Before committing to a wedding venue, you should consider all the things you can do to make the most of the space. Often, you get too focused on one particular aspect such as the appearance of the rooms the day you visit, the fact the venue is close to your home, or that you enjoyed an event there in the past. However, the right venue offers a long list of benefits and features you can leverage to make your wedding day even more memorable. Here, we offer 10 ways to get the most out of your wedding venue, beyond the basics that it offers.
1. Flexible, customizable menus
Today, couples are looking for new experiences to wow their guests. You don’t want to settle on a venue that offers a limited menu. Instead, you want an exciting menu with lots of options to make your meal an exciting experience that pleases the taste buds. Make sure your venue is creative with their catering, how they serve their food, and the types of food they offer.
Trends include varied serving centres where guests can choose beautifully prepared roasted meats and their favourite sides, stations with fun options like pasta bars, live saganaki stations, oyster bars, and more.
2. Unique food experiences
As with above, not only should your main meal speak volumes about who you are as a couple, but your reception should be dotted with unique food experiences to engage your guests throughout the day and evening. For example, you might welcome guests with an ice luge bar where chilled flavoured vodka flows down an ice luge and guests can sample elegant blinis with caviar.
Once everyone is settled, appetizers can be served at a live flambé station where black tiger shrimp is dramatically flambéed in sambuca or spiced tomato wine. After dinner, a lovely fruit and cheese display can be served before you cut the cake. You can even have fun featuring a cotton candy stand for snacking or a pancake buffet where pancakes are flipped hot off the grill, offering hungry guests something to sop up all that champagne before heading home for the night.
3. Leverage event planning
Speak to your venue about the event planning services they offer. This takes the burden off your shoulders and allows you to enjoy the fun part of making the decisions while they do all the legwork. Their expertise also offers valuable insights that can save you money, and point you in the right direction for ideas you might not have considered.
4. Dazzle with lights
Consider ways of introducing more light at the venue. Speak to your venue’s decorating team to see if you are able to bring in some special lighting touches to dazzle guests. Things such as dramatic candelabras, hurricane lamps, and chandeliers add romance and create a sense of intimacy that really sets the mood for your reception.
5. Go beyond flowers
Don’t settle on just bringing flowers into your venue space. Instead, think of ways to introduce greenery and trees that create a magical setting. Speak to your venue about renting trees and covering them in white fairy lights, or creating a trellis covered in fresh greenery. If there is a staircase or balcony, use greenery to create an elegant touch that makes your venue feel like a garden while offering a stunning background for your entry as a married couple.
6. Use spotlights
Along with your elegant lighting, use some functional spotlights to draw attention to areas of the room such as the cake table, gift table, the head table, the centre of the dance floor, etc. These touches add interest and also help people take note of important areas they’ll want to find. You can also use customized gobo lights to cast a message on the wall behind the head table.
7. Create special spaces
Large venues offer the opportunity to create special spaces off to the side. Your dining area is central, but you can also create areas using rented comfy sofas to have a resto lounge feel, antique loveseats to create an elegant parlour, or wrought iron tables and chairs for a garden setting. These are the areas where people can sit for quiet conversation, enjoy mingling, and sharing drinks while they take a break from dancing. Hang drapes or use pretty screens to separate the area to make “rooms”. All of these ideas create cozy spaces where guests can enjoy their time together.
8. Choose a theme
Instead of going strictly with a colour theme, create a different world based on a meaningful theme that speaks to who you are as a couple. It can be based on your cultures and backgrounds, a hobby you share, your travels, your love of antiques, the music you listen to, or even a favourite movie you both love. All of these things offer inspiration to create a magical, highly personal setting that tells a story about your lives together.
9. Think vignettes
Just like you create special spaces, consider using your theme to make vignettes throughout the space. Areas such as the guest book, gift table, and cake table all offer the opportunity to take your décor to the next level. Build on your theme, or offer hints about your history together as a couple. Introduce family elements, or focus on enhancing your use of flowers. Introduce interesting elements to your vignettes such as antique doors and reclaimed windows, antique furnishings, or items that speak to your interests such as an old gramophone for music lovers, film reels and a projector for movie lovers, or stacked vintage luggage with maps and a globe for travelers.
10. Use a unique table plan
Instead of sticking to the usual round table set up, try something new. For example, create one big, long table family style so everyone feels involved in the conversation. Or, do rows of long tables for larger groups. This creates a stunning display when long banquet tables are dotted with lovely candles and centerpieces. It can be dressed down to have a family feel, or made quite striking and elegant with a hint of the grand manor dinner parties a la Downton Abbey for a more formal setting.
If you would like the perfect backdrop for your wedding, Chateau Le Jardin has one of the most accommodating wedding ceremony halls that Vaughan has to offer. For more information, speak to our team today.
