Venue Deal Breakers

1) Allows outside catering

2) Able to do both ceremony and reception

Limiting ourselves to places that allowed outside catering really narrowed down our options (we're in Boston).

My deal breaker was if the venue was outside. We live in Florida and it is always hot, humid, or raining.

OP come back and tell us you're really not looking for venues two months away from your wedding!

Read contracts. If I had paid more attention id have realized that we had to provide our own bathroom essentials at one of the nicest/most expensive venues in our area. That might be a deal breaker if I had to do it all again. The real deal breaker I have is when the property owner lives locally, but during all the negotiations / linen rentals, ect. you have to deal with someone out of state who has never visited the property. This is a deal breaker.

1) Accessibility - We each have some family members who have mobility challenges. We want everyone to be comfortable

2) Response time - what's the average response time when getting in touch with them for questions?

3) Truth in advertising - I looked at a couple of venues that advertised ceremony and reception space. When we went to visit, we were told that there is a 100 guest minimum for Saturdays, but the ceremony space would only hold about 45. Ummm, excuse me?

4) Cost

1) Mostly inclusive. My parents preferred to have the catering affiliated with the venue.

2) Open bar package. We are big drinkers. And they had to have decent beer options, at the very least.

3) Craftsmanship or wood or industrial touches. No ugly carpets. No ugly curtains. No ugly wallpaper. This eliminated nearly all country club options. I absolutely hate the ugly patterned carpets that are so prevalent in banquet rooms - like, WTF, who thought that was a good idea?

4) At least some type of outdoor space, like a patio or deck.

5) Amazing food. We're also big foodies.

6) Decently close to hotels because my side of the family lives all over the country.

Our venue ended up completely meeting criteria 1-5. It's close to B&Bs but they're quite expensive in the area, so we're doing a hotel block at a hotel about 20 minutes away. 5 out of 6 isn't bad, though.

My mom and I went on all our venue tours together. When we were looking at venues, we were looking at several factors.

1) I wanted to get married in a historic location. We were looking at historic mansions, hotels and ballrooms as options. I wanted a venue that was beautiful, with beautiful grounds for pictures, that needed little/no decorating! We also were looking for a venue that could host an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception.

2) Most venues we looked at provided the catering and bar too so the pp price for catering plus the venue was a major factor. We obviously wanted the best "bang" for our buck! Food was important to us and my parents (who paid), so we made sure we liked the catering options and also that a premium open bar was offered.

3) We looked at what else was included in the package. For example, one venue we didn't choose had UGLY chairs and charged extra for chair covers or chiavari chairs. My mom and I both thought: why have ugly chairs at all? Why not just have nice chairs instead of charging $$ to cover the ugly ones? It seemed like a rip off haha. The venue we DID choose included all those things, plus draping of the ballroom ceiling, plus a coordinating floral arrangement in the foyer, etc. It seemed like a great value for the money!

4) Other factors included how many guests the venue could comfortably hold - one mansion we looked at had a beautiful indoor ballroom but it could only hold people for dancing, they had a separate outdoor but tented area for dinner. I did not like the idea of splitting up our guests. I also wanted to be the only event that day, to not have to share the venue with another event or wedding.

I think when you are touring venues, you will just get a "feeling" about a place! My mom actually CRIED when we left the venue we picked as our wedding venue, she just felt like it was so right for us!

Thank you for everyone's helpful responses! I really appreciate all the detail in your answers.

I'm not trying to be rude but if I'm looking for a venue for a wedding in 2 months that is my business. I simply was asking for deal breakers to think of. Yes I know my timeline is short but I don't think there is any harm in asking the question. Some people on here can be incredible judgy and rude. I realize my options are limited but why do you have give snotty responses. Just don't respond at all if you don't want to.

Fiance and I agreed on 3 dealbreakers when looking: Had to either have great food or allow us to bring in a caterer, had to have outdoor and indoor ceremony options that weren't crowded or tacky, had to have a bridal suite and groom's area onsite.

Then we had a list of 'wants' - we wanted room for a kid's area, good setup options for a DJ, a place that was lovely enough we didn't have to worry much about decor, a quiet outdoor area with some room to wander if guests wanted to, etc. We thought we'd have a laid-back barn wedding, but have ended up with a classy golf club lodge.