You’ve just got engaged - wahoo! Exciting times! I’d recommend having a read of THIS BLOG POST - MY TOP 5 WEDDING PLANNING TIPS ONCE YOU’RE ENGAGED!- about the first decisions and things to think about before you set out with your wedding planning.

Often the first piece of the puzzle is deciding on your venue and where to host your celebrations. You might be thinking of one location that does it all, a two-site day where you move between a ceremony and a party, or a whole weekend of different places and activities. This blog post will aim to show you the difference between Wedding venues - between dry hires and formal venues and what you can do in each.

TYPES OF VENUES, BUILDINGS AND SPACES YOU CAN GET MARRIED IN (uk)

A ceremony at Hackney Town Hall via https://www.devinebride.co.uk/portfolio/lizzie-jamie

The type of space you choose will depend on what is important to you - do you want to do the ‘legal bit’ in front of friends and family or would you not mind getting your certificate before or after the actual wedding party? If it’s the former, you’ll need to find a legally registered venue or building. According to the Citizen’s Advice website this is -

• a Register Office

• premises approved by the local authority such as a hotel

• a church of the Church of England, Church in Wales

• a synagogue or any other private place if both partners are Jewish

• a Meeting House if one or both partners are either members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) or are associated with the Society by attending meetings

• any registered religious building (England and Wales only)

This is why a lot of people choose a wedding venue from the off - they most likely offer a room that has been registered and approved by the local authority to do the legal wedding ceremony bit.

If you want to use a space that hasn’t been approved, you’ll need to do the legal bit in a registry office sometime before or after, but you can still have a ceremony on the day hosted by a Celebrant. Bex the Celebrant explains how the Celebrant part works brilliantly in her FAQ’s. This also means you might have a bit more fun and flexibility with your own ceremony and what it contains.

what is a Dry hire wedding venue?

A Dry hire space or venue means you’re hiring the space only, as a blank canvas. Each one is different in that they might have furniture to use, or they might not, they might have a supply of lighting or they might not.

With a dry hire space you often get to choose your suppliers, caterers, florists, decor and pull a design vision together yourself. Sometimes Dry Hire spaces are registered for marriages, probably more often they are just general event hire spaces without a licence.

PROS

• You get full control of the design vision therefore you can create something more unique and less ‘cookie cutter’

• These spaces often let you install more decor i.e. let you put tacks in the walls or non damaging Command strips etc

• You can curate a pick n mix of different suppliers meaning it could be a really personal event tailored to you as a couple, and your guests.

CONS

• There might be more logistics and organising involved (but working with a wedding planner or stylist can negate this too)

• You might have to do the official legal bit before or after as the venue may not be legally registered. When I got married we did the legal bit the day before, but it didn’t really bother me to be honest!

wedding venues

Wedding venues have been specifically set up and run solely to host weddings, maybe a few other general events too. Think hotels, converted castles, town halls. This means they are often your one-stop-shop for getting married - the legal bit and the party bit might happen all at the same place. This DOES NOT apply to all venues marketed for weddings though, especially in London, lots of spaces expect you to do the legal bit elsewhere then host the dinner and dancing elements with them.

They often have their own furniture, lighting and catering set-ups so you don’t have to stress about any of it. A lot of these types of venues DO still welcome stylists and your own decorative set ups so don’t think you can’t always get creative in these types of wedding venues.

PROS

• Can be registered for ceremonies so you can do the official bit at the same time with all your guests (but aren’t always -check).

• Often has everything in one place so there is less organising or choosing to do

• May also have accomodation on site so you can stumble upstairs to bed afterwards

CONS

• Lots of other people may have had a similar wedding so local guests may have experienced a similar wedding and your photos might look similar to other couples (if that matters to you!)

• Cost - sometimes you’re paying for the convenience of everything being sorted for you and your guests and this can be prohibitive for some couples.

• In some cases the venue needs to stay pristine and beautiful for each couple (and may also be a listed period property) you are less likely to be able to install a full decor and design scheme and have to stick to ALL freestanding decor, or tying things around existing fixtures like beams and old nails etc. I’ve written another BLOG POST - MY TOP 5 FREESTANDING DECOR ELEMENTS which you might find handy.

This is the more traditional option but it doesn’t have to mean the venue itself is traditional. There are some wonderful, cool, contemporary spaces out there. Eg. Giraffe Shed in Wales, Shack Revolution and Clapton Country Club to name a few.

A FULLY BESPOKE DIY WEDDING

So what about a building, space or place that doesn’t fit into either of those categories? If you’re getting married at home, setting up a marquee on a bit of land, transforming a derelict barn (hand up) then I’d class this as a full DIY Wedding set up.

You might have an opportunity to use a family member or friend’s place, know an empty building you could get for free (or cheaply) or want to set up a marquee on a beach followed up by a community hall that is normally used for WI meetings…

You can do things like bring in your own caterers (especially if they are mobile and have their own kitchen) set up your own bar, select your own wine and make your own cocktails.

TIP - Fully cost out this option and do a budget for what you’ll need. A lot of people may go for this DIY Wedding option thinking they’ll save lots of money, but after hiring and putting infrastructure in place to host a large number of people, this may save you less money than you thought. And you might want to factor in YOUR TIME into this - can you afford to spend more days and weeks working on your wedding?

If you’re going for this option check out my online support packages that can really help you nail a Design Plan saving you time and money - DESIGN MY WEDDING PACKAGES

I did my own DIY wedding in a Non-events or wedding space in 2019. Read about my experience HERE

PROS

• You get more control over your day, how long it lasts, what your guests can do which means you can create something truly memorable and unique which no one else has had.

• Guests will have a totally different experience to all the other weddings they’ve been to, which might be more memorable.

• You could have full control over how it looks and create something epic

CONS

• You might need to think about infrastucture more than the other options i.e. hiring toilets if your space doesn’t have any, generators for electrics etc. This is quite an extreme example though, lots of spaces may have those things as standard.

• There lots of elements to think about - glassware, cutlery; depending on your catering choices, can taxis pick up easily from your venue? Neighbours complaints?

• You might need to get your own wedding insurance but this is pretty straightforward and can be done online.

• It’s just a lot more work all round so I would either recommend having some events planning and set-up experience

• You’ll need to think more about the order and running of the day - you might need to hire On The Day Co-ordinator to keep things running to plan.

With all these types of venues, they are unlikely to come with their own in-house stylist - though some wedding venues will have co-ordinators or venue managers that can suggest decorative suppliers or stylists, but this can lead to the same repetitive style of weddings where you feel you’re just being offered the same as the last couple or what’s easiest for the venue. If you want to work with someone who is going to listen to you and suggest a bespoke design scheme that is all about YOU and what you want, check out our DESIGN MY WEDDING PACKAGES which can apply whichever type of venue, space, or derelict barn you go for!

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