7 important questions to ask your venue before booking

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8 Tips For Avoiding Wedding Decisions You Will Regret

01 March 2016

Questions To Ask Your Wedding Venue Before Signing A Contract

You’ve found the place. The place where you can envision yourself dancing the night away with your new spouse, smiling with friends and family, sipping champagne, and celebrating the first of marriage with the person you love most in the world. All you need to do now is sign on the dotted line, right? Before you fork over a hefty deposit, make sure you ask your wedding venue questions—lots of questions. Feel free to use the following questions for your wedding venue as a checklist.

1. When are the payments due?

You want to make sure you pay on time! Every venue has different payment plans and policies, so get the skinny on your dream venue. Understanding your payment due dates is important to avoid any late fees.

2. What is the minimum or maximum number of guests allowed for the space?

In order to comply with local fire codes, venues must cap the amount of people in one room at a given time, so if you’re planning on 200 guests but the venue can only accommodate 150, you might want to look elsewhere.  On the other hand, if your venue is also providing the catering, they want to have a minimum number of guests to serve in order to maximize earnings. If the minimum is 80 and you only have 55, they lose money and would thus prefer to book a wedding with more guests (think price per head).

3. Do you provide any leftover food for us to take home?

You’re paying for the food, so you might want to be able to send some home with your parents, bridal party, or even yourselves to eat the next day! It’s worth asking this question.

4. When should we drop off the wedding decorations or other items we need for the reception?

Depending on the venue, you may be able to deliver them the night before, but some places will ask you to wait a few hours before the ceremony, especially if they’ve hosted another event the previous day. Typically a wedding venue would allow you to drop off wedding decorations one week prior to your wedding day.

5. Must I use your approved vendors, and what is the penalty if we change our mind?

You might think the cost savings for using their preferred caterer is worth it—until you taste the food, or read a Yelp review, or realize you dislike that caterer after a meeting. Find out if there’s an additional charge for using another vendor. Most venues prefer their affiliated vendors but always keep in mind to ask and see if other options are available.

6. What is your refund policy if we cancel our wedding?

It happens more than you’d think, but people cancel their weddings for a variety of reasons: a family member grows ill, an out-of-town job offer will require a move or delay a wedding, or you break off an engagement. Anything is possible, and you don’t know what the future holds, so this is a worthy question to ask your wedding venue. Make sure you have this on a written statement or contract before you sign.

7. Do you offer extended hours?

If your band is really rocking the night and everyone’s having a great time and your reception goes over the time limit you expected, what happens? Are they going to shut you down (not likely)? Are they going to charge you for additional time? Perhaps. Some venues will grant you access to their space for the entire day of while others give you a 4-hour time span. Better be safe than sorry: ask! And don’t forget to make sure they write this down into your contract.

We love to hear more tips from your wedding plans, if you have something great to share from your experience send us a message below.  Happy wedding planning!