The Venue

Next up on your agenda will probably be the wedding venue. If you've chosen to have a Church wedding or a civil ceremony at a registry office, you will need a venue to hold your reception. If you're having a civil ceremony somewhere like a hotel, you're likely to be getting married and having your reception in the same place.

You can have your reception pretty much anywhere now, from your back garden, to a National Trust stately home. Obviously, where you choose will come down to many factors, but the main one is likely to be cost.

It's a good idea to look at a range of different reception venues, as they all have different things to offer. The more you see, the more you can get an idea of what you do and don't want!

Some things to look out for:

• Capacity. Will there be enough room for your guests to sit comfortably? Is there enough space for dancing? (Especially if you plan to invite additional guests to the evening reception.)
• Suppliers. Does the venue insist on using their caterer/florist/DJ? Are you happy to use their suppliers or would you rather use your own?
• Restrictions. Most venues will have a time you must leave by in the evening, but others will also have regulations concerning additional factors, for example; Have you found an amazing band? If your venue has neighbouring houses they might not allow loud music. Check with the venue first.

I found our venue hunt quite tricky - especially as we only had about 3 weeks to find it before moving to Singapore! We found it helpful to make a preliminary guest list so we knew roughly the numbers we needed to accommodate.

I hope this helps!