How to choose a wedding venue

The things I’d actually think about when choosing where to get married.

Choosing your wedding venue is one of those decisions that suddenly makes the whole wedding feel very real.

It’s also one of the biggest decisions you’ll make. Your venue affects the atmosphere, your guest list, your timeline, where you get ready, what happens if it rains and, yes, how your photographs will look too.

There are plenty of venue checklists online that will remind you to ask about parking and what time the music needs to finish. Those things absolutely matter.

But as a photographer, there are a few other things I’d be paying attention to when you walk through a venue for the first time.

Start with how you want your wedding to feel

Before you start comparing venues, think about the kind of day you actually want.

Not necessarily the colour palette or what the centrepieces will look like. Think bigger than that.

Do you imagine everyone sitting around long tables with wine being poured and conversations carrying on well into the evening?

A beautiful garden ceremony followed by drinks outside?

Something elegant in the city where everyone can walk back to their hotel afterwards?

A relaxed weekend away in the Wairarapa where most of your guests stay nearby?

Your venue becomes the backdrop for almost everything that happens on your wedding day, so finding somewhere that already feels aligned with the wedding you want can make the rest of your planning much easier.

You shouldn’t have to completely transform a space to make it feel like you.

Look beyond the ceremony space

It’s very easy to walk into a beautiful ceremony space and immediately fall in love with it.

But when I’m thinking about a venue from a photography perspective, I’m looking at everything around it too.

Where will you both get ready?

Where will your guests go after the ceremony?

Is there somewhere lovely for family photographs?

Can we wander away for ten minutes and find somewhere beautiful for portraits without having to get into a car?

What does the reception space feel like once the sun goes down?

And perhaps most importantly…

What happens if it rains?

Because you aren’t just choosing somewhere to have your ceremony. You’re choosing somewhere you’ll potentially spend eight, ten or twelve hours of one of the biggest days of your life.

Ask to see the wet weather option

If you’re getting married in Wellington, I would absolutely want to know what Plan B looks like 😂

Not because it will rain, but because knowing you’re genuinely happy with both options takes so much pressure off the forecast.

Ask the venue to show you exactly where your ceremony would move if the weather changed.

And don’t just think about the ceremony.

Where would your guests have drinks? Where could we take photographs? Are there covered areas outside? Is there beautiful window light indoors?

Some venues have wet-weather options that are every bit as lovely as their outdoor spaces. That’s a huge bonus.

The goal isn’t to find a wedding venue where rain doesn’t exist. If someone finds one of those in Wellington, please let me know.

It’s finding somewhere where rain doesn’t suddenly mean your entire day has to become Plan B.

Pay attention to the light

This is something I notice immediately because, well… photographer.

You absolutely do not need to understand lighting to choose your wedding venue, but it’s worth noticing how the space feels at different times of day.

Are there large windows inside?

Is the ceremony in full sun during the afternoon?

Does the reception space become very dark once daylight disappears?

Where does the sun set?

None of these things necessarily make a venue good or bad. Beautiful photographs can be created in all sorts of conditions. It just helps to know what we’re working with.

If you can, I’d also recommend viewing a venue around a similar time of day to when you’re planning to get married.

The courtyard you saw at 10am might feel completely different at 4pm.

Think about where you’ll get ready

Getting-ready spaces tend to be one of the last things couples think about when choosing a venue, but they’re some of the first places I’ll photograph on the wedding day.

You don’t need an enormous bridal suite worthy of its own architectural feature.

I’m usually looking for good natural light, enough space for everyone to comfortably move around and somewhere we can clear a little clutter when photographs begin.

If you’re both getting ready at the venue, it’s also worth checking that the spaces are genuinely separate.

Accidentally bumping into each other in the hallway while one of you is carrying a toothbrush wasn’t quite the first look you had planned.

Think about how much travelling you’ll need to do

This is a sneaky one.

A getting-ready location that’s 30 minutes from the ceremony, followed by another 25-minute drive to your portrait location, followed by another drive to the reception can eat a surprising amount of your wedding day.

Sometimes travelling is completely worth it. If there’s somewhere meaningful you really want to go for photographs, we’ll make it work.

But if you can choose a venue where beautiful photographs can happen without disappearing for an hour, you’ll get to spend much more of the day actually celebrating with your people.

And that’s generally where a lot of my favourite photographs happen anyway.

Look for variety, not just one perfect photo spot

You don’t need a venue with 47 designated photography locations.

I’d much rather have a few genuinely beautiful options.

Maybe there’s lovely architecture, some open space, interesting textures, beautiful gardens or a simple patch of gorgeous light.

I’m also looking at whether we have options in different weather and at different times of day.

The place we photograph at 3pm might be completely different from where I take you for five minutes at sunset.

And later, once it gets dark, we can create something completely different again.

Ask what’s actually included

This isn’t particularly glamorous advice, but your future budgeting spreadsheet will thank you.

Venue hire can mean very different things from one venue to another.

Before comparing prices, find out what’s actually included.

Tables and chairs? Glassware? Linen? Lighting? Sound equipment? Setup and pack-down? Cleaning? A venue coordinator?

One venue might initially look more expensive but include thousands of dollars worth of things you’d otherwise need to organise separately.

Also ask what you’re allowed to bring in yourself. Some venues have preferred or exclusive caterers and vendors, while others give you much more freedom.

Think about your guests too

You obviously don’t need to design your entire wedding around everyone else, but there are a few practical things worth considering.

If lots of people are travelling, is there accommodation nearby?

Can everyone get home easily after the reception?

Is transport going to be required?

If you’re planning a Martinborough or Wairarapa wedding, for example, having accommodation or transport sorted can make the whole weekend feel much easier for everyone.

It’s also worth considering accessibility if any of your guests have limited mobility.

The beautiful ceremony spot at the bottom of a steep paddock might become slightly less charming when Grandma arrives in heels.

Ask about the little restrictions before you fall in love with an idea

Every venue has rules, and most of them are there for perfectly sensible reasons.

But it’s much better to know them before you’ve mentally planned your entire wedding around something you can’t actually do.

Ask about things like candles, confetti, sparklers, pets, drones, amplified music, finishing times and access to different parts of the property.

If there’s something you already know is important to you, ask about it early.

Don’t choose a venue just because it photographs beautifully

This might sound slightly strange coming from a photographer, but I mean it.

Yes, I notice beautiful light. I get very excited about interesting architecture. And if you show me a dramatic landscape and tell me we can make wedding photographs there, I’m obviously going to have ideas.

But your venue isn’t a photography set.

It’s where you’re going to get married.

Choose somewhere that works for the people you’re inviting, the experience you want to have and the way you actually want your wedding to feel.

Give me good people, genuine moments and a little room to play with the light, and we’ll make beautiful photographs.

Choose somewhere you can picture the day happening

Once you’ve asked all the practical questions, give yourself a minute to stop analysing it.

Can you picture your people arriving?

Can you imagine standing there during the ceremony?

Where everyone will gather afterwards?

Dinner being served, speeches starting, someone inevitably taking their shoes off once the dance floor gets going?

That’s the part I’d pay attention to.

The right venue doesn’t necessarily have the longest list of inclusions or the most Pinterest-worthy ceremony backdrop.

It should make you excited about actually being there.

And if it works practically, feels like the kind of wedding you want and you can already picture the day unfolding around you, I’d say you’re onto something pretty good. x