floor plan for wedding
One of the aspects of planning a wedding is locating a
good reception venue. With a large variety of reception sites to pick
from, it can sometimes set your head to spinning.
Start off by choosing at least 3 possible places to
hold your reception. Write down the name of the location, address, phone
number and directions to the place. Call and make an appointment for
viewing. Some couples will choose to try and see all their site choices
in one day… others may prefer to do it on separate days. How you wish to
do this is entirely up to you.
Be sure to take along a digital camera. If you don’t
have one, borrow one. You’ll be glad you did when it comes time to
actually book a location for your wedding reception.
When you arrive, take pictures of the driveway
entrance, the parking areas, and the entrance into the building. Once
inside, you’ll want pictures of the foyer, coat closet area, bathroom
locations, main reception room, door to the kitchen facilities, outside
exits, window placements, etc. These pictures will be a major help to
you later when you’re trying to remember “which location had what”, as
well as with drawing up a floor plan for tables, etc.
Speaking of floor plans: ask the site manager if they
possibly have a copy of the actual floor plan that they could give you.
This would certainly help you with your layout (as you'd have the actual
room sizes and such). By figuring out the placements of the head table,
guest tables, bar, etc. you’ll be able to get a better overall view of
what the reception will look like, as well as if it will comfortably
accommodate all of your wedding guests.
While at each reception location there are several
details that you should pay attention to. Here is a list to take with
you so you can make notes as you go along:
1. If you are planning to have the ceremony and
reception in one location, will there be enough room to hold all the
guests as well as provide room for setting up an area for the actual
ceremony?
2. Keeping in-line with a reception/ceremony in one
place, is there a separate room where your guests can go after the
wedding ceremony to mingle, while tables are setup for the dinner and
reception?
3. If this is to be just a reception (the ceremony is
elsewhere) is there enough space near the entrance for a receiving line
to meet and greet the guests?
4. Check to see exactly how many guests the location
will hold. You should also take into account needed area space for: your
head table, guestbook table, gift table, cake table, desert and/or
buffet tables, DJ/band setup, and the dance floor. If you're planning on
inviting 100 guests and the room only holds 75 comfortably with the
furniture included, you should look for a new location.
5. Where is the bar located? Can people easily get to
it and move around without crowding nearby dinner tables?
6. Does the location have adequate cooking faculties
to prepare food for the number of guests you are planning to invite?
7. Where are the bathroom facilities located? Are they
large enough to hold a few guests at a time or are they single rooms,
where only one person can enter at a time? The second option is not a
good choice for a large wedding. Can someone with a disability enter
them safely?
8. Is there enough parking available at the location
itself or will the guests need to park farther down the street? If so,
is parking allowed during the time of your reception and will there be
enough spaces available? If not, where is the closets available parking
located? Do guests have to pay for parking?
9. Does the facility have a cloak room? Will there be
enough space for all the coats and jackets? Do they have a person doing
a coat check or does each guest need to hang up their own coats? Is the
cloak room in a secured, yet viewable area?
10. Does the facility have enough chairs, tables,
linens, cutlery, plates, utensils, etc. to accommodate the number of
wedding guests?
11. Is there adequate room to set up a head table to
accommodate the wedding party?
12. Most importantly, does the site you are
considering have liability insurance?
Write down the answers to the above questions as you
visit each site (you should check out at least 3 locations). Pair up
your notes and digital pictures and then take the time to carefully look
everything over. If any further questions pop into your mind, write them
down and give the site a call back. Before booking your final choice, it
might be prudent to go back and have another look around.
Although doing all this may seem like a fair amount of
work, it really will help to give you a good perspective on each wedding
reception site that you visit. It's better to prepare ahead of time,
rather than to arrive and find out that your guests can barely move or
that food service is taking hours because the kitchen wasn't large
enough to properly handle serving the number of people at your
reception. That little bit of extra effort that you put into
pre-planning your reception will result in a much calmer and relaxed
reception the day of your wedding.
