I got married three weeks ago in CT and made the decision to go with an all (well, most) inclusive venue in which venue, food, and alcohol all rolled up under a single per person price. This made things a little easier to plan, budget and coordinate.
We looked into finding a rustic, barn-like venue, but when it came down to it, coordinating all the other factors into got really expensive, really quickly.
A few tips when planning the venue with whichever option you choose.
- Make sure where you understand the accommodations surrounding the venue. I went to a wedding up in Sharon at
Lion Rock Farm (it was gorgeous), and after the family had booked the One inn/bed and breakfast for 20 miles around, they had to bus the rest of their guests to and from Danbury (45 minutes). Also know the time that the hotel will open your block of rooms back up to the public. We forget, and they released our unbooked rooms and luckily we found a hotel that still had accommodations.
- Ask about the back up plan and make sure it's something your comfortable with. This might not be a huge factor, but we hated our backup plan and the weather forecast said it was going to rain on our wedding day for the week leading up. We got lucky that it was just cloudy, but the added stress of rain vs not rain broke my wife down in tears a few times.
- Enjoy the wedding planning process and track all the costs! It gets out of hand quick if you don't track everything and understand where you may need to cut corners!