by sarah • November 7, 2022 • Wedding Planning Guides
You’ve decided you’re getting married – and quickly! That’s great news. Lots of couples choose to tie the knot sooner rather than later.
Some want to get a wedding arranged quickly because they have future plans – house moves, a baby on the way or something else in mind. Others might have a change in family circumstances that necessitates a fast wedding. And some simply cannot wait to spend the rest of their lives together as a happily married couple.
It’s a super exciting time and there’s lots and lots to organise and prepare for. First up, is finding that perfect last-minute wedding venue.
Don’t worry – it’s completely possible. You don’t need to compromise on a dream wedding venue – not with our top tips..
Firstly, you’ll want to try and be as flexible with your dates as possible. Yes, you want a quick wedding – great. But the chances are the most desirable wedding venues will have their weekend booked up for months to come.
But that’s OK – just plan for a weekday wedding instead.
You’ll probably find lots of wedding venues have last minute availability during the week, so if it works for you and your guests, it’s a great option.
If it must be a weekend, try and plan on getting married off-season, like early Spring if you get engaged over Christmas, or late autumn if your partner proposes during the summer.
You might get lucky too. Some venues have late cancellations or the occasional Saturday available for a wedding – all you have to do is ask.
As well as keeping your dates flexible, you’ll also want to make sure you keep an open mind with regards to location. It’s best to search a wider area than you might normally think to look – just to make sure you don’t miss that dream venue that has last minute availability.
You can’t afford to be specific about the exact venue or area you might want if you’re short on time.
But you could find a gem just outside your search area – one that your guests will happily travel to. (If you’re saving money with last minute deals, you could even put on transport if your venue is a little further afield.)
Take Heaton House Farm for example. If you wanted to get married in a wedding venue in Cheshire, we might not fit your criteria (we’re actually in Staffordshire). But we’re RIGHT on the border with Cheshire, the perfect location for many couples looking for a dream wedding venue (rather than a specific area).
We recommend being as open as possible with regards to your schedule and order of the day too.
If you’re having a civil ceremony, you’ll need to make sure a registrar is available on the same day as the last-minute availability at your chosen wedding. That can take a bit of coordination.
2pm tends to be the most common time for a wedding, so why not have a twilight ceremony if you’ve got your heart set on a date and a venue and have one meal lead straight into your party.
Any ceremony time can work perfectly for your big day, with the right venue and organisation. Be sure to get make sure your wedding venue includes all day hire – you don’t want to be paying extra to stay until the evening if you have a morning wedding.
Instead, you want a venue that offers all day exclusivity, like Heaton House Farm. The last thing you’ll want is a venue that squeezes you in next to another wedding just to make some extra last-minute cash.
Catering is another thing you might have to worry about and rush to organise if you’re having a last-minute wedding – unless you find the perfect venue.
If you find a venue that has in-house catering, then there’s a high chance that if they have last-minute availability for a wedding, they’ll be able to take care of all your food requirements too.
It means less hassle and less worry for you. You don’t need to scramble around trying to find suitable caterers and hoping against hope that they have last-minute availability too.
Instead, the venue can take care of everything.
At Heaton House Farm for example, our brand new on-site catering team – Stable Yard Catering – has last-minute availability like our venue, and our outstanding chefs have a range of carefully crafted menus, ready for you to choose from.
You don’t need to be stuck with having one single menu just because you’re using a venue’s in-house team. We know what works best with weddings of all shapes and sizes, and we have several different menus ready for you to sample with us. We can confirm your choices and have everything in place for a quick wedding without any problems.
That’s a really important point to remember. Just because you’re planning a quick wedding doesn’t mean you need to compromise on your venue – or anything else for that matter.
Yes, you need to be flexible – and there will be some things that just aren’t possible given your timescales. But that doesn’t mean you need to settle for second best.
You shouldn’t settle for a wedding venue just because you’re getting married soon. This is your big day – and you still deserve to make sure it’s as wonderful as possible.
If a venue doesn’t quite tick your boxes, don’t book it just because they have a date available.
If they’re trying to say you can’t have the arrangements you want because it’s last minute or restricting your access to certain areas (or even charging you more because of the rush booking), then don’t agree to it.
Your perfect last-minute wedding venue should still be able to accommodate every wish and dream for your big day – even if it takes a bit of quick organisation!
Last-minute weddings aren’t that unusual anymore, so don’t let anyone at your chosen venue hint that you’re being a burden.
The wedding coordinators and the staff should all be accustomed to a late wedding, and they should have no trouble helping you with all the arrangements you need.
At Heaton House Farm for example, our award-winning events team can handle just about anything you can throw at them – they take last-minute weddings in their stride.
They’d all actually be more than willing to make sure you can pull off your dream wedding – doing whatever it takes to help you put all the plans in place.
Most importantly, when you’re looking for that perfect last-minute wedding venue, don’t panic.
You will find it, it might take a bit of searching, and you might need to be flexible on dates and time, but you’ll find a venue that you’ll fall in love with.
And when you find that right venue, with the right team to support you, everything will come together perfectly for your dream wedding.
GREAT NEWS – We have some last-minute availability for wedding this year at Heaton House Farm! Call us now to check possible dates and arrange your personal showaround.
