How to Find Your Dream Wedding Venue on a Budget
By Becky Rogers, WeddingVenueMap.com
Congratulations! You’re engaged and now you’re on the hunt for your dream wedding venue on a budget. Maybe you’ve already started with the help of family and friends or you’ve done some deep diving on the internet to help you figure what the perfect ceremony and reception space look like to celebrate your love.
Rachel Doyle Photography | Azalea Lodge at Mead Botanical Gardens
Before You Start Searching
Information you need to get started
There are a few things you and your partner will need to discuss before beginning your search for that perfect wedding venue. First you’ll need to decide what time of year you plan to get married or if there’s a special date or day of the week that you plan to tie the knot on.
It’s important to know so that you don’t waste your time falling in love with a venue that already has the date you’re set on reserved for another couple. If you have no preference of date or day of the week, it’s good to have a month or two you’d prefer to hold your wedding.
Live Happy Studio | Venue on the Lake
The second thing that’s important to know before searching for a venue is the guest count, making a list of people you absolutely couldn’t have that special day without and another list with everyone you’d like to invite including those must have guests. When you start looking for venues, you’ll want to look for venues that have the capacity to hold the entire guest list.
The third, most important, discussion you will need to have with your fiancé before searching officially begins, is the budget. This should be the budget for the entire wedding, once you have that we recommend having a consultation with a local professional wedding planner to get a better idea of what your budget will get you.
It’s hard to know what things cost and how far your budget will actually reach. Especially in terms of the amount you really have for the venue rental and catering since this is the largest portion of your budget.
Dreamscape Photography | Altamonte Chapel
Do you know what you’re looking for?
Before you begin searching for local wedding venues on a budget, you should know the overall vision for the entire location as well as the ceremony, photograph areas, and reception spaces. This is the time where you might decide if you like barns, ballrooms, resorts, beaches, or any other style wedding venues.
Along with the style, you should decide if outdoors/indoors matters to you for either ceremony or reception space and which you would prefer for these.
Lori Barbely Photography | Trellis 925
Keeping Track of The Venues You’ll See
Chances are, when you’re looking at venues with similar styles it can be hard to remember which included specific features, what their prices were, and what stood out the most to you and your partner.
To avoid getting confused or overwhelmed, create a system that works best for you to keep track of the venues, something such as a notebook, word document, spreadsheet, or anything else that helps you remember key findings.
Some of the items you should include would be:
- Name
- Price for weekdays (with tax and service charges included)
- Price for Friday & Sunday (with tax and service charges included)
- Price for Saturday (with tax and service charges included)
- Hours allotted for rental
- Website (to easily find their gallery and information again)
With this list, there are plenty of other amenities or features that may stand out as important when searching and you may want to add those to the system as well.
Captured by Elle | Art & History Museums Maitland
Beginning Steps to Finding Your Dream Wedding Venue
Venue Budget
After all of the preliminary work is done and you’ve worked with a local planner or resource to figure out the breakdown of wedding costs in your area, you should have a better understanding of what each of those vendors costs and you can determine the realistic amount you have to spend on just the reception and ceremony venue.
Jennifer Nicole Photography | Ever After Farms
Resources in your area
Finding the perfect wedding venue on a budget can be hard to sort through all of the venues that don’t fit for you. Luckily there are free resources for engaged couples, such as ours i n Central Florida, that can help to narrow down the list for you to save time without sorting through all of those wedding venues yourself.
The Wedding Venue Map is a print and online resource for engaged couples to locate and search through over 400 Central Florida wedding venues with over 40 different ways to filter through them. Our online venue search allows you to find the style, price range, ceremony and reception settings, as well as other unique settings that fit your venue vision the best.
Live Happy Studio | Bridle Oaks Barn
These kinds of resources will help you do preliminary searching to discover more of the things you like or don’t like about venues and to discover the venues you eventually want to tour in person.
Be sure during this time to keep track of any venues that stand out to you and any of the information that will be helpful later in narrowing down the wedding venues that will be the best considerations.
Jennifer Nicole Photography | Field Manor
Narrowing Venues Down
Considering The Comparisons
At this point, you should have a list compiled of the venues that have fit your style, ceremony and reception requirements, and overall vision. The next step to narrowing your list into your top favorites that you’ll schedule tours with is to eliminate based on price range.
If you’re working to find a wedding venue on a budget, then the cost of the rental will need to be an important factor in determining those to move lower on the list. From here sort your list by the top picks based on the online research you’ve already done.
