Venue Questions

gleesonger

Hi,

Myself and my fiancée are starting to view venues.
What kind of things should we be looking out for and what are the questions we should be asking?

We'll want to keep costs down so we will be asking about different menu options, corkage.... not sure what else.

Thanks, Ger.

Do you have an idea of how many guest you will be inviting? If so, can the venue hold your number, if the venue is big and your numbers small, can the room be decreased in size (partitions).

Chair covers, table decorations - are they included in price, colour options.

Reception drinks, canapés, night time snacks - extra or included. If you have guests just invited to evening is this an extra cost.

Restrictions on what time band/dj can play till. Is there a residents bar.

gleesonger

Thanks Strawberry Milkshake, we were looking at venues yesterday and used some of your questions.

LandoCalrissian

do you need to pay for a bar extension?

If its a hotel what is the discounted rate for your guests to stay?

stargazer 68

How many rooms are they including besides yours. We have 2 extra for the parents included in the package.
Check in and check out time - you would be surprised how many want you out by 10 the next day for another wedding

An Bhanríon

Google 'questions to ask a wedding venue' and you will find some checklists online. Some of them are very long but we found them handy when we were looking for a venue. They got us thinking a bit about the kind of thing we should be watching out for.

As you visit the venues, things will come to you anyway. The main thing is to have an idea about your budget and about the things you want. Read the information from the venues carefully. A 'per head' price for one venue might include dinner, wine, afters food, flowers on the table and a bar extension and with another venue it might only be dinner (minus the wine). That sort of thing. And don't get distracted by the long list of things included in the wedding packages which are really no relevant, such as red carpet, champagne for the bride and groom (wow! two glasses of champagne!), crisp white linen table cloths, the hotel's 'wedding experts' to help you out... It suppose it all boils down to food, drink, accommodation and what time things will happen at (including when guests can check in, check out, etc.)

Enjoy visiting the venues!

PhoenixParker

This post is about negotiating with your venue, but it also functions as a good list of initial questions

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95077852&postcount=9