Your Venue May Be Your First Decision. Your Planner Should Be There for It.

There is a natural order to planning a wedding or special event.

Before you can book the florist, finalize entertainment, design the room or make so many of the other decisions surrounding your celebration, you need three fundamental things: a date, a time and a location.

So naturally, you start looking for the venue. You browse websites. You save beautiful spaces on Instagram. You schedule tours. You request pricing. And maybe you walk into a ballroom, rooftop, estate, restaurant or hotel and immediately think, This is it.

I understand why.

But after years of planning weddings and events, I want to encourage you to consider doing something slightly different: Hire your Planner before you hire your venue. Not because the venue isn’t one of the first and most important decisions you’ll make. It absolutely is. But because who is beside you when you make that decision can make a significant difference.

Relationships Matter in This Industry

Event Planning is a relationship business. When you hire an experienced Planner, you aren’t only hiring someone to help you make decisions and manage logistics. You are also gaining access to relationships that have been built over time with venues, hotels, caterers, florists, photographers, entertainment professionals, rental companies and many others throughout the industry.

I want to be clear about what that means. Hiring a Planner does not automatically mean you’ll receive a discount. Every venue and vendor has its own pricing, policies and business considerations, and I would never promise something that ultimately belongs to another business to decide. But relationships do matter. A venue may already know my work. A Sales Director may know how I manage events and care for my clients. An Event Manager may know that I understand their property, respect their processes and understand what it takes to execute an event well.

There may be partner considerations, introductions, added flexibility, preferred offerings or opportunities that are simply not obvious when you submit an inquiry through a website; and sometimes the greatest benefit isn’t a percentage off an invoice at all.

It is information.

It is access.

It is knowing who to call.

It is understanding what may be possible.

It is having established professional relationships working alongside you as we plan your celebration.

The Relationships You Benefit From Were Built Before You Hired Me

What you may not see before we begin working together is how much of my work has already happened before you ever call me.

Throughout the year, I spend time meeting venue professionals, attending industry events, touring properties, experiencing hospitality concepts and learning what different spaces may offer my clients. That work happens long before I know which particular client may eventually benefit from it.

This summer alone has given me some wonderful opportunities to continue doing just that.

I recently spent a magnificent evening at Crane Club in Chelsea, experiencing the space, hospitality, atmosphere and service firsthand.

I also had a wonderful experience at Cathédrale in the East Village, another distinctive New York setting with its own character and possibilities for private celebrations.

And earlier this summer, I was invited to spend two days at Hemlock Neversink in the Catskills, where I experienced the property as a guest while also looking at it through the eyes of an Event Planner. I toured the property, considered ceremony and event possibilities, experienced the hospitality and spent time connecting with members of the team.

These experiences are enjoyable, certainly. But they are not simply social outings for me. They are part of my work. When I walk through a property, I am almost always considering the possibilities.

• Who would this be wonderful for?
• What kind of celebration belongs here?
• What would my clients need to know?
• What could we create in this space?

I talk with sales directors, catering professionals, event managers, hotel teams and hospitality leaders. I learn about their properties, capabilities, processes and sometimes the things that never make it onto the public-facing website. I experience the service. I see how spaces can function for events. I learn what makes one property different from another and I build relationships.

Over time, that creates something incredibly valuable: a working knowledge of places and people I can draw upon when you call me and say, “Suzette, we’re looking for…” That sentence can end a hundred different ways.

• We’re looking for something intimate.
• We’re looking for a property where our families can spend the weekend together.
• We’re looking for something that doesn’t feel like every other event we’ve attended.

That is when all of those experiences, conversations, introductions and site visits begin to matter.

Your Search Doesn’t Have to Begin From Zero

There are an extraordinary number of venues throughout New York City, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Westchester, the Hudson Valley and beyond. That abundance is wonderful. It can also become overwhelming very quickly.

You can spend hours searching “NYC wedding venue” or “Brooklyn event space,” opening browser tabs, submitting inquiry forms and scrolling through photographs without necessarily getting any closer to determining which location is right for your celebration.

When we work together, your search doesn’t necessarily have to begin from zero. Once you tell me what you’re envisioning — your guest count, atmosphere, style, priorities, location and investment range, I am not simply typing those details into Google alongside you.

I can begin thinking about spaces I know. Properties I have toured. Hotels I have visited. Venues whose teams I have met. Restaurants with private-event possibilities. Hospitality groups I have relationships with and professionals within my network who may know of an option that isn’t yet on your radar.

