Choosing a Place to Get Ready for Your Wedding

Starting your wedding day off on the right foot can help the rest of the celebration feel like a dream. Couples spend so much time and energy choosing the perfect venue for the ceremony and festivities, but let’s not forget about ensuring you have a great place to get ready!

Here are 5 reasons your getting ready location should be among the top priorities when planning out your wedding day timeline.

1. Good lighting makes you feel good.

When it’s time to get ready, being stuck in a dark corner of a building, or having to set up and hide out in a basement isn’t the best mood-booster. If you’ll want to be able to spend time with your friends and family, listen to music, and have good lighting for your hair and makeup artists, you’ll need to look into venues that have great natural light. This also helps your photographer out and many professionals love playing with light and shadows when photographing people, dresses, and details.

2. Fresh air looks good on everyone.

Sometimes people just need to step outside for a minute. There is a lot going on during the morning of your wedding. Most likely, people will be checking in, coming and going, and taking breaks from the checklist of things to be done. It’s nice to have a location where family can chat outside when needed, kids can burn off some energy, and you can draw in a deep breath of fresh air if you’re feeling rushed. It’s also ideal to have a venue with options for outdoor photos. Professional photographers can find beauty in almost every location, but providing them with outdoor backdrops can inspire creativity and help provide variety in your finished albums and wedding prints.

3. Space to spread out, and a place to come together.

Whether you have a hair and makeup team and a large bridal party, or you only need space for yourself and a couple close friends, it’s important to have room to set up, get ready, and move around. You’ll most likely be bringing a few bags or boxes and having to arrange furniture or stack things on top of each other is less than ideal. You’ll also want to make sure the venue has an updated bathroom, and/or mirrors available. A small kitchen to store sips and snacks is always nice, as well. Look for places that have a larger area to gather and provide furniture for primping, posing, resting, and holding your belongings. It’s going to be a long day, and the last thing you want is for your guests and you team to have to be on their feet any longer than they need to.

4. You will want to be surrounded by beautiful things on your special day.

Choose a space that brings you joy and one that you are excited to walk into! If you’re feeling vibrant and full-of-life, so will your bridal party and everyone involved. If you like clean lines and a minimalistic vibe, search out a place that fits your vision. If you like a little whimsy and character, find a gathering spot that speaks to your heart! Find a place that compliments what the rest of your day will be like.

5. You need a location that is easy to find, with great parking, and relatively close to your ceremony site.

Chances are the timeline you worked so hard to put together might be a little off on your wedding day - and that’s okay! It’s important to go into the day feeling relaxed and pretty flexible. When it comes to your getting ready space, we have to decide on a location that is easy for everyone to find, and get into. Make sure there’s ample parking for everyone. With all the goodies you’ll need that day, make it easy on yourself (and everyone else) and ensure you don’t have to haul items up lots of flights of stairs, or walk a couple of blocks with everything in hand. It’s also great if your location is relatively close to where you’ll tie the knot, or at least close to a highway or major road. The last thing you need is your bridal party getting lost on the way!

It’s the little things.

If you’ve reserved a ceremony site that offers a beautiful place to get ready, great! That’s ideal!

But, if you’re still looking around for a gorgeous, and functional place to prep and prepare for your wedding day, go through this checklist as you feel out local venues. There are little details we often can neglect when planning each part of our wedding celebrations, and we don’t want you to overlook things!

Southwest Michigan has some really gorgeous places that will take great care of you and your bridal party in 2021. We’re all excited to have our doors open again and get back to spoiling our communities a little.

Happy wedding and party and festivity planning, Kalamazoo.

It’s going to be a good year.

-B