Things to ask a venue before touring…
SKIP TO THE BOTTOM TO GET THE FREE 9 PAGE GUIDE: WHAT TO ASK VENUES Yeah, it can be quickly overwhelming to think through all the different options, services to compare and narrow down so many great options. Most people will tell you that the first step is to pick a date and a venue location. We are going to stop you right there though because being a venue we disagree. If you jump right into the search for a venue without a little prep work you are going to be quickly overwhelmed and stressed. Worse, you could end up stuck in a situation that you later realize is not what you truly want for your wedding experience had you known sooner. So that is where we are going to start in this blog, so that we can really help you out - no reason to tell you where the finish line is if you don't know were to even sign up for the race right? Before you start clicking on those venue contact pages here are the steps you should take first to avoid unnecessary stress - and so you can feel confident in your choices. In the end, we have a free guide for you - 9 pages filled with specific questions to ask before you visit venues, why you should ask them, and worksheets to keep you organized when doing it.  Step 1: Guest Count Of course, no one is expecting you to know exactly who is coming to your wedding, and right now this should just be a working list that may change over the next couple of months. To make your wedding guest list there are a few areas to consider.
 Step 2: Budget Again, don’t think you have to have it all together right now. As you begin getting quotes you may see that you want or can adjust your budget. Having a general sense of the amount you can or will use for your celebration is very important. Without this conversation and decision, you can easily end up in a place spending more than you ever wanted to. I mean, have you seen all those TikToks of brides going over budget in every category? Yeah, let's not do that - what do you think? Let's take a breath, figure out this whole planning thing and then tackle it like a pro. Specifically, you want to determine the amount you want to spend on your venue. The tricky part is that some venues are very basic whereas others include catering, linens, staff, sometimes bar packages, and more. The comparison of each one can be, well honestly - a pain. It can also mean a lot of research on your hands if you haven’t hired a professional planner that you trust to give you general costs and values. The goal is that you don’t jump into a venue blindly and end up spending thousands more than you wanted, or if your budget is not a concern, that you don’t end up stuck with options/vendors you don’t want.  Step 3: Your Vision This is probably your favorite part - ours too. I would bet you already have this part pretty much figured out. Hate to break it to you though, style-wise the guest table and wedding cake décor parts are not the most important right now. The overall vibes of your day though - now that’s what we want to focus on. Do you picture a certain time of year? Celebrating in the summer sun, or a cool winter day are drastically different. If you envision yourself having an outdoor wedding on a rooftop venue in the city or surrounded by trees, nature, and your pups it will help guide your search. What you two want to focus on and should be thinking more of is the setting you want to welcome your guests into. Think of it as finding your dream house and then filling it with your décor. Find the venue that allows you the ambiance you’re seeking to not limit your vision as it comes together over the next few months. Once you have narrowed down your overall style you will know if there is a certain time of year you want to say I do. Then you can narrow it down even more to fit your lifestyle.  Step 4: Set Your Priorities This one! Ooh yes, you have to figure out what is on your dream list and matters to you. Of course, saying I do and getting married is the first thing so let’s not count that one. Moving to the next - focus on what you will be spending money on and what is the most exciting to you. For some people it is florals, others it is photography or maybe yours is unique touches like a coffee truck. These top items are where you want to make sure you’re choosing a venue that 1) allows your vision 2) has room for what you have planned (especially if a mobile truck) and 3) is not going to steal part of the funds you were going to use for those special touches. The thing about it is, choosing your venue is the first investment most make for their day and it also is one of the biggest portions of your budget. Going over means you have to give room somewhere else - and trust us no matter how much you love your venue if it means 6 months later you realize you don’t get that dream honeymoon