With thousands of potential wedding venues, all over the country, how do you choose? Your choice of venue is one of the most important decisions you need to make and with there being many different factors that you need to consider before finalising your choice of venue. So, where do you start? Here at Oaktree of Peover, we have some tips for you to consider, to get you started and narrow down your options.

Guest List

Firstly, and most importantly, you need to look at your guest list. How many people do you want to be there for your special day? After you have come to a number, only then should you look at what venues are available. You may find the perfect looking venue, that looks beautiful when fully decorated but does not accommodate for the whole of your guest list. This will mean that you’ll either have to find a new destination or reduce your guest list.

Another thing you need to consider, is if your guest list is too big. Is it necessary for you to invite your cousins’ neighbor to your wedding? If you have a smaller budget, then it is crucial for you to think deeply about who you want to your wedding reception and wedding party.

Budget

Been saving for years for your wedding or are the wedding expenses coming as a shock to you? Some venues give you a fixed price or a price per guest and so you need to take this into consideration as it could massively impact your final spending. Only look at venues that are realistic to your budget, as you don’t want to have your heart set on a venue that is too expensive and then feel like you are settling for a venue that isn’t as good.

Location

Looking for a venue close to home or to maybe venture abroad for your special day. When it comes to the location there are many different things that you need to consider. How are people going to get to the venue? Where are people going to stay? Are you going to pay for them to get to your wedding venue? Does your venue have any special meaning to you and your partner or are you choosing this location due to the environment and the beauty of the place?

Theme

After looking at the three above points, it is then time to decide whether your venue meets the theme that you would like to go for with your wedding or not. Is the venue a suitable place for the type of atmosphere you are looking for? If not, keep searching.

Food

Once you have narrowed your options down to three or four venues, you then need to look at what opportunities there are for catering. Some venues may have their own catering services with a range of food options for you to choose from or you may have venues with the option to hire your own catering company.

Corkage

Will the venue charge you for opening and serving bottles of wine, champagne and even spirits? Make sure that you understand how much they charge per bottle opened as some venues may have a cork charge that may surprise you.

Wedding Day Transport

It goes without saying your wedding day is without a doubt one of the most important days of your life, whether you are planning an extravagant gathering or intimate get together with close family and friends.

Choosing your wedding car is an important decision in the wedding planning process, but with so many choices and a range of factors to take into account, it can seem totally overwhelming. We’ve gathered a list of our top tips to consider when it comes to choosing your wedding car, and what you should look for before making that all important booking.

Try Before You Book

In order to avoid any disappointment, its crucial for you to view the car you’re wanting to use before booking. That way you know exactly what you’ll be expecting on the day of your wedding, and you’ll be better informed to make a decision on which type of wedding car you’d like.

Compliment Your Colour Scheme

Your wedding car will more than likely appear in many of your wedding photos, so it is important to think about the style and colour of your wedding car. Whether you decide to got for a neutral car that compliments your theme, or if you prefer something which stands out in your photographs, just consider whether your car goes with your vision before booking.

Consider Hiring a Chauffeur

Hiring a private chauffeur for your wedding day provides several benefits that will truly allow you to make the most out of a memorable event in your life. One of the best things about hiring a chauffeur driven car is that they are driven by trained, professional, experienced and mannered chauffeurs. Chauffeurs are professionally trained and experienced to provide you with the best wedding car experience.

Will the Dress Fit?

Your dress is often overlooked when it comes to choosing your wedding car, will it fit inside? It is advisable that in your final dress fitting you practise sitting down. It is often that the first time a bride sits down in her dress is when she’s getting into her wedding car. It can be very uncomfortable and difficult to breathe – so make sure you and your dress are in for a comfortable ride to your venue!

Don’t Forget the Rest of your Bridal Party

With the excitement of booking your wedding car, it is easy to forget about others! Don’t forget that your mother and bridesmaids will also need to get to the venue, along with the groom and his party – if you want everyone to get there in style, ensure you consider how many cars you’ll need.

The Venue

The perfect wedding venue is more than likely to be at the top of any newly engaged couples to do list. With the venue being a vital role in the success of your day, it is the big decision you need to get right.