Captured by Elle | Bending Branch Ranch
Scheduling a Tour and Making The Most Out of It
Taking the time to schedule a tour is significant to deciding on a wedding venue, it gives you the opportunity to see the entire place including spaces that might not be easily seen during research.
Start with a few tours of the top 4-5 venues on your list, take the tours and if by some chance you’re not in love with any of them you can head to the next ones on the rest of your list.
Dreamscape Photography | The Delamater House
Questions to Ask
During your time on the tour, chances are you’ll have questions about the property itself, but there are some important questions you should be asking if you’re looking for that wedding venue on a budget. Knowing if they require specific vendors, especially catering company limitations, can affect whether or not it still fits your budget.
Other factors to consider might be how many hours are allotted on the day of, what spaces you’re free to use during your wedding, and if there are tables and chairs included in the rental if so what they look like. If you’re planning to have an outdoor ceremony around the time the sun would begin to set, a crucial question to ask is where the sun sets on their property.
Write down any other questions you might have for each specific venue, no matter how small, these are questions that may have answers to help in making your final decision.
Live Happy Studio | Orlando Science Center
Deciding
After you’ve gone on every wedding venue tour you and your fiancé wanted to see in person, there should be a relatively clear pick of which one or two venues stood out most. There might be an obvious fit for your vision and budget but if you’ve fallen in love with a space slightly out of your budget on the date you chose, there are ways to see if you can make it work without increasing the budget.
Considering another day of the week rather than just Saturday like Friday or Sunday or even a weekday. Consider narrowing the guest list even further to the people that truly are the most important part of your wedding day may help your dream venue fit your budget.
If you have trouble deciding what would be the best fit for your perfect wedding day, this is where a local wedding professional or your wedding planner can provide those well informed suggestions. The Wedding Venue Map team is also always available to help engaged couples find that perfect wedding venue in the Central Florida area.
If this was helpful for you, please check out our Music Remembrance wedding music guides, tips and song lists.
Top 10 Traditional String Wedding Music Songs
There are many beautiful classical pieces string wedding music. These are what I believe are the ten most popular for wedding ceremonies.
String wedding music is elegant and understated. It stands alone and creates a sophisticated elegant mood. To add royal grandeur to the bridal entrance, add a fanfare before the bride on fanfare trumpets or add a trumpet, organ, brass quartet or quintet to the bridal processional song. I am suggesting songs below that this works especially well with.
1 Canon in D by Pachelbel
This beautiful and elegant song has a calm sophisticated sound. It is commonly called Pachelbel’s Canon and is often seen spelled in its original German spelling of kanon. Because of its mellow sound it is often used for bridesmaids or for brides that would like an understated elegant entrance rather that a grand royal entrance. This song is probably the most famous string wedding music.
2. Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring by Bach
You may not be familiar with the name of this song but I think almost everyone will recognize it. It is understated and elegant and often used for mother’s seating, bridal party or for an elegant bridal entrance.
3. Wedding March by Mendelssohn
This song is the traditional song for the recessional (bridal party exit music at the end of the wedding ceremony). You will recognize this one right away. Most Catholic and some other churches do not allow this song because it is not a sacred song.
4. Bridal Chorus also known as Here Comes the Bride by Wagner
This is the most traditional song for the bridal processional and is familiar to everyone. It is so recognizable that it is only used for the bride and would not be a good choice for the bridal party. If it is used people may stand, expecting the bride. Most Catholic and some other churches do not allow this song because it is not a sacred song.
5. La Rejouissance by Handel
This grand piece is used for processionals and recessionals. Adds a royal flair to your wedding. Some brides and grooms add brass or organ to bump it up another notch.
6. Trumpet Voluntary, J. Clarke
This wedding song is also commonly know as The Prince of Denmark March. You will also find the Trumpet Voluntary incorrectly listed as being composed by Purcell. It is often confused with Trumpet Tune which is another wedding song. The Trumpet Voluntary is most commonly performed on the trumpet but sounds elegant performed by violin, string quartet and other string wedding ensembles. For a more grand entrance, add a trumpet to your string trio, string quartet or string orchestra.
7. Air on the G String by Bach
Often called Air from Suite in D, This subdued beautiful song will make your heart melt. Most often used for prelude, unity candle, sand ceremony, mother’s seating, it can be breathtaking for a bridal entrance.
