Your Guide to Wedding Venue Site Visits
Photographer: Justin DeMutiis
Visiting your wedding venue site is an exciting pre-wedding task as it’s one of the first opportunities to see your vision come to life. Separate from a wedding venue tour, a wedding venue site visit allows you to finalize the layout and details, choose photo locations, and ask any additional questions to finalize your budget and to-do list.
What is a Wedding Venue Site Visit?
A wedding venue site visit in an appointment that occur after you’ve booked the venue. It’s an opportunity for you and key vendors (i.e. your wedding planner) to iron out any details for your big day. It’s different from a wedding venue tour as a tour happens before booking the venue. While there is some overlap between appointments, the wedding site visit is where the setup and decor decisions will take place.
Why Book a Wedding Venue Site Visit?
After booking your wedding venue, planning one more site helps you visualize and finalize the details of your ceremony and reception. It’s a great opportunity to do a walk through of your wedding day to make sure everything flows and there are no unanswered questions on the big day. It also allows you to finalize lighting and sound setups as well as transportation times.
Which Vendors Should Attend?
Of course the venue manager or owner should attend the site visit as well as your wedding planner. The venue manager or owner can answer your questions and provide any suggestions for design and layout ideas. Your wedding planner will help point out opportunities as well as potential problems. Your wedding planner will also be able to communicate with your vendors on the layout and design post-wedding venue site visit.
Questions to Ask During Your Wedding Site Visit
To help streamline the visit, have a list of questions prepared for the venue owner/manager and your wedding planner. To make it easy, break your wedding day agenda into segments and then consider what is needed in each of these segments. For example, you’ll need to define what is and what is not included (such as lunch in the bridal suite, a bad weather plan, etc.), And if something is not included, what is the additional cost?
Details to Pay Attention to During Your Visit
You could be the most detail-oriented person in the world, but there are still a few important factors that might slip through the cracks.
Landscape
Try to plan your wedding site visit around the same time of year as your wedding. That way, you can see what the lighting and temperature is like. A wedding site visit in the fall for a spring wedding will leave you with very different weather conditions!
Backup Places
A backup plan is especially important for an outdoor wedding. Inclement weather is unpredictable - especially in Florida - so asking about a backup space at your wedding venue site visit is imperative. And, even if it doesn’t rain on the day of your wedding, if it rained prior to, the grounds may still be wet.
Local Events and Attractions
This may not be top of mind, but knowing what local events and attractions are happening during your wedding can impact traffic and accommodations. Ask your wedding venue for any seasonal or annual events that occur around your wedding date to plan accordingly.
Scheduling a wedding venue site separate from the wedding venue tour helps you iron out and finalize any details for the big day!