It is easy to view a venue and become overly excited and fall in love with the place without checking the venue can cater to your wedding requirements. The venue you pick will determine multiple factors on your special day such as how many guests you can invite, your décor, your wedding date and the impact it has on your wedding budget. So its is important to get it right Oak Tree of Peover is a unique contemporary venue is set in the heart of Cheshire surrounded by stunning countryside views. Oak beams and lots of natural light makes this venue fresh and bright whilst subtle lighting in the evening gives it a magical, romantic feel.

Here are our top tips to choose the perfect wedding venue!

Narrow your Search

Just like finding your wedding dress, it is true for some brides that when you find the one, you’ll just know it. You’ll be able to picture yourself there on the day and the style of the building, both exterior and interior will work with the theme of your wedding.

Is the Capacity Right?

It is important to consider if you want a large capacity wedding venue or you’d prefer a smaller, more intimate wedding venue is the first step to narrowing down your search. The size of your venue will impact on budget and your guests enjoyment. If your venue is too small it may feel over crowded for your guests, where as a bigger venue may make your guests feel lost.

Does it Fit the Theme of your Wedding?

Think about whether the venue works with and even enhances your wedding aesthetics. Your venue of choice can even influence your choice of wedding dress. Consider the formality of the venue, how the weather will affect it, and the facilities.

List Your Non-Negotiables

You are more than likely to have an idea of what your day will be like and the venue which needs to live up to this, this is why its important before viewing any venues with your partner you need to discuss any non-negotiables which can include:

• Budget – Can the venue provide everything you need within your budget
• Catering – What type of catering would you like at your wedding? Can your venue provide this?
• Live Music – If you’re thinking about hiring a band or a string quartet during reception, does your venue allow music outside?

Finding your venue will be one of the big milestones in your wedding planning and will determine your date and location and impact a lot of your other wedding planning decisions.

Here’s our wedding checklist, this has been designed to be saved as a bookmark in your browser, or you could print it off as a checklist and cross something off each time you have purchased or arranged it. Having worked in the wedding industry for a number of years, at The Oak Tree of Peover we understand the large task of planning a wedding and that some of the below points may not apply to your big day. You can cross these off or alter them to suit your requirements and ensure that you have the wedding of your dreams.

Planning your special day

The amount of preparation and planning that goes into a wedding is huge, from the extravagant to the most simplistic weddings, your wedding is important to us, no matter what the style or theme is, at The Oak Tree of Peover, we’ll help to make all of your ideas come to life. We aim to make your special day as memorable to your guests as it is to you, whilst we’re not officially wedding planners, we definitely know a thing or two about weddings. From ensuring that the happy couple to be arrive on time, planning your meals, your wedding theme, the dress, the rings, the flowers and arrangements, the wedding transport, the list just goes on and on…

The earlier you have your arrangements booked, the less chance you have of disappointment, you’ll be able to book and arrange everything months, if not years in advance, making sure that your wedding date is not only available for you, but to the services that you require as well, from wedding cars, flowers and food. This will all make sure that your wedding day exactly plans out to how you imagined, leaving you with no disappointments or second choices or last minute arrangements. You wedding day will only every happen once, so make sure that it’s a good one by planning the big day down to the very last point. You can never be too organised!

No matter how you imagine your wedding day, whether it’s bold and extravagant or simple and delicate, at The Oak Tree of Peover, you can trust that your venue will be just perfect, meaning that you can tie everything else in beautifully. Make sure that your big day is remembered for all of the right reasons and ensure you don’t miss anything off your checklist!

Before the Big Day

18-12 Months

• Choose the date, venue, amount of guests and other arrangements
• Agree a budget
• Put together your guest list
• Invites – Engagement and Save the Dates
• Book your church or registrar
• Make a mood board – this may help when it comes to brainstorming ideas and themes

12-9 Months

• Wedding dress
• Bridesmaids dresses
• Book your flowers
• Shoes for the bride or brides, groom or grooms, bridesmaids and groomsmen
• Brides accessories
• Photographer
• Wedding cake
• Catering and food
• Entertainment and music
• Wedding transport for all parties

9-6 Months

• Wedding rings
• Book your honeymoon
• Book the wedding night accomodation
• Choose your music, poems, readings etc.
• Buy all shoes, underwear and accessories
• Agree on your order of service with vicar or registrar
• Suites for grooms and groomsmen
• Invites – day ceremony and evening
• Discuss your requirements for flowers if you have not already done so

6 Months – 1 Day

• Check all guests are attending
• Choose or write wedding vows
• Trial run make-up and hair
• Ensure dresses and suits all fit
• Hen and Stag parties
• Confirm all timings with your bookings
• Gifts and thank you presents
• Wedding favours
• Table arrangement

