Venue enquiry advice

stinkle

Hi,

was about to send an email enquiry to a hotel we like but checked myself before hitting "send". I've heard that often it's good practise to ring ahead and ask about prices for an "event" but to hold off on saying "wedding" as it can be a licence to rip you off, obviously not everywhere is like this though. Is it wise to follow this advice?

Have kinda hit a wall regarding the reception issue, we'd like a small wedding but with a good party - so a possible plan is meal in nice restaurant, then party in function room somewhere (this hotel, if they let us!). So of course if we dont eat there then it might affect the rate we get, etc - e.g. no cake, drinks reception, corkage, all the little add-ons that the hotel wouldn't need to deal with. Just dont want to get sucked into a package that involves a dinner when we might go elsewhere for that, and we are effectively only hiring the hotel for the afters, and accommodation for anyone interested.

All advice appreciated!!! It's in Dublin btw

John Mason

i am sorry if i am missing something here but dont you just phone up the hotel and say, i would like to book your function room on this date at this time. Is it free and what would the cost be ?

stinkle

You're not missing anything, I almost sent an email saying just that. Maybe I'm just overthinking and was excited about planning this aspect cos I'm new to all this .

We'd just like an idea of rates really as the budget is going to be an issue, perhaps we should fine-tune the guest list first though and book the venue accordingly - I'm just trying to get an idea of dates and so on. I was just a bit wary of asking about a wedding, when really all we might end up doing is booking an after party and we don;t want to get charged a high rate just cos it's a wedding rather than a 50th birthday or other "normal" function

clint_silver

stinkle wrote: »

You're not missing anything, I almost sent an email saying just that. Maybe I'm just overthinking and was excited about planning this aspect cos I'm new to all this .

We'd just like an idea of rates really as the budget is going to be an issue, perhaps we should fine-tune the guest list first though and book the venue accordingly - I'm just trying to get an idea of dates and so on. I was just a bit wary of asking about a wedding, when really all we might end up doing is booking an after party and we don;t want to get charged a high rate just cos it's a wedding rather than a 50th birthday or other "normal" function

theres nothing stopping you from ringing up and asking how much for the function room for the night, its for a party.

Is the restaraunt near the hotel? (transport may be required to move guests, is this logistically feasable?)

stinkle

clint_silver wrote: »

theres nothing stopping you from ringing up and asking how much for the function room for the night, its for a party.

Is the restaraunt near the hotel? (transport may be required to move guests, is this logistically feasable?)

yeah everything would be close by, that's a given. We haven't decided whether we can keep numbers small enough for restaurant meal or whether we'll end up having to go with full hotel reception, which is why I'd like to enquire but not commit to one plan or the other at this stage, but we do need an idea of rates as that might help with the decision! Will go with "function room on X date" enquiry and go from there I guess.

John Mason

if you are booking a function room the only rates will be for the finger food, if you decide to have it.

you need to ask how much to hire the room, can you supply your own entertainment and how much is the finger food per head.

you dont need to tell them its for a wedding, and you probably wont even need to give them your name.