 Today we're going to talk about a very important detail to your wedding, which is wedding venues. How do you know which venue is right for you and what questions do you ask to figure out if this venue is going to be perfect for your wedding? So I just recently got all of my wedding photos, which I absolutely love and if you guys want to see where I had my wedding, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest at Ms. Bianca Renee, I'll be posting most of my wedding photos there. Now a very important tip that I can give to all of my brides and low key even to those of you that aren't brides yet, is to always figure out your venue first. As soon as you get engaged, I want you to start looking at venues because that will get booked up really fast. If you think about it, most girls have a year engagement. So that means everybody has a year engagement, which means if you're in 2016 and you call your venue for a 2017 date, it could already be booked because all these brides that are looking a year out might be calling for the same dates as you. So as soon as you get engaged, start looking at the venues, start going on tours and we can decide as soon as possible. I mean low key even if you're not engaged, it might sound a little crazy, but I would kind of just have a general idea of what you want so when the big day does happen, you're ready. They always think your Pinterest wedding folder is crazy until you get engaged and you're completely prepared. Now I would say the top three things that you're going to have to figure out immediately before deciding a wedding is what state, your budget and your guest count. If you are married to someone and you guys are both from different states, maybe your families are in different states, you're going to have to decide if you want to pick a neutral location, if you're going to do a destination wedding, if you're going to do her family state or his family state, wherever that may be, that's the first thing you're going to have to decide. Now even if you decide on what state you want, you also have to figure out how far in the city you want your guests to travel. I personally found a venue that I loved in Costa Mesa and Newport, but that was like an hour drive from where I lived without traffic. So I knew that all of my guests would have been late and stuck in traffic, especially if I did it on a Friday. And low key in California, we don't really have traffic hours anymore. There's just always traffic, so I didn't want to risk everyone having to drive maybe two hours to get to my wedding. And if they're going to be drinking, I did have open bar. I did not want my guests to be drinking and then have to drive two hours back home, nor pay for a two hour Uber. Ain't nobody got money for that. The second thing that is going to cut your options in half is going to be the budget. You might think you want the Ritz Carlton, but then once you get that price, you're going to be like, oh, I mean, the holiday inn has a very nice buffet package. So figure out exactly how much you are willing to spend on just the venue alone. That means for the ceremony and the reception. If you're planning on having a very intimate wedding of maybe about 50 people, your options are going to expand because you could do smaller type venues. But if you know you're going to have 300 people, not all venues are going to be able to hold 300 guests. So you're going to have to ask that first off because they can fit all your guests. It's not an option. Once you figure out those three main things, you are off to a good start. But I do want to backtrack a little and talk about price. The price of your wedding venue could mean the price of just the property alone. Nothing else is included, but the fact that you get to be on the property and have an event there and they might have a flat fee just for you to be on site. Now the better option would be to have a place that has a package where you get the venue and it also includes their catering company and the essential type of rentals like your tables, your chairs, napkins, forks, plates, and then the catering that they have preferred catering lists. If you kind of bulk all that together with the venue that might give you a discount and or the venue cost might be free. Now let's get a little bit more specific as to your personal preference. What type of look do you want for your wedding? Do you want it to be rustic? Do you want it to be modern? Do you want it to be inside, outdoor, banquet, hotel, family's backyard, whatever you envision your wedding to be. If you could narrow that down, it's going to make it so much easier to decide on what venue you want. And if you have a wedding planner, it's going to be easier for him or her to give you a list of exactly what you want. When you start to narrow down the look of the day, now let's think about if you want it to be indoor or outdoor. It's very common for people to have their ceremony outside and then everybody comes in for the reception. Or you could do both outside or both inside or maybe you want your ceremony to be at a church and then you go to maybe a hall or some other place for the reception. All options depending on what you want. Another very important thing to ask about is the time restriction. I personally found a venue that I loved and then I found out that all the music and or sound had to be over by 10 p.m. I know my friends and family, I know we wanted to have a band and a lot of dancing and I could not end the night at 10 p.m. And I could not cut off the DJ at 10 p.m. Cause what are we going to do when the music stops? Like play Scrabble. So I had to say no to that venue because I knew I wanted to go to at least midnight. So think about your guests. Are they going to want to party late? Is it a weekday, work day, weekend, holiday? All these things are going to help you decide whether your guests are going to want to stay till 10, midnight, or 2 a.m. Speaking of time, let's talk about exactly what time of the day you want to have your wedding and what day. These are going to