After saying yes to Kalvin, there came the hustle bustle of wedding preparations. I don’t want to lie to you, but wedding preparation was more of the effort part than the fun part. Even though the people around me had been emphasizing the importance of enjoying the moment, it was still a challenge for me.

So I get it. The challenge, the rush, and the anxiety. Therefore, today I would like to help you with one big decision: how to choose your wedding venue. Your wedding venue is probably one of the biggest decisions for your wedding day. It will take up to almost half of the whole wedding budget – if not more. So here are the five things to determine in choosing your wedding venue.

FIRST: Determine the range of the guest number

The first thing Kalvin and I did in choosing our wedding venue was to determine the range of our guest number. It wasn’t the exact number but we set the ballpark number of our guests while listing it down from early on. We did add it up later, but it was still within the approximation.

SECOND: Determine the budget

This was probably our first challenge as a couple: money talk. It was tough, but we know we should get through it. We had to determine how much was the most comfortable number for both Kalvin and me to spend on the wedding venue.

THIRD: Determine the wedding date

Budget and guests played important role in determining our wedding date – apart from both sides of our family and other factors. But if you are flexible, then you are very lucky because you can cheat your budget around the date. Weddings on weekends are the most popular – but they are meant to be the most expensive days. If you are actually bounded by no cultural rule or other considerations, you can consider moving it to weekdays. You might also consider choosing your wedding date in the low season. But you still have to keep in mind that there are ‘high and low seasons’ for a reason, like the weather.

FOURTH: Determine the wedding style

I had so much fun (and headache) when choosing our wedding style. I scrolled down my Pinterest feed nonstop to borderline obsessive. This is where you can answer the fun question like: what kind of wedding do you want? Will it be formal or informal? Traditional or modern? Day or night? Indoor or outdoor? Garden or beach? What kind of color palette do you want?

FIFTH: Determine the accessibility of your wedding venue

We chose Khayangan Estate because it checked all of our list above and it was easy to access. Accessibility might mean various things for each couple: from the parking lot to the actual geographical area. If you are planning a destination wedding like us, it is important to make sure that your guests are up for it and the logistics of getting them to your site.

Photo by Andreas Hartanto from Axioo