Unusual Wedding Venues – Making your Reception a Success

Your wedding should be the best day of your life – the chances are you have spent months, maybe years, planning and preparing and you day should go without a hitch. Your wedding is an expression of yourself and your love; if you want to hold your reception at an unusual venue, you should be able to. Make sure you get hitched without a hitch by planning ahead and considering every angle.

Access to your venue is all important, not just for you and your guests, but for cars, caterers and other wedding professionals. If your venue is out of the way, make sure you have furnished everyone who might need a map with a paper copy and details for satellite navigation. It is common practice to provide maps for guests, but don’t assume that your professionals can get there without similar assistance. Ask photographers, florists, and caterers to do a trial trip to your location before the big day. If your location is not local to you, choose professionals local to the venue, not to your home.

Check whether adverse weather will impede access or mean there is a need for alternative facilities. An outdoor wedding ceremony can be ruined by wind or rain – even by unseasonably cold weather. Have a contingency plan and a ‘bail out’ venue as a backup if you are planning on marquees – the chances are you won’t need it, but if your venue is flooded out or too severely waterlogged for electrics to be safe, you will be glad you planned for such a crisis.

If you are having your wedding at a venue not traditionally equipped for catering and without a bar, you need to consider the practicalities of feeding and watering your guests. If there isn’t a kitchen to hand, you are likely limited to a cold food buffet. You can lease catering equipment in the UK from serve over counters for buffet food to chillers for beer and wine.

Entertainment is key to a successful wedding, and it is likely that lining up your DJ or band is one of the first things you did when you started to plan. Finding your perfect wedding band is only a part of the preparation however. Make sure that you check out the regulations for your wedding venue – different places have different legalities surrounding music licenses, sound levels and even things like PAT testing and public liability insurance for the band’s equipment. Don’t get your wedding entertainment closed down at the last minute because you failed to sort out the paperwork.