Photos by: Emily Oud Photography

If you’ve been around my site a while, you will have read about the importance of figuring out what’s most important to you and your partner as you plan your wedding. I wanted to dive a little deeper into this topic by sharing what that approach looked like for my husband and I as we planned our own wedding - specifically how we went about choosing a venue.

I want to preface this post by saying that how we chose our venue was aligned with the things we valued. I’m not saying this is what everyone needs to do or that our way is the only way. It’s what was important to us, so we made it a priority, and it helped us feel confident in our decision making.

Choosing a venue for our wedding

When we were looking at venues to book, we decided in the very beginning that we wanted our money to go to supporting a small business. Venue fees are a large part of a wedding budget, so for us it was important that our money was going to have a meaningful impact on someone’s business/family/life. Once we found a venue that met that criteria, we also really wanted it to be able to host both our ceremony and reception (so we could spend time with our guests in between), and that there was an outdoor space for our ceremony.

A not-so-fun-fun-fact: we had actually booked a not-for-profit organization that recently started offering weddings. However, 6 months after booking, we found out our date had been double-booked, so we could either change our date or find another venue. As much as we wanted our wedding at the original location, we felt it was too late in the game to change our date.

That lead us to stumble upon Coulee Creek Farms. The owners, Katie + Kyle, had purchased the property a few years prior with the dream of turning it into a wedding venue. They were SO incredibly accommodating to all of our ideas, from allowing us to have an outdoor ceremony (despite the pending rainstorm that would follow as soon as our ceremony was over), going out of their way to bring in our favourite wine for us (on sale even!), and mixed up margarita’s to go along with our Mexican dinner menu. They worked tirelessly the entire evening and went above and beyond what we expected from a venue. Not only that, but Katie was pregnant with her fifth (!) child at the time of our wedding and she was hustling right alongside the rest of her team. We love that we got to support this family early on in their business and are thrilled that they continue to serve couples today.

Choosing a venue is often the first step when it comes to wedding planning, as not much else can be booked until your venue is secure. It can be overwhelming trying to sort through all the available options, but one thing that can make it easier is figuring out what you find most important first. Is it aesthetics? Is it the food they offer? Is it the option to have your reception outdoors with an indoor location as a backup? Asking yourself these kinds of questions can not only help narrow down the list of potential venues to look at, but it’ll help you feel confident in your decision once you’ve made it.