When to start touring?

A lot of people on here are going to say you're planning too early BUT I say go for it.

Our wedding is in January 2022, we booked our venue November 2020, and we're glad we did. When we met to sign our contract, the venue owner said we signed at the perfect time because she was raising her prices for ****! A lot of vendors actually look at raising their prices annually, or every 2-3 years, so we've been booking vendors as soon as we can.

I like planning early because it's giving us peace of mind. We have over half of our vendors booked, and we have all of 2021 to save up and pay them. If you're ready to start planning and booking, then I say go for it.

I think you can definitely start looking for venues, seeing their websites, photos, reviews, there are plenty of them... 🤍🙌🏻 That way you can figure out what you guys want and like. Happy planning 🎊

View Quoted Comment Thank you!!! 😭 I honestly think it’s smart to book earlier bc anything can happen.... and with covid, a lot of people are pushing their weddings back. If you guys had waited, you might have not only had to pay more but could have lost a spot!


That’s awesome that you already have a lot of vendors checked off the to do list!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! This gives me piece of mind that I’m not jumping the gun on planning haha

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I'm all for booking/starting early, and the pandemic forcing couples to push weddings back was a big factor for us!

I think it would be totally fine to at least start touring the venues! That way, you get an idea of what's out there and which ones you like, and you're not rushed to book a venue later on. It also would give you an idea on pricing so that you have time to save up for the deposit and such. If you find one that you're sold on, I think it would be fine to book it now if you're absolutely certain it's the one you want! If you find one you like, but aren't ready to book, you could always ask the venue to put a soft hold on your date for now. Be aware that some places will not book more than a year in advance. Happy venue searching!

I'm definitely all about booking early. We had a 2+ year engagement, but had our venue, caterer, and photographers booked within 2 months of being engaged (~22 months before the original date). Not only were we able to secure the exact people/venue we wanted, but they even locked us in to the 2018 rates. If you find exactly what you're looking for, I would say booking this summer will be definitely advantageous!

I recommend to start touring this upcoming fall

I would recommend researching venues and maybe calling the ones you like to see if they are booking weddings that far in advance. If so then you could schedule a tour.

I would start researching venues on WW, The Knot, or online. Get a list of your favorite venues that meet your specifications (budget, allotted guest count, etc.). Once you have a decent list put together, you can start reaching out to schedule tours. I don't think it is too early, but researching and narrowing down possible venues will likely take you a month or so.

I would start looking now! We booked our venue for November 2021 in January 2020, so almost 2 years beforehand and we were glad we did. There are a lot of benefits to booking a venue early on...you get the date you actually want because less people are booking that far out, you can space the payments out a lot more, and for us we were able to attend multiple food tastings to really pick the things we liked. So I would definitely start looking now!

Hey girlie! Same here!! we couldnt decide on feb or march 2023 but we are looking at a venue next weekend. one is a virtual tour since we moved, but the other place we are seeing next week in person!!

I don't think your planning to soon I got engaged in July of 2020 and had our venue booked by late July 2020 for April 2022 early bird gets the worm

We are already looking at places and we are 2023 also.

I would definitely book, but this far out, I would only do deposits, and make sure there's something about cancelation. Simply because, crap happens. Life happens.


But, a lot of venues I wanted, were already booked for Aug of this year, and while we are currently looking at Gatlinburg TN, we're open to about 11 other states. So, we pushed from Aug to April of next year, and STILL had Slim pickins in some areas! Plus, you can lock in current rates, and if there's any upgrades to the venue, you might get first pick! One of the barns we were looking at was planning on adding a ceremony deck off the old hay loft, and it would have been more than their ground level deck, but if we had chosen to go with them and they actually completed construction, they were willing to add that deck in for ceremony and the first dance, for free. Unfortunately, their lodge rental wasn't available for our party, and they're an hour from town in a secluded area, and there's still the possibility of snow there, or we probably would have gone with them.