Cornish Maine Wedding Photographer // How To Pick a Wedding Venue
How do you image your wedding day? Rustic? Classy? DIY? No matter what your answer, the wedding venue really sets the stage for the feel of your wedding day. So where to begin? This is such a loaded topic and I will just start to scratch the surface to get those ideas bouncing around up there!
I guess that I will start with this, what is your overall vibe? Are you someone that wants to run around on the beach with no shoes on for your wedding day or be at a quaint New England B&B wearing 4” stilettos, or just have a super laid back DIY day with a tent and yard games. Maine has so many choices for venue backdrop. I’ve shot on the beach, at camps, bars, barns, in tents, at inns, restaurants, golf courses, ski resorts, hotels, backyards, overlooking the mountains, etc. And yes, tent weddings can be beautiful too if decorated correctly. I once shot a tent wedding with farm house tables and a disco ball bigger than me. It was amazing!
Weather and time of year would also play a roll in this. You obviously can not get married on the beach in Maine during the winter. Well, I guess you could, but none of your guests would show up. Unless that’s what you’re hoping for!
My clients that choose barn venues also have to consider the weather. A lot of barn venues are not heated. Many couples that opt for fall weddings in a barn give their guests scarfs or some way of keeping warm during the later part of the day.
Does your venue have a back up plan in case of rain? And I didn’t mean that they offer a small room inside and tell you to keep your fingers crossed for nice weather. Is the indoor option also somewhere you would be super stoked to get married? If it looks like shit, but you want to hope for the best, that may not be the greatest option. You have to image all 150 of your guests crammed into this room along with your whole wedding party standing at the end of the aisle.
Another huge factor is other vendors. Do you want a venue that has some of the vendors like caterer, florist and baker included? If you want to hand pick all of your vendors, this is probably not the route that you want to take. I have a lot of couples that want a certain caterer, so going the all inclusive route is not an option for them. Personally, me and my husband were super lazy in our wedding planning. We wanted the quaint New England Inn vibe with mostly everything (except photography, obviously) included. They did all the catering, baking and also had a florist onsite. I was picky about our photographer, image that! I figured that one out on my own! I tried to make my planning as simple as possible!
For destination weddings, I find that couples like to have lodging for their guests right on site. There are plenty of venues that offer this option so guests don’t have to drive from location to location in a state that they are not familiar with. Most of these venues also have places for the bride and groom to get ready that is not a broom closet which is a huge bonus! It also makes the getting ready pictures so much better!
Regardless of what you are looking for, there are so many options available at different budgets. If you need help finding a venue let me know! I’d be happy to help!
