Lets face it, in North Carolina you don’t know from one day to the next what season we’ll be in. You can be in shorts and tee in December or jeans and sweater in May. It can be a drought or flood in September so its best to be prepared for anything however there are certain elements of every season we can guarantee we want to enjoy; crisp fall leaves, Christmas colours or summer flowers so knowing what your chosen venue looks like in that season will help you make great design choices.
I’m Teresa, 35 years experience as a small business owner and 10 years in the wedding industry offering my top tips as a non native to balmy NC.
Choose your season do you love bright summer colours or want a cosy fall vibe? Not all venues look their best all year round, outdoor spaces tend to look more vibrant in the summer. Woodland spaces obviously look amazing with new buds or as the leaves change during fall. So decide on your vibe.
Is your venue choice climate controlled? Nothing worse than freezing and having to dance just to keep warm, well except for boiling and drinking half your bodyweight in iced tea just to cool down. If you are hoping for a summer wedding, be sure your venue has air conditioning, even spring and fall weddings cn have changeable temperatures be sure to know how your venue will accommodate that.
Does your venue have a rainy day plan? North Carolina gets around 50 inches of rain each year and some of that is going to fall on someone’s wedding day. So when you are taking a tour of a venue be sure to ask what their inclement weather plan is. We also get the odd hurricane so again be sure to ask what their policy is in that eventuality.
Green grass! This was a revelation to me. Coming from a very temperate and often wet Great Britain, I had never experienced winter’s brown grasses. If you do a tour in summer and plan to book your chosen venue for the winter be sure to know if their lush grassy lawns will be dormant in December and plan accordingly.
Flowers following on from grass, is your venue bursting with beautiful flowers year round or just for summer? Do you want a spring wedding surrounded by beautiful tulips and daffodils? Or dream of a fall wedding highlighting ‘mums? Will you need to bring pots in or are their gardens bathed in dancing buds?
