We chose our wedding venue at the first one we saw [Venue Hunting]

Introduction

Hi, I’m kittchy.

I proposed on February 8. I handed over the ring, got my answer, and thought that was a milestone. In reality, nothing moves forward until you have a venue. The date, the number of guests, the budget: everything hangs on it.

That said, I had no idea what venue hunting involves. This article is a record of what happened at our first venue tour and how we ended up booking that first venue.

It started at a booth at a ring fair

We went to a wedding ring fair in Omotesando. We went for the rings. But there were also some booths there with nothing to do with rings, and one of them was introducing wedding venues.

They called out to us, we listened, and before we knew it we’d booked a tour. We didn’t start looking for a venue ourselves; the venue came to us.

We only had two conditions

I assumed setting conditions would be where we argued most. It was over almost anticlimactically fast, because my partner already had a fairly clear picture of the wedding she wanted.

• Greenery: a venue where you can step outside rather than staying inside a building
• Exclusive use of the whole building: we didn’t want to share the day with another wedding

On top of that came our own situation. I’m from Toyama and my partner is from Tokushima, so our relatives travel to Tokyo from far away. We wanted a place guests could get to directly after arriving at Tokyo Station.

So we decided to tour Akasaka Applause Square Geihinkan, which met those conditions.

The day started before 8 a.m.

We went on March 28. Only early slots were open, so our tour started at 7 or 8 in the morning. We left home rubbing our sleepy eyes, and while we waited in front of the ticket gates at the nearest station, someone in a suit came to pick us up and guided us there.

First, we filled out questionnaires

As soon as we arrived, we were asked to fill out all kinds of questionnaires: favorite music, hobbies, favorite food. We thought we’d come for a quick look, so I didn’t really understand why we were filling in something like a profile book.

Then our planner talked us through what the wedding could look like: the venue’s colors, the atmosphere on the day, how the light comes in. I could tell they were working hard to help us picture ourselves standing there.

Our questionnaire answers started playing

The moment we moved into the chapel, the songs we had just written on the questionnaire started playing: RADWIMPS’ “Last Virgin,” which I wrote, and ELLEGARDEN’s “Marry Me,” which my partner wrote.

It caught us completely off guard. I knew in my head it was staged, yet the venue suddenly looked better than it really was. Isn’t that unfair?

By the way, when I reread the lyrics to write this article, I realized ELLEGARDEN’s “Marry Me” is sung by someone watching the person they love marry someone else. It’s a breakup song.

So we were moved, in the chapel of our own wedding venue, by a breakup song. Neither of us noticed in the slightest that day; we just stood side by side looking like “what a lovely song…”. Read the lyrics before you pick the songs for your wedding.

They even served drinks and food

There’s a garden-like space where guests can stand, drink, and chat. Maybe to give us a feel for it, they actually served the drinks and food that would be offered at the party.

Apparently, if we ask the chef, they can serve specialties from Toyama and Tokushima on the day. On top of that, within the short tour, the staff had looked up specialties from both prefectures. Impressive.

At the end we went back to the office and they let us try the food served at the wedding. I remember the meat being incredibly tender.

The hard part: four hours on our feet

The tour took about four hours in total, and we were standing almost the whole time.

Were we going to do this again at another venue, or several more? The moment I thought that, I honestly felt it was a hassle. The hardest part of choosing a venue wasn’t the comparison itself but the stamina it takes to compare.

What we decided

At the quote stage, two discounts were applied: one for coming in an early slot, and one for this being our first venue tour. Together with other discounts, the price came down by about 500,000 yen. I won’t share the total here, but the size of the drop alone made a big difference.

We had agreed beforehand: “If there’s even one minus, we walk away.” We listed things out together before leaving the venue, and this is the conversation that came out.

It’s expensive… what do we do… I’m breaking into a cold sweat… But there wasn’t anything bad, was there… it was beautiful, the location’s good… it’s a bit small, but we’re not inviting that many people…

The only sticking point was the size. But since we aren’t inviting many guests in the first place, we didn’t count it as a minus.

We still hesitated. Was it okay to decide after seeing only one venue? Wouldn’t there be a better one if we looked elsewhere? Breaking into a cold sweat, we chose this one.

What we gave up was the option of seeing other venues. We decided without any sense of market prices, and I want to be honest about that. Both conditions were met, there were no minuses, and the discount was only for the first venue, so we paid the cost of not comparing.

What’s next

The wedding will be around June next year, and we paid a 200,000-yen deposit. Seeing that amount did make me break into a cold sweat, but I have no regrets.

For a while now, we’ll be telling people what’s been decided: parents, friends, the people we plan to invite. With the venue and date set, we can finally say “we’re doing it next June.”

Apparently planning meetings with the venue start about six months before the wedding. Before then we need to fill in our wishes in a handbook, but we haven’t even opened it yet. Meanwhile, choosing a dress and figuring out the money have come up too.

Closing

We spent four hours on our feet from before 8 a.m. and booked the first venue on the spot. It may look like we decided on impulse, but our conditions were set beforehand, so all that remained was checking there were no minuses.

If you’re about to tour wedding venues, it may be worth asking up front how much the early-slot and first-venue discounts are worth. For us, they moved the price by 500,000 yen.

Once the planning meetings start, I’ll write about them. See you.