you will be bumming a bit and no venue wants that. As a venue team, we can promise you that venues are excited about hosting your wedding, and we are thrilled to see the wedding vision and style you come up with! Even more than that - we are counting down the days for your wedding and we would never want you having second thoughts about choosing us. Whether you are engaged or pre-engaged (we see you boo) having a realistic grasp on these will really help you as you take that first big step into planning. Half of it is fun, like exciting make your style board and dive down the deep hole that is instagram and TikTok inspiration to find the best vibes that match both of your styles. The other half… well not many people like budgeting and looking at money we know - but with the amount you are getting ready to invest whether it’s a tight budget or open ended you need to do this. Alright so - have you done these four steps? If so then good for you, go grab your favorite beverage whether it’s sparkling water or ranch water and get ready for more of the fun stuff. Questions to ask venues before you tourWhy is it important to talk to a venue before visiting? Great question friend! Here’s the skinny… There are a ton of options a TON of venues near you to choose from, visit and get lost in. When I got married almost 10 years ago from when I am writing this there were like 5 venues north of DFW in a two-hour radius. Now you can print that google map off, hang it on your wall throw a dart, and land on like 10 in one bubble. That’s amazing great news for you BUT it does mean more prep work. I know, I know I said we were done with that after the first 4 steps but this is different I promise. The perk is you do not need to settle, you can find your style, your budget and your priorities to have the day you deserve. The down side is that it can be super confusing to compare all these options and if you aren’t careful a total time suck. Most cultures only book 1 venue for their wedding, a few book 2 (especially if you are having a henna ceremony, rehearsal dinner, or post-wedding brunch), and a small number book 3 or more. What that means is you have to take that list of 100+ venues in your area down to 1 (for the sake of this let’s just pretend you are looking for 1 specific venue right now). You are about to spend so much time researching what venue is gorgeous in fall, which venue has a great reputation, where will my guests stay… Then you’re going to spend days on days visiting these places. Once we had a couple visit us to see everything, and they were obviously burnt out. They couldn’t think of a question to ask, they seemed overwhelmed and kept confusing all the places they had looked at - when we asked they told us they had visited over 60 wedding venues. 60 VENUES! Could you imagine the time it took to set up those visits, work around work, social calendars and then to drive to each spot? No wonder they were overwhelmed, and if you take anything from this post please know you do not need to do that to find your dream venue. If you are visiting 10 venues you have not asked the right questions and are doing too much. In fact, if you ask our venue manager “how many venues should I tour?” she will tell you if you have seen more than 5 you have seen too many. The difference is that we know this industry, we know what to look for, what to ask, and how to narrow in on what is or is not a good fit. By the time a couple is finished touring with us we can tell you if you are a good fit for us, and if not 3 venues that would be perfect. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if you could do that too? Imagine all the conversations you would not have to have with venues you really are not into! So that’s our goal here - we are going to take you from newly engaged and lost in a sea of wedding planning to feel prepared, confident, and most importantly EXCITED about your venue. We’ve organized all of the information for you on an easy to ready PDF that is completely FREE to you. Then, because we are extra and super organized, we also made you a worksheet to keep it all organized, typed up email templates for you to send inquiries to wedding venues and a guide on what to ask when you’re visiting. We’ll talk more about that in a different blog though. No gimmicks, no weird sales email from us just helpful tools to get you in the venue you deserve and is waiting for you. One last thing before you jump into the guide and workbook though - if you are lucky most of these venues will have the bulk of this information on their website. If you are going to take the time to reach out to them, that means you would visit that venue right? Well, I promise you taking time to look over their website for this information will be a lot faster than 50 back and forth emails, and definitely faster than going to visit a venue that is a 30-minute drive just to realize whoops, they don’t check one of our boxes. Check out their websites, fill in the worksheet, and then use the templates to reach out to them to get the rest of those answers! Ready for that guide? CLICK HERE AND ENTER YOUR INFOIf you have any issues with the link shoot us an email and we will get it right over to you! No sales pitch, just 4 helpful emails each with a guide, templates or worksheets to use. Contact Us: info@hawthornhillsranch.com
