Choosing a Wedding Venue

What kind of wedding do you want to have?

Most of us have been to many straight weddings before the laws began to change and allowed us to have our own gay weddings. So now that you can have your own gay or lesbian wedding, what kind of wedding do you want?

I was raised as a Catholic, and all of the weddings I’d been to prior to 2004 featured a ceremony and Mass in a Catholic Church (usually in the New York metropolitan area).

What kind of wedding do you want? There are lots of choices. When I meet with clients, once I’ve established their projected guest-count and budget, I usually start thinking about their wedding by breaking it down like a game. As a couple answers the questions, my mind narrows down the options as if the event was a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Once the questions are answered, I always have a short list of venues in my head. To start creating the type of wedding you want, here are some questions that you and your partner should be asking yourselves:

1. Do you want a Saturday night dance party-type of event or a Sunday, elegant brunch type of event? A daytime or a nighttime wedding?

2. Do you want to have the ceremony in the same location as the reception?

3. Do you want to have access to an outdoor area?

4. Do you have a lot of friends and family traveling from out of state?

5. Do you have a lot of big partiers/drinkers on your guest list?

6. Is your style:

a) urban/contemporary,

b) industrial/loft-like,

c) country/rustic,

d) historic/classically elegant,

e) casual/beachy?

7. Do you require a view of some sort?

Once you answer these questions, the venue options get narrower and narrower...where did you choose to have your wedding?

photo by Kristin Korpos