That doesn’t mean every venue I recommend will be one I have personally visited. New spaces open. Existing spaces evolve. Every celebration has its own needs, and good planning still requires research and due diligence. What it does mean is that you are beginning your search with professional resources already around you. There is tremendous value in that.

A Venue Is More Than a Beautiful Room

When you walk into a venue, naturally, you’re going to notice what you can see first.

The room.

The view.

The architecture.

The tables and chairs.

Maybe the ceremony space, the cocktail-hour area or the staircase where you can already imagine photographs being taken.

I notice those things too.

But as your p

Planner, I’m also looking several layers deeper.

• What does the venue investment truly include?
• What logistical or operational considerations could affect your celebration?
• What additional costs or services may be required beyond the venue itself?
• And ultimately, does this space truly work for the experience you want to create?

What looks like one venue price at first glance can become a very different investment once everything surrounding it is understood. That is another reason I believe having your planner involved from the beginning matters. The conversation isn’t only about whether the venue is beautiful. It’s about whether the venue works for you.

Sometimes the Benefit Is in What We Know to Ask

You may not know what is customary, where there may be flexibility or which conversations are worth having before you make your decision. And why would you? Most people aren’t evaluating event spaces and reviewing venue proposals every week. I am.

My job is not simply to ask more questions. It is to know when another question needs to be asked, what may affect the larger plan and what deserves closer attention before you sign a contract.

Sometimes an existing relationship makes those conversations easier. Sometimes it gives us a direct point of contact. Sometimes it means I already understand the property before our first tour together. Sometimes it simply means that when I call, there is already familiarity on the other end of the phone.

None of this guarantees special treatment. But in an industry built on service and relationships, relationships have value.

The Right Venue Is Not Always the Most Obvious Venue

The most talked-about venue isn’t necessarily the right venue for you. The most expensive venue isn’t necessarily the right venue. And the venue that looked beautiful at someone else’s wedding isn’t automatically the right setting for yours.

The right venue has to make sense for the celebration you are actually planning and:

• Your guest count.
• Your priorities.
• Your style.
• Your investment.
• Your logistics.
• The way you want your guests to feel when they walk into the room.

Sometimes that is a grand ballroom. Sometimes it is an intimate restaurant. Sometimes it is a private home or estate. Sometimes it is a hotel or destination property where your celebration can become an entire weekend experience and sometimes it is an unexpected space you may never have discovered without a recommendation or professional introduction.

That is where experience, research and relationships begin working together.

You Are Hiring More Than the Hours You See

This is one of the most important things I want you to understand about working with an experienced Planner. When you hire me, you aren’t only hiring me for the months you see on your planning calendar. You are benefiting from years of relationships, conversations, site visits, industry events, vendor meetings, venue experiences, education, research and professional connections that happened before you ever became my client.

You benefit from the property I toured before I knew who might need it. The conversation I had with a sales director. The introduction made at an industry gathering. The vendor whose work caught my attention. The hotel I experienced firsthand. The questions I asked because someday the answer might matter.

All of those experiences become part of the resources available to you and I consider that one of the great privileges of what I do. Every time I walk into a new venue, experience a beautiful hotel, meet an exceptional vendor or sit across the table from another hospitality professional, I am expanding the possibilities I can eventually bring back to the people I serve and one day, that may be you.

So, Should You Really Hire Your Planner Before the Venue?

I believe it is worth serious consideration. Your venue will still be one of the first major decisions we make together. But instead of signing a contract and then asking your planner to figure out how to make everything work within it, imagine bringing me into the conversation while the possibilities are still open. We can talk through your priorities, investment and guest experience. We can identify potential locations, evaluate the opportunities and considerations surrounding them and help you make one of the largest decisions of the planning process with a broader perspective.

I don’t replace the venue’s sales team, nor can I promise something a venue or vendor has not offered. What I bring is something different: perspective, experience, relationships, resources and an understanding of how this one major decision can affect nearly everything that follows.

So yes, the venue comes first. But there is a very good reason your Planner may need to come just before it. Because one day, you may describe the celebration you’ve been imagining and I may know just the place.

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Suzette Spann Scarborough is the Founder and Creative Director of Envisioned Events by Suzette, LLC, a full-service wedding and event planning, design, and production company based in Brooklyn, New York, serving clients across NYC, New Jersey, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, and destinations worldwide. [Request Our Services & Investment Guide]