On the Big Day

For the bride or brides

• Wedding dress
• Shoes
• Hair and makeup
• Accessories and jewellery
• Perfume
• Flowers
• Transport
• Tissues

For the groom or grooms

• Suit
• Aftershave
• Shoes and accessories
• Flowers
• Transport
• Lucky socks

After the Big Day

• Thank you cards
• Honeymoon

When it comes to your wedding, every wedding day is different, this is all based on each couples’ tastes and requirements. Each wedding day is unique and contributes to how it is such a magical occasion when a couple ties the knot.

Every bride or groom will have their own ideas for what their wedding should be like and how they’d like the day to flow from start to finish. Your wedding day will be one of the most memorable days of your life, they’re packed with love, laughter and all of your family and friends. Planning a wedding will take a lot of time and patience, but that doesn’t mean that this part can’t be fun too.
Whilst there is lots of things to remember, no one told you that it would be this difficult, who knew that a wedding for just a handful of people would cost so much and why is it important to think about transport and accommodation for those relatives and friends that you haven’t seen for years.

Should you still be in the early stages of planning your wedding, try not to worry, you just need some organisational skills and a steady hand, try not to panic and most importantly, don’t forget any of the day’s most important parts. A wedding checklist can come in handy to make sure you don’t forget anything.

At Oak Tree of Peover, we’ve been home to many weddings, all uniquely beautiful in their own way, take a look at our list of suggestions to ensure that your wedding day is successful and you don’t miss a thing.

The timing…

First of all, and the most critical decision is the timing, it’s all about the timing. The timing will play a crucial role throughout the whole wedding planning process as well as the day of the celebration itself. From booking the venue in the early days, through to the precise time you need to make your grand entrance, timing should be at the forefront of every decision you make about your wedding.

Timing is one of the most important things to remember, as is your wedding cake, a wedding cake maker should be found as soon as you book your big day, to avoid disappointment. Lots of people arrange to have their wedding cakes made a year or two before the big day.

Should you have a big network of friends and family to help you, things can be much easier. Parents can either be very helpful or not so helpful, as can close friends who may have been married before so know the situation well. The people that know you better than anyone else can also help you to make the important decisions at the best times.

A wedding calendar is a useful idea that can be helpful when it comes to monitoring dates and times, make a note of when a certain task needs to be completed or when it needs to be booked. Wedding cars, invites, caterers and beauticians are just some of the things that you can keep track of by using a calendar system.

Your appearance…

With most brides and grooms, appearance is one of the things that’s most thought about when getting married. From deciding on how to wear your hair and make-up, weight loss, through to finding, buying and fitting of the dress or suit, vanity can play a huge role in wedding preparations. The mere thought of wedding day appearances can sometimes add extra pressure for different people.

A good idea is to start your preparations well in advance to avoid any issues, joining the gym is something that should be done months or even years before your wedding day, not just two weeks before the big day. This will give you plenty of time to get to a weight that you’re happy with. The distraction of going to the gym can help to keep you focused, whilst helping you get in shape, regain some fitness and feel good about yourself on your big day. You’ll feel much better losing weight the right way, rather than attempting some unhealthy fad diet in the weeks leading up to the day.

Your guests…

So now you’ve sat down and made a guest list with your other half, you’ve decided who to invite and who not to invite and now your invitations have been sent. You’ve had lots or responses or maybe you haven’t. People tend to be unorganised and forgetful, so they may not have saved the date like you had hoped. However, just because someone hasn’t responded to your invitation, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t coming. They simply may have forgotten or they may not have got the invite.

Take the time to contact your guests again in advance of your big day, 2 to 4 weeks is probably the right amount of time, however you may prefer longer than this. For guests who have already said that they are coming it can provide an effective way of reminding them about the times, transport, location, colour schemes or wedding roles.

Your wedding transport…

Wedding transport undoubtedly plays a key role in the success and planning of your wedding day. It’s a wise idea to import wedding transport types early in the planning process, booking well in advance means you can find the best deals and transport to suit the theme and budget of your wedding.

By taking these points into consideration a wedding day isn’t the easiest thing to plant, start early, don’t panic, keep organisation, remember your guests, transport and appearance and you’ll find that all the pieces of the puzzle start slotting together nicely.