Photos by (top to bottom of blog): Enchanted Luna Photography Taylor Salerno Photography 9th Annual Hall of Fame Awards Honor the Top Wedding Vendors Across America Denton Texas, 2021—Hawthorn Hills is pleased to announce that they have been inducted into The Knot Best of Weddings Hall of Fame from The Knot, a leading wedding planning and registry brand and app. Exceptional wedding professionals who have earned four or more of The Knot Best of Weddings awards are inducted into the prestigious The Knot Best of Weddings Hall of Fame. Despite COVID-19 interrupting many 2020 weddings and social events, wedding professionals around the nation continued to support to-be-weds throughout their wedding planning journeys. From adjusting future schedules to make way for postponed weddings, to helping couples host socially distanced weddings following state and local guidelines and restrictions with an increased focus on health and safety, wedding pros—and the industry as a whole—rallied together in 2020, ultimately helping couples continue to celebrate life and love. The Knot 2021 Best of Weddings recognition honors the vendors who went above and beyond to help to-be-weds navigate the global pandemic. In its fifteenth annual year, The Knot continues its long-standing tradition of supporting local wedding vendors with The Knot Best of Weddings 2021, an annual by-couples, for-couples guide to the top wedding professionals across the country. To determine the winners, The Knot analyzed its millions of user reviews across various vendor categories—including venues, musicians, florists, photographers, caterers and more—to find the highest rated vendors of the year. These winners represent the best of the best wedding professionals that engaged couples should consider booking for their own unique weddings. This year, The Knot Best of Weddings winners represent the top five percent of local wedding vendors listed on The Knot. There were 1,422 new inductees into The Knot Best of Weddings Hall of Fame for 2021, out of hundreds of thousands of local vendors featured on The Knot. The Knot has inspired 25 million couples (and counting!) to plan a wedding that’s uniquely theirs. With a rich history of providing high-quality content and inspiration, The Knot makes it easy for couples to connect with and book just the right wedding professionals to create their perfect wedding day. On The Knot Marketplace, couples can connect with any of the hundreds of thousands of local wedding professionals across the country. The Knot Best of Weddings gives couples the confidence to find and book the best local vendors to bring their wedding visions to life. In combination with years of trusted content, The Knot’s innovative technology simplifies wedding planning, inspiring couples to plan a wedding unique to their love story and personalities. Wedding professionals who win The Knot Best of Weddings are members of WeddingPro, the leading B2B wedding brand. As the largest marketplace and community for wedding professionals, WeddingPro connects businesses with more than 13 million unique monthly visitors who are planning weddings on The Knot and WeddingWire, as well as with hundreds of thousands of pros in the industry. Through its online marketplaces, educational programs and community-building events, WeddingPro is dedicated to helping wedding professionals build relationships with couples and pros that grow their businesses. For more information about The Knot Best of Weddings and this year’s winners, please visit https://www.theknot.com/vendors/best-of-weddings. About The Knot The Knot is one of the nation’s leading multiplatform wedding resources offering a seamless, all-in-one planning experience—from finding inspiration and local vendors to creating and managing all guest experiences, wedding registries and more. The trusted brand reaches a majority of engaged couples in the US through the #1 iOS and Android mobile app The Knot Wedding Planner, the #1 wedding planning website TheKnot.com, The Knot national and local wedding magazines, and The Knot book series. Since its inception, The Knot has inspired approximately 25 million couples to plan a wedding that’s uniquely them. Visit The Knot online at Facebook.com/TheKnot and @TheKnot on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. 
