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Choosing and Booking Reception Sites

START LOOKING IMMEDIATELY

As soon as your engagement is announced and you have determined what time of year you want your wedding to be, the first thing you need to do is start looking for your ceremony and reception sites. See our Wedding Reception Location Ideas for some creative options.

AVAILABILITY OF DATES

During the busy wedding season (from May to September for Summer Weddings, and December for Winter Weddings), many reception sites can get booked as far as one year ahead, especially for Saturday evenings. It is advisable to be flexible about the date and time of the wedding. Always ask what date and time periods are available. You will also want to know if the facility coordinator will hold a tentative reservation for you on your desired date and how long they will hold the reservation for. Be sure to inquire about options. Fridays and Sundays are also becoming popular for wedding and you will be likely to get reduced room rates for these days.

VISIT THE LOCATION

Do your own research first. Ask friends and family members for referrals. Your state or town is likely to have a wedding website with most vendors listed there. Go through it for a list of reception sites in your area. Make a list of the sites that fit your requirements, then start making calls to schedule appointments to visit all possible venues. Use our Reception Location Questionnaire Printable Worksheet to make more sense of the lots of information you are going to gather in the next few days.

SAME LOCATION FOR CEREMONY AND RECEPTION

Many sites will have the potential to accommodate your ceremony as well as your reception. If you choose to have both in one location, it will be best to select a site that has previously handled similar events. Inquire about the number of events they have handled in the past that combine ceremonies and receptions. Look at photographs of the room set-up for a ceremony. Ask for probable discounts if you choose to host both events with them.

DIFFERENT CEREMONY & RECEPTION LOCATIONS

The most challenging part will be reserving your ceremony and reception sites for the same date. To accomplish this, when discussing reservations with the ceremony site coordinator and prospective reception site, makes sure to get a list of all available dates in your time frame. Then find out dates that are common to both lists and choose from them.