Attending a wedding venue open day is the perfect setting for seeing how your venue, or potential venue, could look on your wedding day. Whether you’re starting to scope out potential venues, or you’re revisiting, open days are the ideal time to see your would-be wedding venue decked out in decor and filled with people. While you might have seen plenty of photographs, or looked through their Instagram feeds, nothing quite compares to seeing the wedding venue of your dreams in person.
An open day is your perfect chance to get the look and feel of the venue, and see if it’s the right fit for you. You’ll have opportunities for asking questions and meeting the wedding coordinators and can expect to have an informal show-round of the venue, grounds and facilities. To make sure you use your time at an open day to your advantage, here are some of Huntsmill’s top tips for preparing for an open day visit.
Take information home with you
Open days can sometimes feel like a bit of an information overload and you often speak to several people on the day, it can be difficult to remember all of the information. When visiting an open day pick up some information whilst you’re there, then you can look back over it once you’re at home to help with your decision making. Most venue’s will either have welcome packs or brochures available for you to take with you, and there’s also likely to be information about other suppliers that the venue recommends.
Think of questions you want to ask ahead of visiting
Wedding venue open days are the perfect place to get answers to all of those niggling questions you might have. To make sure you’ve got all of the answers you’re looking for, we recommend that you come up with a list of questions beforehand, that way you can make sure you get all the answers you need and nothing gets forgotten.
It’s also worth noting if you’re revisiting your booked venue, this could be a good opportunity to check sizes for any decorations you might have, or to confirm any specifics with the wedding coordinators.
Have a guided tour
If there’s a chance for a guided tour as part of the venue’s open day – go for it! It’s a great opportunity to be shown around the venue by one of the wedding coordinators, and see everything that the venue has to offer and ask lots of questions.
Speak to recommended wedding suppliers
Most wedding venues when holding open days have some of their recommended suppliers also attending. If you’re not familiar with the venue’s preferred partners, then it’s a chance to have a chat with them and get to know more about them and what they do. You might even get some ideas for your wedding that you hadn’t thought about!
Get decoration inspiration
During open days wedding venues are normally decorated, giving you a chance to see the venue in all it’s glory. If you’re not sure on how certain decorations would look in your venue, or you are looking for inspiration – an open day will give you just that.
Think about who to take with you
Of course visiting a wedding venue is exciting, especially if revisiting the venue you’ve already booked. While you may want to bring along all of your family to show off where your big day will be, you may then get a mix of different opinions. We recommend if its your first visit to a venue, that only you and your partner attend – that way you can get a feel for a wedding venue yourselves. Once you’ve booked a venue and you’re showing your nearest and dearest around your venue, we recommend a maximum for 4 per group – this way you can make sure no one gets lost, and you’re not overwhelmed with different ideas and opinions.
Our next open evening is on the 7th July from 5pm until 9pm. Join us to come and see what Huntsmill Farm has to offer over drinks, nibbles and music. We’ll have some of our select suppliers with us as well, and all of our accommodation will be available to view. We will also be running guided experiences of our barn, cottages and gardens. If you’d like to book onto our open evening you can do here, or if you’d like any more information or to book a tour, give us an email.
Images all thanks to Daniel Atkinson
