Your venue is the most critical aspect of your event and will significantly impact your planning and your guests’ experience. It can be nerve-wracking to make a choice with all that pressure, but it’s not as difficult as you might think! To help take some of that weight off your shoulders, let’s look at what to consider when choosing an event venue.
Location and Ambiance
Depending on the theme or nature of your event, the kind of location and atmosphere you’re looking for will vary widely. While you should always consider budget and pricing, you should also consider how private you want the event to be. For example, if you’re hosting a wedding, you may want a secluded and special location. Conversely, if you’re hosting a birthday party, you may want a spot in the city near other activities like bars, clubs, or an escape room. You should also think about the overall ambiance and how the overall aesthetic and mood contribute or detract from the theme of your event.
Venue Capacity
Venue capacity is extremely important, as it will significantly affect safety and guest experience—after all, it’s hard to have fun in an overcrowded room you can’t move around in. However, every venue is going to vary in capacity a little differently, especially when it comes to the type of building. For example, say you rent out a fabric structure for your event. Choosing the right-sized fabric building depends heavily on its intended purpose and what you’re using it for, and fortunately, you can customize the size to your needs. On the other hand, traditional brick-and-mortar buildings are much more rigid, and you’ll have to follow the strict rules they set.
Venue Services and Amenities
Not every venue will offer the same services and amenities, so it’s essential to visit the location beforehand, speak with staff, and get an idea of what they do and don’t do. Do they have Wi-Fi and internet? Do they provide catering services? How good are their acoustics and sound system? Additionally, if you need overnight accommodations, find a venue that offers lodging.
Parking and Accessibility
Most of your guests will likely be arriving by car, and adequate parking is a must-have. For some events, it’s easy to tell how many guests will be there and plan accordingly. For other events, that’s not so easy. In those cases, you may want to choose a venue that’s near extra parking, such as street parking or a nearby empty field. However, you also have to think about those with mobility issues and how difficult it will be for them to get to and from their car. If they don’t have disability parking, consider marking off an area for them near the venue itself.
While there’s a lot to consider when choosing an event venue, the more you break it down into small steps, the easier it becomes. The best thing you can do is put yourself in your guests’ shoes and think about their needs and wants. While you can’t account for everything, this does make it much easier to plan so things go as smoothly as possible.
