask that décor and create something natural and outdoorsy, than if you found a ballroom with a more neutral or green décor scheme that could easily blend into your style.
On the other hand, if you are not locked in to a specific color swatch yet, then the ballroom or other location you select can determine your scheme so you are easily coordinated with the style of the room. And there is really nothing wrong with that approach as long as you walk in that space and feel “Ah” instead of “Blah”.
So that is the essence of venue selection!
Your Wedding Planning Homework:
Connect with a venue this week! Remember while visiting to really envision the style of your weeding and how it will appear.
copyright 2011 Aisle Do
Want to use this article in your e-Zine, blog or website? You may as long as you include this complete statement:
Wedding Solutions Specialist Tracey Baxter publishes the "Aisle Do" bi-weekly e-zine. Get your Free Report: "From Drab to Fab - The Five Secrets to a Show Stopping Favor Display” available at http://www.aisledoweddings.com/
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