8. The Hornpipe from the Water Music by Handel
This Upbeat Royal sounding music is used most often for the wedding recessional (the bridal party exit back down the aisle after the ceremony). This song couldn’t be more celebratory sounding. It is also occasionally used for the bridal party or bride processional. To make a jaw dropping celebratory song, add trumpet, organ, brass quartet or quintet.
9. Ave Maria by Schubert
This song is beautiful and reflective with a subdued quality. Used commonly for prelude, unity candle, sand ceremony and mother’s seating it is also used often for bridal party processional music and bridal entrance music. This song is perfect for church weddings and is a standard for Catholic weddings. There are many composers that have written songs named Ave Maria so make sure to specify to your wedding musicians. The Schubert Ave Maria is most often confused with the lesser known but also beautiful Ave Maria by Bach.
10. A Little Night Music by Mozart
This piece is most commonly referred to with its German name Serenade from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. This song will be very familiar to your guests. It can be used for all parts of the ceremony.
Two more popular string wedding music songs to consider
Trumpet Tune by Purcell and Rondeau by Mouret These two songs are best known for being performed on brass instruments but are very commonly played by solo violin, string quartet and other wedding string music ensembles. They are used for all parts of the ceremony except unity candle and sand ceremony. For extra grandeur and trumpet, organ, brass quartet or quintet.
Now it’s time to decide which wedding string ensemble is the best for your wedding. You may choose from everything from solo violin to string orchestra. Click here for tips for selecting the perfect string ensemble for you and lists of wedding string ensembles. For more wedding music tips & ideas visit our blog.
New Orleans Band Parade
A New Orleans band parade is historically for funerals and are now used for funerals, weddings and events. The New Orleans parade was originally performed by dixieland jazz bands or dixieland brass bands in the early 1900’s. The dixieland band processes to the grave site performing slow sad music like “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”. After the funeral service the band plays upbeat dixieland songs like “When the Saints Go Marching In” to celebrate their loved one going to heaven to be with God. Now the celebratory part of the tradition is also used for weddings and events.
The New Orleans band parade is often called “second line” parade. This is because when the parades were first done, there would traditionally be a “second line” of people marching along with the band.
Events Using New Orleans Band Parades and Music
- Funerals: Traditionally the parade is at the cemetery. The dixieland band processional leads family and friends on foot, or in cars, to the gravesite. The band performs slow jazz funeral music until everyone gathers at the graveside. After the service the dixieland jazz band performs upbeat New Orleans jazz music to celebrate their loved one’s transition to heaven.
- Memorials: New Orleans jazz music at the memorial service. The band provides prelude music (music before the memorial service), service music hymns and postlude music or parade out of the service music. The postlude or exit processional parade music is traditionally upbeat second line music celebrating a love one’s transition to heaven.
- Weddings: Use jazz brass band parades for your wedding ceremony recessional (walk back down the aisle at the end of the wedding ceremony) for a memorable surprise for your wedding guests. Some wedding couples like A parade starting right after you walk back down the aisle. The most popular New Orleans wedding parade is a parade from the ceremony to the cocktail hour or the cocktail hour to the reception. What a fun surprise for your guests instead of being herded from cocktails to the reception. A trumpet performing a fanfare to get everyone’s attention and then inviting everyone to join the parade.
- Conventions/meetings: Wake up everyone at your morning meetings with a New Orleans Brass Band parade though the room performing fun interactive music. Imagine your CEO leading the parade with a traditional New Orleans umbrella.
- Parties and Events: Nothing livens up a party more than dixieland jazz music. Choose soft background music or a fun lively performance.
Costumes
Different brass band costumes for different occasions
- Funerals: The traditional New Orleans band parade Costume (pictured above)
- Weddings: The traditional New Orleans band parade costume (pictured) with mardi gras beads
- Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras Parades & Parties: The traditional New Orleans parade costume with mardi gras beads or purple, green and gold mardi gras costumes
Hire A New Orleans Band Parade
In Orlando, Florida, Central Florida and Florida contact Music Remembrance for an authentic New Orleans style brass band performing dixieland second line music. A large selection of different size brass jazz bands are available. If you would like, the band continues performing for your event after the parade.
While booking a second line parade, mardi gras parade, dixieland parade, jazz parade, funeral processional, and New Orleans wedding parade, ask your musicians if they are full time performers to get the best bands available. Music Remembrance uses all full time professional musicians.
New Orleans Band parades make your funeral, wedding or event memorable. We hope to be a part or your event. Please let us know how we can serve you.
