Top Things for Couples with Large Weddings to Look for in Their Wedding Venue

A large wedding makes finding a wedding venue more challenging than a smaller wedding venue, as there are more things to consider to make sure your wedding is a beautiful and memorable one.

Here are 5 things to consider as you look for a wedding venue for guest counts > 175.

1) Overall Capacity

• Confirm that the venue’s official capacity meets or exceeds your guest count.
• Check for well-designed traffic flow: large weddings can get congested, so multiple entrances, wide hallways, and spacious seating arrangements matter.

2) Capacity and Layout of Reception Room with Dance Floor

• Take a look at the reception room layout with the dance floor - the larger the guest count, the more a room has tradeoffs between the seating for guests and the room for everyone to get on the dance floor
• Check site lines from across the room. Larger spaces sometimes have large columns or installed elements that make it so guests feel separated from the festivities due to blocked site lines, distance from the couple, or dimensions of several rooms that have been combined together

3) Other Spaces Available for Ceremony or Cocktail Hour

• A roomy reception space should be paired with roomy areas for the ceremony or wedding party entrance into a cocktail hour.
• Watch out for venues with a single room that will require a "flip", as that can dramatically change what's possible for your decor and layouts. The labor required to do this can also dramatically increase chances for issues and costs.

4) Vertical Height and Outdoor Break areas

• Putting a larger group into a single room can create feelings of claustrophobia or sensory overload for some of your guests. We recommend seeking out more vertical space (we have 30' ceilings!) or some break areas/ outdoor spaces to allow people to get the sense that there is space to breathe
• Larger groups will tend to have people who want to go outdoors to cool off or to take a breathe of fresh air (or smoke). Outdoor break areas are popular and can let introverts center themselves and re-energize.

5) Flow Estimates for Catering And Bar

• Large weddings by default generate long lines when using approaches designed for smaller groups. Add elements that add friction, like a cash bar, and the party becomes a long frustrating queue rather than an engaging affair. Couples should look for elements that catering and bar are doing to increase service and reduce friction, including adding additional access points, creating speed lines, maintaining service ratios, passing champagne, wine, or signature drinks
• Ask about ratios for maintaining timing - larger weddings often add additional buffet lines to break up queues, have additional staff allocated to passed service during the initial service, and generally create elements that can handle the initial rush of a hungry and thirsty crowd coming in at once