One of the big first steps of being engaged is choosing where you are going to get married! It’s exciting and dare I say overwhelming?! Really, most of wedding planning is the mix of excitement and overwhelm. It’s this mash up of all the emotions which makes for a very interesting season 😉

Something to consider would be hiring a wedding planner, this would be a great time to reach out and get information. Wedding planners job is to make your life easier, they are the little magicians that have all the info you will need in an organized document that will save you hundreds of hours over the course of planning your wedding!

Make a Rough Guest List

Start a rough guest list to get an idea of how big the venue needs to be to accommodate your guest list. You don’t need to narrow it down yet but getting a feel for the number will help you narrow down venues to look at. Once you have a venue and an exact number of guests it can accommodate, you can finish your guest list. Zola has a great free resource for creating your list and it keeps it all organized for you!

Have a Heart to Heart

Sit down with your fiancé and chat about what your dream wedding day would look like. What do you envision? Do you want something relaxed with a campfire to end the night or would you like a formal, elegant dinner? Write out your ideas! This sounds like such a self explanatory, “we already know what we want” step but I encourage you to take the time to talk about it together. This is a great way to get your fiancé involved in the planning from the start and make his wishes feel heard and respected. This is also a great time to look at the calendar and see if there are any specific dates that you are hoping to get married on. Keep an open mind on dates … you might find your dream venue but they might be booked already for that date so be open! Friday & Sunday wedding dates may be a way to save money on the venue as some venues offer discounts.

Research Time!

Now that you have an idea of what you are hoping for, you can start researching venues! Wedding Wire or The Knot are websites that allow you to put in your city to see venues within your desired mile radius. Google will also be an easy way to search. Be sure to look at the reviews for venues on Wedding Wire, The Knot, and Google as that is a good way to weed out venues that have bad reviews so you don’t waste your time visiting! If you have other vendors in mind that you would love to work with (for example a wedding photographer or florist), you could email them an inquiry…they would love to help and offer suggestions! You could also look on instagram using hashtags like #yourlocationsweddings (like #nepaweddings, #syracuseweddings, #cnyweddings, #scrantonweddings, etc) to see if anything catches your eye! Ask friends who have recently been married or attend alot of weddings, if they have any recommendations! Nothing beats personal recommendation! Try narrowing it down to your top 5 venues.

Request Information from Venues

Send out emails requesting information to your top 5 venues. We always value when a venue is quick to respond as that will come in handy later in the wedding planning process. It adds stress when you have to wait days for a response to your question.

Visit the Venues

Set up a time to go visit the venues with your fiancé and come ready with your list of questions. It can be easy to forget what questions to ask or keep straight what venue said what so I recommend having a notebook that you can keep track of things like that.

Here are a few questions we recommend asking :

• Is your venue available on the date we are interested in? What dates do you have available?

• How many guests does your venue hold?

• Can we choose our own vendors, or do you have a preferred or exclusive vendor list?

• Can I hold my ceremony here? What are the options for that?

• What does the rental fee include? What are additional fees that apply?

• What add-on’s are options here?

• How many parking spots are available to guests?

• Are there any restrictions for the space?

• When can we begin to set up for wedding? When does it need to be taken down?

• What is included as far as day of staff to help with setting up / tear down / transitions?

• What is the backup plan for rain or inclement weather?

• How much is the deposit? When is the final payment due?

• Are tables, chairs, linens, plates, silverware, and glassware provided, or will I have to rent them myself or get them through my caterer?

• Do you have any sample floor plans we could see?

• As you start visiting the venues and asking the questions, you will be able to see which ones would work for what you would like and your budget and which ones won’t work. Keep an open mind! Let’s say all of you top 5 are booked already, too expensive or you don’t love when you see them… go back to your list you created while researching!

If you find one you love, make it official and book it! You don’t want to risk losing your date!

Venues we highly recommend in Northeast Pennsylvania :

• Constantino’s Event Venue
• Farm at Cottrell Lake
• Barn at Glistening Pond
• Beaumont Inn
• Longacre Farms
• Skytop Lodge
• Creekside Grove
• Stone Meadow Gardens
• 6th & River
• Scranton Country Club
• Fox Hill Farm
• The Rosemont Inn Bed & Breakfast
• Chippy White Table (for petite weddings)
• Creekside Gardens (for intimate weddings)
• Scranton Cultural Center
• Whitewoods Weddings
• Stone Hedge Golf Club

Binghamton NY Venues:

• Traditions on the Glen
• Pumpelly Estate House
• TerraCotta
• The Links at Hiawatha Landing
• Tricolla Farms
• The Venue at Beagell Farms
• The Treman Center

Syracuse / Central NY Venues :

• The Cracker Factory
• Sinclair of Skaneateles
• Orchards Barn at Rocking Horse Farms
• The Lodge Skaneateles
• Tailwater Lodge
• SKY Armory
• Red Barn 20 at Windridge Estates
• The Sherwood Inn
• Mirbeau Inn & Spa
• Aster Weddings & Events
• Greek Peek Mountain Resort
• Traditions at the Links
• Hayloft on the Arch
• Turning Stone Casino
• Gilbertsville Farmhouse
• Gratitude and Grace
• …just to name a few! We are working on compiling a full list!