Wedding Venue Ideas &
Tips for Finding Locations

If you don’t already have specific wedding ceremony and reception venues in mind, or are unsure about your wedding location choices, here are a few venue ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Beach (summer weddings)
• Church meeting hall
• Community center
• Country club
• Country inn (fall weddings)
• Fellowship halls
• Gardens – local parks, historic gardens, and private gardens (spring weddings)
• Golf club
• Home – private or a rented property
• Historical building or mansion
• Lake
• Large hotel suite or penthouse
• Lodge
• Marina club
• Museums - science museum/ aquarium/ arts center/ cultural center
• Opera house/ symphony hall
• Park
• Pool house
• Private clubhouses in residential developments
• Resort
• Restaurant
• Theater
• University/college grounds
• Vineyard
• Women’s club

• Check your local or state tourism board website to get wedding venue ideas from the spots they suggest to tourists
• If anyone in your family is active or retired military, check out any local military facilities. Some are really nice
• Contact local historical societies, as many manage amazing homes and gardens that make perfect wedding site locations
• Look into local arts groups and private art galleries
• Go online to your city web site (and surrounding cities), and check out the parks division, as well as any city managed historical buildings
• Get in the car and drive around your city, look for wedding locations in historical neighborhoods, gardens and parks, and downtown and waterfront areas if your city is on a lake, river or coast
• Some of the best wedding venue ideas are right in your backyard. In my city there’s a beautiful two-story pagoda and a Japanese garden hidden in a historic neighborhood. You can’t see it from any main streets
• Use your knowledge pool -- ask everyone you know where they think a great wedding site location would be and check out those places too

Look at a map of your area and consider everything within a half-hour drive.

Is there a beach you would like to get married on?

How about an amazing park, a historic home or lodge or even a quaint little town with great charm that may be a wedding location worth driving to?

Take digital pictures of all the wedding site locations you look at and make notes as you go.

Once you’ve collected a number of possible wedding venues, list them from your favorite to your least favorite and contact the property managers.

There is usually a catering manager available who can give you a tour and check for availability.

It’s also a good idea to visit the venue when a wedding is taking place prior to talking to somebody.

Does it seem like a good fit? Is it organized, clean, and running well?

Chances are what you are seeing in levels of service and food quality is what you are going to get, regardless of your menu choices.

Visit their websites. They will have information on who to contact and whether having your wedding there is a possibility. Check on the permits you may need for the location.

Sometimes really beautiful wedding locations are just not “guest friendly.” Electricity, rest rooms, parking, etc. all need to be checked out. Many parks require that you use their caterer who has a contract with the park.

If so, find out who that is and make an appointment with the caterer.

For weddings held in parks, more concern needs to be paid regarding liability, guests with special needs due to the nature of the venue, logistics and weather.

Again, visit the website to see if it is even an option to have your event there.

These types of wedding venues will often require you to have special liability wedding insurance should there be damage to the property. Some also have an “in house” caterer that you are required to use.

Hopefully you now have a list of wedding venue ideas you like, now get out there and scout those wedding locations!

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