Journal
What we would want to know
Everything below answers a question couples ask us on tour. It is written by the people who run the place, which makes it opinionated and, we hope, useful.
Topics
Start with what you are stuck on
Budget
What things cost, why, and where the money actually goes.
Read budget →Planning
Order of operations, decisions, and the ones that can wait.
Read planning →The property
The rooms, the grounds, and how couples use them.
Read the property →Seasons
Ohio has four of them, and they are not priced the same.
Read seasons →The tour
What to ask, what to look at, and what nobody thinks to check.
Read the tour →Everything
Writing
All of it, newest first
Twenty-one questions to ask on a venue tour
Most couples tour three venues and ask the same four questions at each. Here are the ones that decide things.
Read →How many guests actually fit in a barn
A capacity number means nothing until you know what it assumes about the dance floor.
Read →What a barn wedding in Ohio actually costs
Most venues will not tell you a price until you have driven out to them. Here is ours, and here is what goes around it.
Read →Bar packages, explained
The bar is usually the second largest line in a wedding and the one couples understand least.
Read →Friday and Sunday weddings: what you actually give up
The saving is obvious. The trade is less obvious, and it is mostly about other people's Mondays.
Read →Peak, off-peak, and the thousand dollars in between
The room is identical. The date is not. Here is what you are really trading.
Read →Venue coordinator or wedding planner: who does what
Couples routinely believe they have hired something they have not. Here is the line between the three.
Read →Chapel or outdoors: how to decide, and when
The right answer is usually 'decide on the morning'. Most venues will not let you.
Read →The twelve months before: an order that works
Most planning checklists are a list of tasks. What you need is a list of dependencies.
Read →Building a timeline around an Ohio sunset
Golden hour is not a mood. It is a time, it moves by three hours across the year, and it should set your ceremony.
Read →Winter weddings, and why the fireplace changes the argument
Off-peak is usually sold as a saving. Sometimes it is simply the better wedding.
Read →What “all-inclusive” actually means when a venue says it
Two venues can both be all-inclusive and differ by eight thousand dollars in what you still have to buy.
Read →