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It’s really exciting choosing the venue and tempting to rush around looking at everything on offer, but a bit of forward planning will ensure that you end up with the ‘perfect’ venue for you.

The setting for your wedding is really one of the most important decisions you will make and it needs to be right. When visiting venues you ideally need to just concentrate on what exactly it has to offer, and for this reason it’s important you already know two things.

Firstly, you need to have decided what sort of wedding you’re having, is it wedding breakfast only, evening reception, full marriage service (see tips under .’Getting started’ button). Secondly, you will need a good idea of your budget and who is paying for what (see ‘Budget’) button.

Once you’ve decided on the type of wedding and budget, you can make your preliminary enquiries. Phone around a few places to start with and get idea if they can offer what you want and provide the type of catering you require. You will also be able to get a rough idea of prices. You can look in the Yellow Pages, visit wedding fayres and ask around to get ideas of where to try.

Then make appointments to look at the possibles. Don’t get too many family members involved at this stage. Just start looking with your fiancé or friend (or in my case, my mum).

My marriage service took place somewhere with little opportunity for photos, I knew I would be using the reception venue as the backdrop for the majority of my photographs so the grounds were particularly important for me. You will know the main things that are important to you, but below are a few questions you may need to ask yourself.

How far away from the church/registry office is it – will that be a problem?
What is your first impression?
Does the venue hold more than one wedding on the same day?
Do you like the layout of the room and the bar area – will the wedding party be broken up as too may rooms?
What are the toilets like?
Seating arrangements – what are the tables like, round or rectangular?
What table linen/table decorations does venue provide?

Once you’ve whittled it down to just a few, then you and your partner can look together before finally involving the parents (particularly those who may be paying for it!)

I attach a checklist template which I devised. I used it when visiting venues so I remembered to ask all the important questions and also so I could remember the answers. You may like to print it off and use it too. I found it really helpful to write down comments as I visited each venue. Trust me, once you’ve looked at five or six they all blur into one!

Click here to download the checklist!