Location, Location, Location!

Besides your dress, your location is one of the most important choices you'll make. You have to consider how many guests the location can hold, how much decor you have to bring in, what's included with your location, how well suited it is to the all important wedding pictures, and last but not least, how much it all costs :)

The setting for your wedding can run from the simple garden wedding to the all out glam mansion extravaganza. There are numerous sources for locations. The Internet is your best resource by far. Going to www.google.com and entering a search string "wedding location, New York" will give you a lot of options. The question is are they affordable.

Most cities owns parks, zoos, aquariums, and auditoriums. These facilities oftentimes are available for use as wedding and reception locations. The fees are usually nominal for city parks and fairly reasonable for the rest.

A good resource for city owned locations in Los Angeles is www.laconservancy.org/preservation/resources_sites.php4.

A great resource is your neighborhood church. Most churches have a hall attached, its a built in ceremony and reception location rolled into one. The beauty of going this route is the fact that churches do not charge you a rental fee, rather, you give a donation. Think ahead to April 15th the next year.............you guessed it, you can write off charitable donations up to a certain amount.

Your city may also have in place a program where you get a price break if you are a resident. All you have to do is ask. This is one time where being cheeky works in your favor. Ask...........you may be surprised!!

Be savvy in negotiating with locations. Can they provide you with tables and chairs? Do they have decor from past events you can look through and use for your own event? Do they have an on site events coordinator you can use instead of hiring a day-of coordinator? Is the price of set-up and break down included? Do they provide any staff with the site? Milk them for everything they've got. If you're paying $1000 for a location, use it to the last dollar.

Restaurants - an underused resource. Most restaurants have enough space to comfortably host a wedding reception and some will even let you buy a menu and location is included! Even at $50 per plate, you can't beat zero for location cost. Always do the math, just because its higher priced does not put it outside your budget, it may be higher but if you lose a different cost, it evens out :)

You know those friends you have that have that house you adore with the back yard you'd give your left pinkie for? Ask them to use it. Forego wedding presents and offer to ensure its restored to all its glory post reception (because there will be an unholy mess by evening's end) if you can use their home. Free, is always the way to go.

You're a grad student, your fiance works part time and is also in grad school, you live together and have for a long time so you're paying for your own wedding. Your parents, however, belong to a country club. Put their membership to good use. They'll likely get a discount if not an outright free location. Voila......country club wedding at budget price.

The key is to think outside the box, don't be limited to the ball room at the Hyatt - nice as it may be, it won't come cheap. Get creative, make it fun, most off all, keep it reasonable.

Location recommendation in LA : Culver Events Center - www.culverevents.com.

On the East Coast try www.CTWeddingReports.com for locations and other vendors.


Thanks to CityStar my East Coast contributor.