Hawthorn Hills Ranch Named Winner in 2021 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®Krum, January 13, 2021. -- Hawthorn Hills Ranch was announced as a winner of the 2021 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®, an accolade representing the top wedding professionals across the board in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism reviewed by couples on WeddingWire, a leader in the $200 billion global wedding planning industry. In 2020, the rise and spread of COVID-19 unfortunately impacted the wedding industry and the hundreds of thousands of small businesses who bring weddings to life every day. However, wedding vendors worldwide continued to guide their couples through wedding planning and the challenges of the global pandemic. In celebration of local wedding vendors nationwide and overseas, the 2021 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® recognizes the wedding professionals who excelled in supporting to-be-weds despite unprecedented challenges resulting from COVID-19. To determine these distinguished wedding professionals, WeddingWire analyzed reviews across more than 20 service categories—from venues and caterers to florists and photographers—to find the most- and highest-rated vendors of the year. The winners exhibit superior professionalism, responsiveness, service and quality when interacting with the millions of couples who turn to WeddingWire to help with their wedding planning process each month. Wedding professionals who win WeddingWire Couple’s Choice Awards® are members of WeddingPro, the leading B2B wedding brand. As the largest marketplace and community for wedding professionals, WeddingPro connects businesses with more than 13 million unique monthly visitors who are planning weddings on WeddingWire and The Knot, as well as with hundreds of thousands of pros in the industry. Through its online marketplaces, educational programs and community-building events, WeddingPro is dedicated to helping wedding professionals build relationships with couples and pros that grow their businesses. Hawthorn Hills Ranch is honored to be one of the top Venue in Krum on WeddingWire. For more information about Hawthorn Hills Ranch, please visit us on WeddingWire. To learn more about the Couples' Choice Awards®, visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards. About WeddingWire WeddingWire is a trusted online marketplace, connecting couples with local wedding professionals and a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within a $250 billion global industry, WeddingWire helps millions of couples every month find the right team of wedding professionals to personalize PRESS RELEASE and pull off their special day. Couples around the world can read millions of vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of hundreds of thousands of vendors local to them. Visit WeddingWire online at WeddingWire.com and follow on social media: Facebook.com/WeddingWire and @WeddingWire on Instagram, 
It’s getting close to your day and now you’ve got all the decorations and fun stuff set it’s time to focus on rehearsing your ceremony. By now you should have the ceremony specifics set with your officiant to know the ins and outs of what will happen so that you can do a run-through and share that with your wedding party and immediate family members. If you haven’t figured out all those details yet you will want to so that your rehearsal runs smoothly and is effective. Here are 4 of the big questions when it comes to rehearsals and the answers/tips our team has for you when planning for your rehearsal.
Oh man, if only we could express the importance of rehearsing enough. Your ceremony is the why to the who day - all the planning you’ve put in, the goal and focus of your day. It’s the moment and memory that you will carry with you for the rest of your lives as you start your journey together. Your ceremony comes with a lot of heartfelt emotions, and rehearsing the steps will only allow you to live in the moment more while you worry about what’s next less. The rehearsal also ensures that your family and wedding party are prepared, comfortable, and ready for the day. Your wedding party wants nothing more than to do their part and fulfill their role - giving them a rehearsal will give them the tools and knowledge to do just that. Don’t skip your rehearsal - not matter when/where you do it or with whom, it will keep everyone on the same page and make for a smooth ceremony. 
All this to say that morning rehearsals have become the most popular answer for couples - it allows everyone to attend without extending your schedule too much. It also opens your evening before to do whichever activities you want - dinner with the wedding party, your family or a private date night running final errands. Morning rehearsals can also mean celebrating with a brunch for fun saving money compared to a rehearsal dinner, and also typically means that everyone can make the rehearsal. What if you don’t want to see each other that day? No problem! Run through the ceremony 2 - 3 times with one of you (whoever needs more time to get ready) and then another 2 times with the other partner (typically the groom). Some couples prefer to rehearse in advance - sometimes a week before, other times mid week just days before, and some the old school night before. It’s really a personal choice outlined and crafted based on you and your wedding party’s schedules. If your venue is one of the few that includes a rehearsal time onsite you will want to coordinate with them based on their availability as well. Otherwise, your next detail is determining where.
