3 things to Ask at a Venue Site Visit
You just got engaged, what would you do as the first order of business? Start shopping for your attire? Research wedding planners? Or start looking at venues? While it should be number two, most commonly couples run straight into venue shopping. It’s understandable especially for 2022 and 2023 when there is an oversaturated amount of celebrations taking place. Everyone is making up for lost time so venues are booking further and further out. So while we would love to be there every step of the way we understand sometimes it’s just not feasible to capture clients before they secure their venue.
With that being said here are three things you need to ask when qualifying venues for your wedding or celebration:
Ask about the food and beverage minimums + rental fees for not only Saturdays but “off peak” days. While your ideal venue may be out of reach on a Saturday, it might be very attainable on a Friday or Sunday or perhaps an off peak season. The more flexible you are, the better arrangement and availability you will find.
A caveat to this is to be sure to get an estimate or proposal from the venue which shows any applicable labor, taxes, and service charge fees prior to booking. Knowing minimums is important but those other fees due add up and you want to see as much upfront as possible.
You’ll want to know not only the start and end time or total number of hours included but also the vendor access time for installation and teardown. We recommend you have at least 10 hours of access at the venue if the ceremony and reception are on-site. The venue may charge for additional hours so you’ll want to know that upfront (to make sure it’s in the budget). Or the venue may not even allow additional hours. If you cannot or choose not to purchase more hours and you end up with an extensive setup your vendors may end up charging you for additional labor so that they can complete the job in a shorter time-frame.
Be sure to ask for the square footage of each space (ceremony space, cocktail space, and dinner dance space). Do not ask how many guests can fit in the space! Remember venues are in the business to sell their space and secure contracts. There is a max guest accommodation and there is a comfortable guest accommodation. You want your guests to be comfortable. It’s imperative to know the square footage of each space so that you can definitively know if the venue is adequate in size for your desired guest count.
Tip takeaway
Did you know that you need approximately 15 square feet per person for dinner and dancing in the same space?
We hope these tips will help you with your venue search and guide you to your ideal venue. Happy planning friends!