Depending on your wedding budget and wedding planning experience, you can use either an all-inclusive wedding venue or a DIY wedding location for your big day. Both variants are possible and have their own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s only up to you what plan of action to pick. Though, count your wedding budget very carefully and always read the contract thoroughly to know exactly the conditions of your cooperation with the venue. What other pieces of advice do we have for you? Let’s find out.
First of all, let’s define what we mean when talking about all-inclusive and DIY wedding venues. An all-inclusive venue usually covers your wedding catering, bar, and rentals (tables, chairs, glasses, etc). But there is a whole variety of options and different offers – some wedding venues even cover a wedding photographer, wedding décor, DJ, and many other issues. When you’re making an arrangement with the venue, find out what exactly they cover and provide. If talking about a DIY wedding venue, they usually provide only a location a little more, everything else you have to plan by yourself, including hiring caterers, a photographer, buying beverages, ordering all of the rentals, and so on.
So, what are the pluses and minuses of each scheme?
Budget
A lot of people think that DIY wedding planning is always cheaper than all-inclusive events, and usually, it is so but not necessarily. Especially if you don’t have the experience of organizing such large events and don’t have a wedding planner to help you. Also, some wedding locations require building an open-air kitchen because they don’t have one, while an all-inclusive venue already has everything they need.
Large wedding venues often can contact a rental company and find what you want easier than you would on your own. Sometimes, they even can get a better price for the rentals, as they’re a regular customer and have discounts.
But still, in most cases, your wedding budget will be larger if you’re working with an all-inclusive wedding venue. Simply because they take on all of the planning and help you organize the wedding with as little effort from you as possible. Remember also that an all-inclusive location usually has additional conditions, like the minimum number of wedding guests or minimal sum of money you’ll have to pay for the catering.
Time
Obviously, organizing a wedding in a DIY location will demand a lot more time from you or your wedding planner. With an all-inclusive wedding venue, you can find an offer according to your budget and desires, just read the contract carefully to know for sure what you pay for. In any case, you’ll have to do some planning and organizing (read: spend your time) by yourself no matter what wedding venue you choose.
Personalized details
Some couples want to have a unique and special wedding and they’re ready to be creative, to spend a lot of time and effort to make their wedding as personalized as possible. Others want every little detail to be fashionable and perfect, trends mean to them more than DIY, so they need a wedding planner to help them make everything according to the latest trends. There are also people who like classic and want their wedding to be as traditional or as classic as possible. Each situation has the right to be, but it also influences your choice of a wedding venue – on a DIY location you’re able to add more personal details, while an all-inclusive venue will, most probably, give you only a number of options to choose from, with little creativity.
Responsibility and decision making
You might be surprised but this is an important issue. Are you a person who likes planning, making decisions, and communicating with people? Then a DIY venue might fit you better. If not, this whole wedding planning process will be so stressful for you and a hired wedding planner, and an all-inclusive wedding location (with a venue coordinator) might save you a lot of nerves.
The best way to decide what to choose is to understand your priorities and expectations. If you can’t or won’t spend a ton of your time on wedding planning and want everything to be top-notch, think about an all-inclusive wedding venue. If you can’t afford a costly wedding and want to save some money, maybe a DIY wedding is for you, especially if you have some experience in organizing big events or have a wedding planner or at least love planning. You can always research and compare two potential wedding budgets – for an all-inclusive venue and for a DIY venue.
