How to get the most out of your venue-viewing trip
Venue: Tenuta San Lorenzo Vecchio
Road trip baby! Before you go full-steam ahead organising your venue-viewing trip, read our top 6 tips below which will help make sure your trip is not only organised but stress-free and enjoyable. Read on to find out how to avoid the most common pitfalls (we see them time and time again) and how to maximise your itinerary, while still having plenty of time for a Spritz.
Produce a clear shortlist.
Before you go shortlist the venues. It’s not a case of the more the merrier, see the ones that you are really considering, otherwise it can be confusing and overwhelming. Visiting too many venues means you can’t really take the place in, the spaces, the area around them as it’s just too much info to remember. We’ve heard couples say they’ve made this mistake time and time again and they barely remember the location they end up choosing as it has all blended in to one. We would recommend creating a shortlist of 3-5 venues and sticking with that.
Create a realistic itinerary.
If you want to take a proper look at a venue and the surrounding area, plan to see 2/3 venues in a day. Obviously this depends on how far apart they are. Even if you’re looking in just one region, there can often be >1 hr between each venue. Make sure you build in time to enjoy some amazing food and drink! It’s a draining trip and you need to come away feeling like you’ve had a real taste of Italy.
Check that the venues can host you before you book flights.
They may have weddings / guests staying and not be able to host you which would be a disaster! Make sure you get your appointments confirmed before booking your trip.
Hire a car.
It’s by far the easiest way to get around and means you get to really explore. Don’t be afraid of driving – while Italian’s drive fast, they’re very, very good drivers.
Print out your venue comparison chart.
As you go around, rate your venue and take notes. No one will judge you for doing so!
To make sure you have considered everything, get your hands on our Italian Wedding Tracker which includes (among MANY other things) a detailed Venue Comparison chart. This will help you score each venue based on your own personal criteria and make sure you have recorded all of the important details.
Place an option.
If you love a venue on the spot, but need a little more time to think, ask the venue to place an option on dates for you. This should give you a week or so to make your decision and means that no one else can book those dates.
We do hope this is useful. If you’re going on a venue-viewing trip soon we would love to see what you get up to - tag @_lalista in your Instagram stories so we can get involved!
Starting to think about finding that perfect caterer? Check out our directory of highly recommended culinary masters, you won’t be disappointed. We also have a great article on How to Choose Your Italian Wedding Menu, with lots of tips from our resident catering Queen and La Lista founder Danielle.
As usual, the couples Facebook group is the place to be for the most up to date information and we'll take questions and deal with individual scenarios in there.
Written by Lucy White, Founder of La Lista & Wiskow & White, with over 5 years and 150 weddings worth of experience.
