Plan With Me | Picking a Venue

I am excited to bring back our Plan with Me Series as David and I plan our big day 🙂 Since our engagement last year it has been so fun to start the planning process and picking out the details that will make up our wedding. So we decided to start with the venue.

David and I were engaged for about 6 months before we even started planning any details of our wedding, especially thinking about a venue. Being a wedding planner, I have been to so many venues and I knew what I loved and didn’t love about each one–David, on the other hand, has not. He had no idea what he wanted and had very little expectations on what he envisioned for our venue. We tried to think about “must-haves” but we’re pretty simple people–so our list looked like this:

- - - - Options for an indoor ceremony/Good rain plan
      - Good atmosphere and beautiful space
      - Options for getting ready on premise

I really didn’t want a venue with an outdoor ceremony space; David was very indifferent to the idea. I had always loved Separk Mansion but I was a little hesitant because of the outdoor ceremony space. I mean, the space is absolutely beautiful and I’m so excited to get married under their pergola, but I’ve been to outdoor weddings that are hot. I was concerned about the uncertainty of the weather; but as I would tell any bride, you can’t plan your wedding around the “what-ifs” of the weather, so we went for it. Plus, they have a beautiful space upstairs that is an amazing Plan B if it rains, so I won’t be that mad about it.

Photography by Soussou Productions

The atmosphere is important to both of us. We are extremely laid back people with really easy going personalities so we want our wedding day to portray that part of us, but also give the beautiful feeling of a wedding day. Separk can be both. It’s absolutely gorgeous with the black and white floor and the staircase, but it’s not “too” fancy to compromise our relaxed nature. It felt like the perfect mixture of what our wedding day needs to be.

It wasn’t an absolute must-have to get ready on premise, but definitely a plus. Coordinating our wedding party and family traveling over to the ‘getting ready spot’ and to the venue in one trip made it very appealing. We have a toddler, Stella, and she will still need to nap on the wedding day, so having the different rooms for getting ready is going to be so helpful for that as well. I can’t wait to use their mirror in the bridal suite–it’s huge!

Photos Courtesy of Separk Mansion

We only did one venue tour and it was Separk Mansion. They were so easy to work with, we absolutely loved the space and it worked with our budget perfectly. Once we decided to get married at Separk Mansion we were so happy with our decision! Picking a venue is such a scary decision because you might not be sure if it’s the right one for you. Just consider what is important to you on your wedding day, figure out which venue checks off that list and go for it!

Want more tips on planning your big day? Follow along on my wedding planning journey during our featured Plan With Me Series.