Wedding venue decor can be a huge stressor for couples and those planning a wedding. Do I want flowers for centerpieces? Are candles enough? How many of either do I need? What about napkins? These questions barely scratch the surface of the thoughts, ideas, and worries that bubble within regards to reception decorations.

And easy way to answer some of these before you even start? Consider the wedding venue as decor when choosing it.

These days, venues aren’t always just blank beige slate of a banquet hall that needs to be filled with yoru vision; so many venues have incredible personalities and design styles built in from their previous lives with entirely different purposes. Seeing your venue as a part of the wedding reception decor rather than the site can help you make some monumental choices now that will save stress later. But how should we think about the space to get a picture of what it might need for wedding venue decor?

• Think about its architecture: Take account not only elements like exposed brick, beams, doors, etc. These are all parts that are going to add to the ambiance of the space, and will add visual interest of the space before wedding reception decor is factored into the space.
• Check out the lighting: Is is filled will natural light, do they (or can they) have twinkle lights strung, is it warm or is it cooler tones in lighting? A brighter space might fair better with a lot of reception decor than a site with more romantic light.
• Consider the size of the space: A wide open space could use a bit more wedding reception decor to fill it, but a intimate cozy space will fill up quickly.

Keeping these ideas in mind when touring and choosing a venue will give you a great start in choosing your wedding reception decor, and you might just see that, based on your space, less will be more..and with that, everything will be perfect.

Kayla Lee is a Minnesota-based wedding and elopement photographer (and handcrafter and designer on the side). She serves elegant, authentic, sentimental couples who not only choose their own adventures, but also live them to the fullest! See more about the KLP Wedding Experience!