be very crucial factors when deciding on a venue. If you want to have a breakfast type wedding, you actually can save a lot of money. Things like eggs, bacon, omelets, fruit platters, all breakfast items are going to be a lot cheaper than filet mignon, mashed potatoes, chicken and pasta, whatever. So if you're on a budget and maybe you guys love breakfast, maybe do a morning wedding and you will get a much cheaper catering cost. Besides the catering cost, using that specific area in the earlier time of the day might be more available and maybe no one's using it so they might give you a cheaper price for having your wedding in the daytime or even a lunch type wedding. Your most expensive option is definitely going to be around dinner time which is obviously most popular. Besides breakfast, lunch and dinner, you also want to pick what day to have your wedding. The most common days to have a wedding are either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. You will usually get a discount if you have your wedding on a Friday or a Sunday. Saturday is the most popular day. Not a lot of people work Saturday. They could sleep in, party and then wake up on Sunday and be fine. If you do a Friday, people will be coming from work. Hopefully they get the day off and then they do get to sleep until Saturday which is nice and you will get that discount. If you want to have your wedding on a Sunday, you will also get that discount but keep in mind that people will have to wake up for work on Monday and or travel back to work or fly wherever they came from on Monday. If you want to have your wedding in a church, Sunday might not be available because the church service is happening on that day depending on where you go. Now we know the time we want our wedding, the day we want our wedding, the season, how much it's going to cost, how many people can come, the kind of look I want, what's next? Now it's time to see what type of perks this specific venue has. I would ask to see if they offer you a complimentary hotel stay. If your wedding is in a banquet hall of a hotel, you're most likely going to get a free room, free or sweet for your honeymoon night for you to leave the wedding and go straight to your room. Along with your room for the night, you also want to make sure that there is a place for your bridesmaids and the groomsmen to get ready the day of. Otherwise, you're going to have to think about that additional cost of maybe getting a hotel room so all your girls can get ready and then go to the venue. If you don't want to travel, hopefully pick a venue that has a place for you guys to get ready on site. If you don't care, you could just get ready at your house, your girls can get ready at their homes, you can just meet on time. But most brides like to have their bridesmaids around them, they all get ready together as a big girls-like thing. In my experience, I found a venue that I absolutely loved. It was actually a garden. And because it was a garden, there wasn't really a place for me and my girls to get ready. They showed us the girls giving ready room and it was literally a motor home, like just an RV. That was where I was supposed to get ready and take pictures. No. I had eight bridesmaids, then me and then two moms. That's 11 girls. There's no way 11 girls can get ready in one motor home. Did he even have, I feel like the bathrooms were like a small door, like one person, airplane-type bathroom, like one mirror, probably two outlets, 11 girls. No, no, no, that wasn't gonna work. And one of the last things to think about is your wedding dress. Do you envision yourself in a long, satin, long-sleeve dress? Because that's not gonna really work on the beach. Or do you fit yourself in a really short dress, something kind of flowy, but then you have it in like a grand ballroom. So then you kind of look like you're too casual for your own wedding venue. So think about what you wanna wear and think about how that would look in your venue space. Now, this might seem like a lot of information, but that's why you have a wedding planner. If you don't wanna worry about all these little details, you don't have to. That's why you're hiring somebody. So like someone like me, for instance, has to ask all these questions and make sure that they think about all these things and tell you about it to make sure you love the venue. And I just so happen to be available for hires. If you guys wanna hire me as your wedding planner, birthday party, bar mitzvah, baby shower, whatever it may be, you could email me at BiancaRenevans at gmail.com. If you write me asking me how to fix your damaged curls, this is not the email for that. This is her business only, please. So now that you know all this information, it is going to be easy for you to find the perfect wedding venue for you. And what you should do before you leave any venue is just stop and just take a second to look around and see if you could envision yourself walking down the aisle. If you get that little tingly feeling or maybe the discounted price is making you jingle, whatever it may be, go with it. Now this is just one of my many videos in my wedding series. If you guys haven't seen the other one, make sure you check out my wedding series playlist. I have videos for just about everything. If you guys have any other ideas or things you want me to talk about in regards to weddings, make sure you leave me a comment. I am here to help. I'm a wedding planner. That's what I do. If you enjoyed this video, I hope that you give it a thumbs up and subscribe. I post new videos every Sunday. And like I said before, if you want to see my wedding photos of my personal wedding, make sure you follow me on Instagram at MsBeyondForeignays. It's also my Pinterest and my Twitter and my Snapchat. Like just go ahead and stalk me. No, don't do that, scary. Anyways, if you learned a thing or two from this video, please leave me a comment and let me know. And I hope your wedding venue search goes smoothly. I will see you guys next week. Thanks for watching Beyond for an A today.