The Lesner Inn is a waterfront wedding venue with in-house catering in Virginia Beach. Our sole function is to host & cater events on-site. Because of this, we host events any day of the week, in the afternoon or evening. And with hundreds of events under our belt, we’re experts at what we do. So whether you’re planning a wedding with us or another venue, we hope our top 3 wedding planning tips help you when planning your big day!

Our Top 3 Wedding Planning Tips

1. Schedule a “Wedding Planning Day”

Schedule wedding planning days so you focus on all things Wedding for the whole day. This could be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly – whatever you want or need! Wedding Planning is not easy… and balancing that with your existing everyday responsibilities – work, kids, social life, volunteering work, fitness, travel, hobbies… etc. – can be overwhelming.
With a designated “Wedding Planning Day” you can plan your wedding without the distractions of your everyday life.

For those Type A individuals like ourselves: We recommend building a calendar of both your personal goals & vendor deadlines. This will help you learn how to prioritize tasks on your “Wedding Planning Day.”‘

2. Schedule your (big) vendor meetings on the same day

Wedding vendors like Venues, Caterers, Bakeries, Photographers/Videographers, Planners, Florists, & DJ/Band Musicians work most, if not all, weekends. So it is difficult to schedule an appointment with them on the weekend. If you’re able to take one day off from work in the months leading up to your wedding (~3-4 months out) then we recommend scheduling all planning meetings for that day! Your day could look a little something like this: morning coffee with your photographer, followed by a floral design meeting either at the venue (or their office space), followed by a tasting & 90-day planning meeting with your venue, & a cake tasting with the baker.

3. Build a Floor Plan with your Venue Manager before you build your Seating Chart

If you’re unsure of how many guests will attend or want to see what the venue would look like at its max, please ask your Event & Sales Manager to build you multiple floor plans. We are happy to build a floor plan for you as early as your tour upon request. If not, we will build you one at your 90-day planning meeting (roughly ~3 months prior to your wedding) when you know more about the details of your wedding day (i.e., guest count, side tables, menu, etc.). Either way, we advise you to wait until you have the final draft of your floor plan from your wedding venue before you begin to work on your seating chart. And pleaseeeeee confirm the maximum number of seats per table (and tables for your floor plan) prior to finalizing the seating chart! If you have any questions during the floor plan & seating chart building process, please contact your venue. We are here to help you!