Venue must haves

Bridal suite so we can get ready. We wanted a venue where we can do everything under one roof. Also chivalry chairs, nice grounds for pictures, no tacky colored wallpaper and/or ugly carpet, one wedding at a time and near the city.

I should also agree with those that said neutral decor. We looked at a bunch of venues with tacky murals or floral carpet.

Honestly we just both had to like it was the top reason. Having a choice of catering was a must and so was having it be at a historic venue. I did only want to be the only wedding there which worked out since the only other room option at our venue is a tent on the lawns of a historic house....but it's August and this is the south so no one there (yet). What ultimately was the deciding factor was included parking since we live and our wedding events are taking place in the city. It came down to the venue we chose having their own free deck for guests to park. And I totally agree about carpet - the second runner up was a theatre built in the 20's that was gorgeous but the room was fully decked out Egypytian decor and carpet that was popular back then....not sure how I would have incorporated that into my wedding colors O_o. Lol

Mine were:

Outdoor ceremony space that showcases why we love California

Ceremony and reception at one place

Affordable

Intimate feeling reception space

And I was concerned about having nice bathrooms as well! We looked at one venue that was decent but the bathrooms felt like the ones you use at a campground. No thank you!

ETA No open bar would've been a dealbreaker as well but all the spaces we checked out had a bar option so it wasn't something I worried about not having!

Everything you said I agree with, our bathrooms are not that big but the bridal suite has a private bathroom I am able to use

Must-haves for me were definitely the FOOD. It needed to be to a high standard, with open bar included. Also, decor was important to me- I didn't want to get married in a hall or cookie-cutter hotel ballroom. I also didn't want a wedding machine, I wanted a place where there would be only one wedding at a time being held.

All day access the day before and day of, freedom to decorate how you wanted.

I wanted a long rental time so I could decorate how I want, ceremony and reception at same location, bridal suite, my choice of vendors, and of course keeping the cost down

Vintage /Historic......I got it!

Hotel so I could just walk upstairs at the end of the night. And great food. I'm hoping some guests will remember our food as decent since most people cannot remember food at weddings

My must haves weren't too crazy. I wanted somewhere that I could bring in my own catering, preferably green (a hard feat for the desert), and price (we're poor LOL). The fact that we found a venue that hits those three points (plus many the others have listed) was something of a miracle made possible by the WW vendor search.

My venue has an indoor part where I plan on setting up the dance floor, and an outdoor part where I plan on setting up tables. The indoor part has tacky carpet, but I've seen pictures/videos with tacky carpet and it usually isn't that bad, so I'm swallowing my pride and hoping for the best haha.

For ceremony I wanted gorgeous and handicapped accessible. I got that, Reception venue was large space, good food, and handicapped accessible at a great deal, and I got that. I honestly only went to those venues. I did hours of research online sitting in Dad's hospital room and narrowed it down to a few. Fell in love with the chapel when we went there- SOLD and reception hall was nice and all inclusive. with good food, best price per head in town. DONE.

My must-haves were:

Downtown, urban location

Private or semi-private space

All inclusive of tables, chairs and linens

Full bar

Dance floor

We were looking mostly at partial buyouts of restaurants in downtown Denver, so that's why my requirements might sound odd. One place didn't let you have a DJ unless you paid to have a dance floor brought in. Another had a semi-private space but the restrooms for the entire restaurant were next to the semi-private area, meaning anyone could have walked into our reception.

The only downside to the space we went with is that we are renting out the entire second floor, but the only bathrooms are on the first floor. Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice to have at least one stall upstairs. Old historic building, so I'm sure plumbing was a factor in that decision.

We had several basic requirements, but it all came down to having Guinness on tap. I'm a beer girl and wanted a pub feel for the reception and my favorite beer was a must.

I wanted the venue to provide as much as possible. Caterer, bar, tables, chairs, etc.

I know people shit on certain venues because they're "cookie cutter" but I really do not have patience or the will to line up 10 vendors and plan every single detail, so I'm glad that my venue is all in one package minus decorations and cake, basically.

Good food/bar options

Climate controlled space + backup rain plan for outdoor ceremony

Reasonable price/inclusions (tables, chairs, linens, etc)

What we would have liked but didn't get: nearby hotels - our hotel was about a 25 minute drive away from the venue. there was one slightly closer we maybe should have gone with given its proximity to a bar, but we didn't know what we would do for rehearsal dinner yet and wanted a hotel with an option for one. We ended up having our rehearsal at the bar/restaurant that opened next to the closer hotel. That hotel was still like a 20 minute drive, so it wouldn't have been a major improvement.