Looked at 15+ Venues and can't find anything that we like

Unless someone else is paying for your wedding, the only people you need to please as far as venue location is yourself and your FS. People may not be happy about your location, but if they want to be there, that will not deter them (I say as someone whose guest list *all* had to travel (99.5% - I did the math)). Philadelphia is a high COLA, which means everything is going to be more expensive to begin with, additionally, there are many brides who have postponed (or had to have long engagements) either due to COVID or because they couldn't get dates in close proximity to their engagements, plus everything is more expensive right now. If you can be flexible with your date that will help.

As far as the flaky coordinator, I might contact them one more time (things do happen) and then call it a loss.

Have you tried less conventional venues? (Museums, historic homes, parks, gardens, etc.)

Don’t worry about location. All of my guests are traveling and 50 out of 70 people are attending. Which feels like a pretty average amount of people not to RSVP. I wouldn’t worry about it.


And yeah I feel you. I spent months looking at venues and some I didn’t like and some I did but couldn’t afford. That’s why we’re getting married 5 hours away. We found something that had a woods ceremony site like I wanted but was 1/3 of the price of any similar places in NY. Just keep looking. You’ll find something

I agree. No need to worry about the location at all. The wedding is a day of celebration rather than entertainment. The guests are already eating for free! 😂

View Quoted Comment I disagree that guests eat for free as they spend money traveling, paying for accommodations and a gift that supposedly "covers the price of the plate".

View Quoted Comment I agree. It was just sarcasm.

The venue should be what you and your partner decide if you are solely paying for this wedding. But, you can make it a little easier for guests by keeping your ceremony and reception within 45 minutes drive of each other and suggest local hotels. A courtesy room block is free with no penalties to you.

In regards to lower guest turnout, weekday weddings including Friday may be difficult for out of town guests, or local guests with traffic. By sending save the dates, you give your guests time to plan.

Don't worry about appeasing other people. Start to set boundaries now and talk about your wedding less to others because they always have opinions that may not be appropriate for your situation. Best wishes.

If you're paying for the wedding yourselves, I would plan what you want within the limits of good hosting. You don't need to have a huge wedding, and I have seen more and more smaller weddings lately. Maybe look at untraditional venues, like favourite restaurants?

I emailed, and I am not embellishing at all, over 100 places for prices and availability and we physically went and saw 17 before we ended up picking one. Don't feel discouraged!

Also, don't pick a venue to please anyone but you and your fiancé. I had perimeters that I wanted for our venue, and found one, in budget, that works and I am so excited to get married there in 90 days. At the end of the day, the only people that have to be happy with the wedding day are the two of you.

Maybe open your search up a bit area wise (without leaving the area) you may be surprised what you find. I'm getting married in Los Angeles and we looked at venues that scope the entirety of the city (I'm talking Malibu and Thousand Oaks (which is technically another county) to the west, Long Beach to the south, Pasadena (and slightly beyond) to the east, and as far north as Valencia/Santa Clarita). We ended up with a venue less than 5 minutes from our house - which was never on my initial searches (my dad found it by googling "wedding venues [our town]"!). It took us about 2 months to find the place and get it secured.

The perfect place will come. I promise!

I definitely recommend