Did you settle when choosing a venue?

We looked at everything from golf courses to barns with everything included or nothing included. The venue we are going with gives us the freedom to chose our vendors and it's a very open space with indoor and outdoor space for guests. It's perfectly our style for the kind of party we want our reception to be. It's more rustic but not a barn, the perfect in between for us. Once we found a venue it helped so much to picture our perfect day and we are even more excited about it now that we have that sorted!

My absolute must have was an outdoor venue. Nature is important to me and I wanted to honor that in our ceremony. We looked at quite a few and the only ones in our price range were an hour to two out from us which is not what we wanted at all. We ended up with a venue we absolutely love though we had to sacrifice the travel time and realize some guests may not make it.

In the end it was between an all inclusive even further away or one that was gorgeous but had less provided amenities. We decided for our guests sakes we'd choose the closer one and hire separate vendors. So TLDR we stuck to our must have but were conscious of our guests and price range when choosing.

We looked at about ten venues in person. After we saw ours, we kept comparing everything else to it. It was a little more than we intended to spend, we had to up our budget around $5,000 mostly for the food and alcohol there, but for us it was worth it. We didn't want to settle and we had the funds available.

We compromised a bit. My hands down dream venue was out of our price range. It had a destination wedding feel while still being local. Our plan B venue was in the same town with the same waterfront views, but was much more affordable. At first it felt like settling but the venue we went with was a dream from start to finish. They were absolutely amazing and made our wedding day beautiful. So in the end everything worked out as it should have.

I didn't settle. It's an hour away from me but it's perfect.

We looked at 4 different venues in person, and chose the one we did for a few reasons. I don't think we settled since it was a little more than we wanted to spend, but I think it's perfect for us.

- It is off by itself and has plenty of parking. Also only one event will be going on, so us and our guests will be the only people there

- There are plenty of bathrooms

- Both a covered and uncovered patio, so people can go outside during the night to get fresh air

When we were looking at venues, we wanted something that would be the best for our guests as well as what suited our vision.

I LOVED my venue when I first saw it. However Pinterest and WW BAMs have kind of gotten to my head. Reality is that I can't have a unique 200 guest wedding in an antique home or museum like I see on here. Either it's unrealistic for the size of my wedding or it's too pricey.

However my venue isn't really lacking in anything. I just wish it had more of that unique charm especially since my style is a bit vintage.

I definitely settled when it came to my venue. I wanted something more modern in our downtown area, but everything I liked was either too small or too expensive. Our venue was pretty and I don't regret using it because it was what worked for us in our budget.

You can definitely find affordable and beautiful venues in NJ but you have to be willing to move away from NYC area.

We live in philly/SJ and booked a gorgeous venue down by the shore for a great price and deal.

We did not settle in our minds. We only looked at places that were within our budget and found one with both loved and agreed upon that matched the criteria we wanted. The key is to not tour venues outside of your budget.

We didn't settle but we are paying a little more than we originally budgeted for. We had to bump it about 5 grand, but we booked 2 years out so we are able to adjust. We decided it was worth it because I wanted the Fall foliage/country feel and it definitely has that, it has guest rooms which were a must, included a DOC, the food has great reviews, and it has a restaurant for brunch the next day. It was a lucky find for us.

We had a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves, as well as hell-no's. That helped us decide that while having a separate cocktail hour and reception space would be nice, it was less important than separate ceremony and reception area.

My biggest things were an outdoor wedding with mountain backdrop and indoor with AC reception. My venue has both but not a super great indoor rain plan but I truly believe in their ability to make the indoor ceremony look as great in case of rain. Otherwise, they basically hit everything on my list that we wanted.

We settled. We didn't was to spend the money for what we truly wanted, a downtown five star hotel with all the bells and whistles and on the water. We love the venue we found and they will still give us all the bells and whistles we want without breaking the bank...without the waterfront view though

There are so many fabulous venues in NJ. They are all perfect in their own way but they are all going to have something missing. The key is figuring out your priorities.

Maybe it's having a Saturday; maybe you need on site or very nearby accommodations. Maybe you want a barn. Maybe a ballroom, a view of NYC or the Atlantic. Something is gonna go.

And in th end, no one knows what you didn't do.....

NJ here too - Ocean County and we didn't settle, I found something just over the border in PA that had everything we wanted and was within our budget. We didn't want a cookie cutter venue & as popular as barn weddings have become, we have never been to one and have been to over 15 weddings in two years. We found the perfect barn that we could create our perfect day around, again within our budget.

Wow you guys are giving me so much to think about... thank you for all the thoughtful responses!!!!

@catlady5x That's exactly what I'm dealing with now about the ballrooms. I didn't want a traditional ballroom but anything beyond that is outside our budget.

@Celia thank you so much for that. I'm definitely coming around to the idea that I will need to settle on at least one thing. Just felt that I needed to justify it. At the end of the day if I can't afford what I want, then I just can't do it!

I settled a little for our venue. I wanted a certain ballroom but it was already booked for prom..they book it annually. But our venue has an awesome atrium that our cocktail hour will be in so it balanced out and our ballroom is fine. Amazing lighting will help.

I settled, but I wanted to have an affordable all inclusive venue.