Choosing a venue for your wedding day is a big decision! The venue will help set the tone and feel for your overall wedding. Do you want it to be chic and sophisticated? A modern building might be the right choice for you! If you want it to casual, laid back, and fun, then an outdoor location somewhere in the mountains might be a great fit! Whatever you want your wedding to be, I know there is a perfect Utah wedding venue for you to choose from! Here are a few tips for finding the right place to say “I do!”

Venue Details

When looking at Pinterest and planning your wedding day, pay attention to the details. Does the venue have a beautiful bride suite and groom suite? I can’t tell you how many venues I’ve been to, where the groom is squished into some ugly looking closet room. That is not okay! Your groom deserves a nice space too! Is there a spot for the cake? For dancing? Walk through the venue and envision all the different events. Make sure you can see those events happening in the space, and that everything will flow nicely from one activity to the next. Every venue will photograph differently! An all white barn will photograph very differently than a natural wood toned barn. Make sure that the overall venue fits your aesthetic. For example, if you love light and airy photos, then you need a venue that has plenty of windows for natural light.

Ceremony Location

You need to pay attention to the ceremony location! This means you need to visit the venue during the correct season and time for your ceremony. If you tour the venue in April, but your wedding isn’t until September, then the lighting will be completely different. Same thing goes for timing – the ceremony location will not look the same at 10am as it will at 4pm. I have seen some horrible ceremony spots, and I want to save you the pain of that.

For an inside ceremony, you want to make sure there is plenty of light! If you are getting married in a dark room, your photographer will need external lights to photograph your ceremony. Think about if that will be intrusive or not. Having a ceremony in front of a window is also problematic, because all the light is coming from behind and makes you two shadowed. If possible, have light coming from the front of you as well, and not just the back side.

For an outside ceremony, there is nothing worse than spotty lighting from trees, where you have sun spots and shade spots all over. Also bad? Having the bride in bright sunlight and a groom in complete shade. You want nice even light on both of you! I love when my couple’s consult me before setting a ceremony time. I can help you figure out when the lighting will be best so you get beautifully lit ceremony photos!

All inclusive?

Utah wedding venues are all different with regards to what they include. Some venues are all-inclusive, and this means that they provide everything you need – ceremony chairs, luncheon/dinner tables and chairs, linens, silverware, etc. It’s important to understand exactly what you are getting for the price. Some venues might seem cheaper upfront, and that is because they don’t provide anything extra besides the location. The costs of bringing in all those different vendors might actually cost you more in the long run, so that is something to consider! Another great question to ask, is whether they allow more than one event per day or if you only get the venue for a certain number of hours. My wedding venue had a morning time slot and an evening time slot, and it was actually really stressful. The morning people didn’t get out on time, and that delayed us from setting up. I wouldn’t recommend a venue who does that!

Back-up Plan for Weather

Here in Utah, our weather is known for changing at random, and sometimes multiple times throughout the day. An outdoor Utah wedding venue might seem like a great fit for your summer wedding, but make sure that you have a backup plan for bad weather. In my seven years as a Utah wedding photographer, it has rained during every single July wedding I have ever had. Summer weather is not always perfect! Please make sure to have a backup plan, because no one wants their wedding ruined by rain!

Let’s recap! There are a few important things to look for when choosing a Utah wedding venue:

• Make sure the venue fits the overall vibe of your wedding
• Pick out the ceremony spot, and schedule your ceremony at a time for beautiful lighting
• Make sure you fully understand what is included with the venue price
• Have a backup location ready in case of inclement weather

And as always, look at recent reviews! Make sure that recent brides and grooms are happy with their venue choice, and that the venue did everything they said they would do. Research is everything when it comes to wedding planning! I want everyone to have the wedding of their dreams, whatever their dreams might be!