 Knowing who to have at rehearsal will help you know what parts/things to think through and have ready for that day and also help answer any questions your family and friends may through your way. The big ones obvious - “Do I need to be there?” So, who does need to be there? Well here’s a quick run down…
So you’ve told the key players they need to come to the rehearsal… now what do you need to do at rehearsal? If you have the rehearsal workbook and guide follow the checklist and worksheets you completed to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. For those of you doing this thing solo and without a professional or the help of a workbook here’s a quick list we recommend on what to cover during rehearsal:
Love these photos? Us too! Check out more of April Sapp's Photography Work
https://aprilsappphotography.com/ Planning for your ceremony is a big deal - it is after all the whole reason for planning a wedding right? Most couples tell us that like most of the planning, they aren’t even sure where to even get started and just sort of “end up” planning the ceremony. So we decided to pull together 4 tips to get started on planning what is sure to be the BEST thing about your day - your ceremony! One thing we cannot stress enough when it comes to your ceremony is to choose your officiant wisely. We dive into this a little more in our blog that talks about whether or not to have a family or friend officiate but at the end of the day you want to make sure you talk through your ceremony in-depth with your officiant. It will get you all on the same page, make sure you are both prepared and ready for a smooth ceremony. Okay so on to the tips!
 Officiant (of course) - make sure they are legally ordained in your area so that it counts! Wedding Party - who will be standing by you? Whether it’s just 1 person for each of you or 8 on each side choose wisely. Those photos are going to be hanging on the living room wall for the rest of your lives! All kidding aside, your wedding parties do not have to be even in number so don’t stress that too much. Of course, you’ll also want to know who your maid of honor / best man is as well [or man of honor / best maid]. Family - parents, grandparents, siblings, and aunts/uncles. They will all want to know if they have a role, what it will be, what to wear, and where to be. Traditionally parents are a part of the procession. Grandparents really depend on how comfortable they are walking, and your overall vision. Commonly we have siblings or an aunt or uncle that take the place in these roles as well - so if your family structure is unique let it shine! You should be surrounded by your family, no matter what their label is. Flower girl and ring bearers - when choosing these roles most couples are still sticking to the traditional route and choosing young ones. You will want to think through their ages - under 3 will need to be accompanied down the aisle. If there are no children in your life then don’t sweat it! Half of our weddings do not have either of these and the others sometimes just have one or the other. Again - it is your day so do it your way! A new trend we’re seeing includes adults in these roles and simply giving their title a small change. Put your brother on petal patrol complete with a server's half apron that has pockets full of petals - or ask your grandparents to carry a single stem flower and your rings down the aisle instead. Ushers and greeters - this is an area we’ve seen change over the past couple of years as well. Ushers are not a typical role now that “choose a seat not a side” has become so popular. However, you should think back to those grandparents and parents you decided to include in your ceremony. Traditionally, the women will need an escort down the aisle and their significant other will follow behind. Especially if their significant other is walking, say, the bride down the aisle. Greeters, or the welcome party as we call them are a great way to welcome your guests. Have them staged at the entrance to your ceremony area, perhaps by your guest book handing out programs or waters to your guests as they arrive.
Some cultures extend this by having the ceremony (or one of them) on a separate day. You also want to decide what time of day fits your vision the best.
This is just the beginning of planning your ceremony but remember - it may not take up much time the day of (at least compared to your reception) but it is the most important part of your day and deserves all the attention it demands during planning! A few other things to think about include:
See a photo you love? All photos in this post are by Blackall Photography - go see her work!
www.blackallphotography.com Ready for more ceremony detail fun? Check out this post about Ceremony Decor! Need to talk to a member of our team? Our venue team is here to help - CONTACT US |
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Hawthorn Hills
Location10340 Jackson Rd. Krum, TX 76249
940-600-7838 info@hawthornhillsranch.com |
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