The 10 best wedding venues in Houston

Most Houston venues quote rather than publish, so work from the handful that post a rate. The 1940 Air Terminal Museum lists $3,500 to $5,500 for up to 160 guests, tables and chairs included. The Parador's own card runs from $1,500 for a Monday-to-Thursday daytime to $7,000 for a full Saturday. Houston Botanic Garden's Woodland Glade starts at $1,800 for a weekday, and the Sunset Coffee Building's rooftop is $1,750 to $2,000 for a six-hour block. Every one of those is the room only. Corinthian Houston, The Bell Tower on 34th and The Post Oak publish nothing, so ask in writing which of five lines a quote covers — room, food, bar, staff, parking — because the answer changes venue to venue. At The Parador, for instance, both the caterer and the bar are contracted separately from the rental.

Late October through April. November, March and April give you daytime highs in the seventies with tolerable humidity, which is what an outdoor ceremony needs here. June through September regularly reaches the high nineties with humidity to match, and it overlaps Atlantic hurricane season, which runs 1 June to 30 November and peaks in August and September. The risk in Houston is usually rainfall rather than wind — the city floods when a tropical system stalls over it — so a summer date deserves both a covered backup and a hard look at the postponement clause in your contract.

Yes. Texas imposes no residency requirement, so out-of-state and foreign couples can apply in person at a Harris County Clerk office with valid government photo ID; check the clerk's current locations, fee and hours before travelling, as the fee is set by the county. State law then requires 72 hours between the license being issued and the ceremony, though completing the Twogether in Texas premarital education course waives that wait and reduces the fee. The ceremony you hold in Houston is your legal marriage — there is no need for a separate civil ceremony back home — but couples from abroad should order an apostilled copy of the returned certificate, since many countries will not register the marriage without one.

For a Saturday between October and April, twelve to eighteen months out is realistic at the one-event-a-day venues — Corinthian Houston, The Majestic Metro and The Parador each state they host a single event per day, so a taken date is genuinely gone. The Parador books from a month out to two years ahead; the Sunset Coffee Building lets you hold a tentative date up to a year in advance, and with 80 seated on the rooftop the small end of the market clears first. Larger properties such as The Bell Tower on 34th and The Revaire hold availability longer because they can reconfigure a room to the count. Friday and Sunday dates, and anything in summer, open up considerably later and usually at a lower rate. If your date is fixed, sign the venue before any other vendor.