I am literally so excited! Our wedding has finally been booked! Trust me when I say this, it has taken us forever to find the perfect venue, and it’s one of the most important decisions you will need to make (after finding a special date of course). A few of the venues that we have looked at had initially fit our requirements, but when it comes down to meeting a sales manager, they only really tell you what you want to hear. Most of the time it’s false promises, unfortunately. Looking back now at all the places we did view, there was so many elements missing from the venues. My one bit of vital advice, for when you are picking a Wedding venue, is to really look around, do your research, and always read the small print (cliche I know)! There are so many places out there, and you really need to look at the bigger picture. Don’t just book the first place you see, as I fell into this schoolgirl error trap, and it had a huge impact on the entire Wedding planning. Although your heart may think the venue is “the one“, it may all just be a facade. So this time on Wedding Diaries, we are talking venues.
I really don’t want this post to be entirely negative, but I think it’s paramount to share experiences so other’s do not repeat the same mistakes I did. This one venue that we viewed seemed absolutely amazing when we viewed it. The sales manager was pleasant, and really helpful, agreeing to our specific requirements for the wedding, and promising a Wedding of our dreams to fit our budget. All was too good to be true though. Not following our instincts, we booked with the first place we saw – in our defense, it’s the first time planning a Wedding, on our own with no advice. My Fiance and I are the first ones in our families getting married – so there is a lot of pressure to pull off one hell of a showstopper. A few weeks after booking, all communication stopped with the sales manager. He was cancelling our meetings, coming up with excuse after excuse to not meet whatever was agreed to be done for the wedding. I always told myself I would not get stressed at all with Wedding planning, although it’s inevitable, it was such a horrible feeling knowing that you’ve booked your special day with a venue, put down some money, and now it’s all just crumbling. On top of that, when we did try and cancel the booking, the venue changed their terms and conditions again and again, just to try and stop us having any money returned.
Understandably, if it was a booking made for a Wedding in three months time, for a date that was surely not going to be popular, the venue could keep the money. However, it was for a Wedding in a year and a half time, for a bank holiday date in the Summer. If you have any experience of Asian wedding’s at all, you would know the mass amount of relatives and friends that would be invited – to find a date that suits everyone is near impossible. Hence the bank holiday. Trust me when I say this, researching venue’s is paramount. After this fiasco, my Fiance and I spent almost 6 months looking round and venues, and putting off booking a venue until it was perfect. And I honestly, am SO glad we did so.
I’m not going to post details of the venue on my blog, however, I can say that the venue is a premium hotel. Hotels are absolutely perfect for Asian weddings as the majority of hotels out there, whether it be Hilton, Radisson, Mariott etc, have their own set suppliers. Now although some may think this is restrictive, they do have 5-6 suppliers that they work with, each with their own niche. They are also approved suppliers by these hotels, and therefore you know the service will always be impeccable. I doubt a hotel like the Mariott would endorse suppliers that can’t make the cut. The suppliers aren’t just there as caterers, they can also help plan, run and design the Wedding. So if you’re someone like me, who still wants to have input, but may not have the time to go running around after other suppliers, it is perfect for you. Packages can also be tailor made to your needs if you want guest rooms, or discounted parking. They really do try and make it as stress free as they can.
Look out for “Let’s talk Venues Part 2” next week! And I truly hope no-one else has the same experience as me with Venues.
