While a venue might be perfect for you, no wedding venue offers perfection.
In other words, there’s always a possible downside to having a wedding venue, which you may or may not experience.
Whether you think you’ll experience the downside of a wedding venue or not, it is prudent to select a venue knowing what to expect – good or bad.
At the least, knowing what could go wrong can help you create a contingency plan.
Below, we discuss ten pros and cons of having a wedding venue. This article should guide your wedding venue choice and your plans concerning the location.
Table of Contents
6 Pros to Having a Wedding Venue
You Get to Have Your Wedding in a Beautiful or Unique Setting
Wedding venues offer a setting different from your everyday scene.
Unlike your backyard or lawn, you do not see hotels, beaches, museums, boats, reception halls, or restaurants daily. So, if you choose one of these as your wedding venue instead of your home, the setting will surely be unique.
Beyond being unique settings, many wedding venues offer beautiful ambiance.
At the beach, the sand, the trees, and the water give a relaxing combination of nature’s beauty, while the décor in hotel wedding venues evokes allure.
The mood in a museum or art gallery will appeal to you if you love art. Then if you choose a country club, you get to shuffle between indoor and outdoor spaces, enjoying the upsides of both settings.
Having Some Wedding Venues Helps You Limit Your Budget
If you are trying to work within a specific budget, having certain types of wedding venues can help.
Generally, wedding venues that accommodate fewer guests can help you reduce how much you spend.
If you have fewer people to cater to, you can spend less.
Some wedding venues that can help you limit your budget are beaches, reception halls, formal gardens, art galleries, and museums.
Note that some venues can limit your budget by limiting your guest count. Other expenses at those venues, however, may raise your budget. So, before you decide, confirm the specifics.
Having a Wedding Venue Can Reduce How Much Planning You Have to Do
One of the best things about having a wedding venue is the volume of planning it takes away from you.
With a wedding venue, you can worry about fewer things and focus your attention on the vital aspects of your wedding plans.
But if you choose to have your wedding in your house, you will have to plan and get things done yourself.
You will have to rent the chairs and tables, sound system, and lighting. You also have to find and book someone to do the décor, catering, and similar things.
Having your wedding in your home also means planning for parking spaces, bathrooms, and accommodation for guests from distant locations.
When you use a wedding venue, a good chunk of the planning is no longer up to you.
For instance, hotels and country clubs can help you take care of food, seating, and parking space.
You also do not have to worry about décor in venues like hotels, country clubs, museums, and art galleries. But if you want to, some of the said locations will allow you to modify their decorations to suit your taste.
A hotel wedding is perfect if you have guests coming from distant locations. You can get accommodation for the guests in the hotel and have your wedding there.
Having a Wedding Venue Will Help if You Have Many Guests
If you want to have many guests over for the wedding, using your house as the location may not cut it.
Unless you have a lot of free space, you can only comfortably host a few guests in your house. But when you have a wedding venue, you can host many guests.
Wedding venues like hotels, reception halls, banquet halls, theaters, garden venues, and country clubs typically have enough space to accommodate high guest counts.
Earlier, we said some other wedding venues could only accommodate small groups. So, all in all, you can see having a wedding venue as a way to regulate your guest count.
Many Wedding Venues Come With Parking Space
Many guests coming to your wedding may come in their own vehicles. As a result, they will need parking space.
If you have a high guest count and no wedding venue, providing parking space for your guests will be complicated.
But if you have a wedding venue, you may not have to worry too much about parking.
Many wedding venues come with parking spaces. So, if your guests need a spot to park their cars, your wedding venue will sort that out.
Hotels, beaches, and country clubs are some wedding locations that typically have enough parking.
Getting Ready Is Much Easier
If you have your wedding in your house, getting ready for the wedding might be difficult. Various parts of the house will be in use, distracting you because you will worry about how things are going.
Of course, when distracted, you will have difficulty getting yourself ready for the event.
Getting ready for the wedding will be much easier if you have a wedding venue. You will have your house to yourself, and since most of the preparations will be out of sight, there will be little or no distractions.
4 Cons to Having a Wedding Venue
They Are Less Intimate
The thing with some wedding venues is that your wedding may not be the only event they will host on that day.
Places like garden venues and country clubs sometimes have more than one event per day.
So, there is every chance people from other events will wander into your space. Of course, that makes the atmosphere less intimate.
If you are not having the wedding on a private beach, there’s a good chance other people will be around. Some will wander into your wedding spot, making the scene less intimate.
Unless you pay to use the whole restaurant or pay for private dining, restaurants are also not intimate. You will have other people coming in to eat while you celebrate.
Wedding Venues Can Be Expensive
Some wedding venues can be pretty expensive. Event venues, quality hotels, and country clubs can be costly.
Besides being expensive, the best hotels get a lot of bookings. So, you have to make a decision quickly. Also, some country clubs may not let you use their space if you are not a member.
You Have Less Control Over How the Wedding Goes
Since most of the planning is out of your hands and in the hands of the wedding venue, you have less control over how things go.
You have to trust that those in charge of the various aspects of the wedding do an excellent job.
You Cannot Use Outdoor Wedding Venues if the Weather Acts Up
The weather is the downside of outdoor wedding venues like beaches, boats, waterfronts, and gardens.
If it starts raining, you cannot use an outdoor wedding venue. The same applies if it gets windy. This is why having a backup for an outdoor wedding location is vital.
Besides wind and rain, if it gets too hot outdoors, there isn’t much you can do to control the heat.
Sure, you can get a tent or parasols for shade and provide paper fans. But those may not be sufficient to quell the heat.