Wedding Blog
With her permission, let me tell you about a “ballroom mistake” that’s befallen a friend of ours. She’s getting married in the same venue we are. The only difference is the room she’s having it in. Our venue (a hotel ballroom) has several ballrooms, but only one BIG one. This larger room can be separated into three individual rooms: A, B, and C. A is the smallest, B is the second smallest, and C is the largest. Our wedding is booked for the B and C ballrooms - we’re a November afternoon wedding, so we got those two rooms for the price of the A ballroom (with 150 guests).
Our friend has booked the A ballroom for her seating of one hundred guests on a Saturday night in April. The other day, she was saying she’s excited to see the venue and meet with the coordinator. I asked her why she hadn’t seen anything yet–not the venue or the coordinator! She said she was too busy and just booked it all over email and the phone. Unfortunately, now that she’s been there, she’s a little disappointed about how small the A ballroom is, but can only get a larger one if she has more guests. She’s a little mad at the hotel for this, even though she could have checked the site out herself at one point. So now, 11 days until before her wedding, she’s wondering if it’s too late to add more guests, or even change her food selections (to amp up the price to warrant a room change).
Now that we’re in a time of destination weddings and email contact, is it really strange to do all of your correspondence through phone and email, perusing websites online to scout your wedding venue? How many of you have booked a wedding site (pun intended) unseen? Are any of you planning to do it that way?
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eek! i would never book a venue without seeing it first. there was one venue that looked really pretty, and when i went to see it, it was sooo disappointing. i mean, extremely disappointing. i’m so glad that i didnt book it, even though it would have been dirt cheap.
Count me in! I’m working overseas right now and I knew if I waited until I got back to the U.S. that a lot of good places would be gone. I booked the reception venue (which includes the food and cake-no taste test) and my photographer all by e-mail/internet. I’ve seen a lot of photos, gotten a lot of recommendations from wedding websites and am hoping that it will all work out for the best. I’m waiting until I get back to book the florist and band since I feel these things need to be done in person and have a little more breathing room time wise.
Madness!!! We booked our band without seeing them live, but after watching a video of their performance. Other than that, I can’t imagine trusting photos that could be photoshopped or taken with a wide angle lens. Yikes!
Call me crazy - but we booked our golf course reception site without it even being built yet!! We got great prices and the floorplans and drawings look beautiful! Our wedding is July 2008 and the building won’t be complete until Nov 2007. So we’re just crossing our fingers that it’s as beautiful as we’re envisioning! (I made them change the contract so that our deposit is refundable if we are not fully satisfied.)
We live in Oregon and we’re getting married on Kauai and booked both the church and reception venue site unseen. Both of us are from Kauai so we have seen the reception venue but we have never seen the church.
I totally understand your friends concerns because sometimes I think to myself did I make the right decision by choosing that particular church.
We booked the homes we are renting for lodging, ceremony, and reception sight unseen. However, we know the area very well and know the hotel owners about 200 meters away. We have also seen a video walk-through of the properties.
I live in NJ, and my wedding will be in Hawaii. We have booked many vendors without seeing/meeting them. Fortunately, we did have an opportunity to go to Hawaii before the wedding (it makes it easier that I’m from there), so I narrowed it down to 3 choices for us to visit. Going there in person ended up being very important, because we chose the one site I had never been to and knew the least about. But it ended up being perfect for us.
The only vendor I met before hiring was the baker. Everything else was done entirely via email. Granted, we’re planning long-distance, but we’re thinking about adding a local event for the folks we couldn’t invite, and even that planning is being done online. Seriously: sites we can walk to, we email.
The first issue is convenience. I emailed the tent company around midnight a couple of weeks ago, and they responded when they got to work the next day. The second issue is that I am NOT a people person, not by any stretch of the imagination, and with email, not only do I not have to try to force myself to look someone in the eye (*shudder*), I also get the chance to carefully consider exactly what I want to say.
I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to just book a wedding venue via the website pics. Afterall, it’s difficult to imagine the layout without being there in person…also sometimes pics can be deceiving. Although I did book a Hair/Makeup person without a trial (Sachiko Yanese & Stacy)….does that make me a hypocrite?
I booked my wedding site unseen 
I booked it on recommendations, email, and website research
I will be booking everything via email - I’m in Hawaii getting married in Vegas. I’ll try to meet with vendors (we’re planning a trip next month) but I know I won’t be able to meet with everyone that I want to so I’m counting on other brides and their experiences.
I booked hair/makeup without a trial because they seemed to be the most popular in our area and things in Santa Barbara book up quickly for the summer. Just had my trial and I am very happy. I think I met with people and saw everything else before booking- even our transportation.
i live in california and am getting married in hawaii. i am booking *everything* sight unseen. aaack! (the only exception is the photographer — i am flying in a photographer from a neighboring island because photos are forever!) i am a bit nervous about it, but it has really forced me to change my mindset. rather than worry about every little detail in my control-freakish way, i am trusting that it will all work out. i’ve convinced myself that even if every little detail is not exactly the way i would have done it myself, the most important thing is that i am getting married to a wonderful man in a beautiful place with the people we love all around us. i think that overall, it’ll save me from myself =P
The only thing I’ve booked without meeting/seeing is our DOC. FI and I were too busy at the time to drive out to meet her, so we conducted the “interview” over the phone. All other correspondence so far has been through email.
I’m really glad we didn’t book our venues without going there first, though. My first choice venue (the pictues were gorgeous!) turned out to be a huge disappointment. In person, the facilities were shabby, the doors were chipping, the chandeliers were actually plastic with many “jewels” missing, and the outside of the hall (the hall was not connected to the hotel itself) was reminiscent of a cheap motel even though this was actually a well known, well respected, even slightly expensive hotel chain. ::shudders::
while all my research has been extensively online, i would definitely walk through my preferred venues before booking them. just so i can have a better feel for the place. i’m a visual person so i need to see exactly how big a place is before i’m comfortable [numbers mean nothing to me, lol]. but right now i’m pretty comfortable with the area i’d like to have our reception in [close to where i used to live] so i’m not totally clueless about what to expect. at least not from the outside.
but we are planning on having a civil ceremony in jamaica before the big family/friend wedding so that most likely will be booked sight unseen but based on recs and reviews.
I booked my ceremony site after only seeing the website and the outside of the building, but the deposit wasn’t SO much that I always thought, once I DO see it, if I hate it, I’ll just abandon ship. Luckily, when I did get a chance to go home again, and see it, it was just perfect! I also had to book my band w/just phone/email contact. We’ve heard their demo cd, and just have to take their word for it!
It’s really hard planning the entire event from afar, especially when it’s not in a big city, and there aren’t THAT many good vendors to pick from…you’ve got to put down deposits or risk being screwed!
i might have to book my wedding site long-distance. getting married in hawaii, and planning from l.a. i did a walk-through of several of the venues last month during spring break though, but i still am not fully sold on anything. so trying to get out there this summer to nail down a contract, but if that doesn’t happen, then it will be over email. IF over email, it will probably be with one of the venues that i did get to personally see.
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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