How to Plan a Wedding: A Simple Guide for Chicago Couples

Planning a wedding can feel overwhelming at first. There’s the venue, guest list, food, bar, décor, vendors, invitations, timeline—and a lot of decisions in between.

But it doesn’t have to be complicated.

If you’re looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue near Chicago, much of the planning can be simplified from the beginning. When your ceremony, reception, catering, bar, cake, décor and other essentials are handled in one place, there are fewer vendors to coordinate and fewer decisions to manage.

Here’s a simple way to approach the planning process.

Start With Your Guest List & Budget

Before choosing a venue, have a general idea of how many people you want to invite and what you’d like to spend.

Your guest count will influence almost everything else, from the size of your reception space to your overall wedding budget.

An all-inclusive wedding package can also make budgeting easier because many of your biggest expenses are combined into one package rather than spread across multiple vendors.

Choose Your Wedding Venue

Your venue is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.

When comparing wedding venues near Chicago, don’t just look at the room. Look at everything that’s included.

Is the ceremony held at the same location? Is catering included? What about the bar, cake, tables, chairs and décor? Is there an experienced team helping you throughout the planning process?

The more that’s handled by your venue, the less you’ll have to coordinate yourself.

Book Your Key Vendors

Once your venue and date are secured, focus on the vendors that aren’t included with your package.

Depending on your wedding, this might include your photographer, videographer, DJ, hair and makeup team, transportation and officiant.

Booking these vendors early gives you more options, but you don’t need to have every detail figured out all at once.

Plan the Details

As your wedding gets closer, you’ll finalize your menu, décor, ceremony, invitations, seating chart and wedding-day timeline.

This is where an all-inclusive wedding venue can really make a difference.

Instead of coordinating with several different companies, your venue team is already familiar with the space, the food service, the bar, the décor and the flow of the event.

Fewer Vendors. Less Coordination.

An all-inclusive wedding doesn’t mean giving up personalization.

You can still choose your décor, music, menu selections, ceremony details and all the personal touches that make your wedding yours.

The difference is that the major logistics are already handled.

At Astoria, our all-inclusive wedding packages can include your ceremony and reception, catering, bar service, wedding cake, décor, tables, chairs, linens, dance floor and private dressing suite—all at one location.

That means fewer vendors, fewer moving pieces and one experienced team helping bring everything together.

Planning a Chicago Suburban Wedding?

If you’re searching for a wedding venue in the Chicago suburbs, consider how much of the planning you actually want to handle yourself.

Sometimes the easiest wedding to plan isn’t the one with the fewest details. It’s the one where someone else is already taking care of the details for you.

Astoria Banquets & Events in Buffalo Grove offers all-inclusive wedding packages for couples throughout Chicagoland, with your ceremony, reception and major wedding services all under one roof.

Explore Our All-Inclusive Wedding Packages