You’ve made the decision to commit your lives to each other, now comes the hard part – how to celebrate. There are countless ways and places to pledge your love and then surround yourself with family and friends in a show of support and celebration.
With so many options it can be hard to decide what’s best for your situation. So you might start with the common denominator – the costs.
When you’re considering where to have your wedding ceremony and reception you’ll want to try to match your style with your budget. And when you’re building that budget, there are some things you’ll want to know, particularly about the costs associated with a wedding venue.
What Impacts a Wedding Venue’s Costs
In real estate, location is the key cost driver. For wedding venues, it’s all about the date. You might be looking to have your celebration at a specific time of year because it will be easiest on your guests’ schedules. Or maybe there’s a season that you love or a date that has sentimental or even lucky (looking at you 2/2/22 revelers) importance. While that’s a great way to start looking at dates, if any of those fall during “wedding season,” you’re going to have some tough choices to make. Of course you want this special day to be one that you will remember forever. But do you want to be paying for it that long too?
Right after potential dates, the venue is going to want to know how many people you expect to be there. That’s going to have a direct correlation to costs as it will determine the size of the room you’ll need, the amount of food, the number of staff members required to work, and more.
The third consideration is what you want to do. Are you looking for a venue to have your ceremony? Celebration? Both?
What Questions Should You Ask Before Booking a Wedding Venue
What’s Included?
Before booking a wedding venue, this is one of the first things you’ll want to figure out – are you getting a big blank, open space or are you getting a platter with all of the fixings? In other words, start with the base price and find out what’s included.
Some things to consider are: does the venue offer catering? And if they do, what are the meal packages like? Is there flexibility? Are there options?
Do they have tables, chairs, and the associated decorations or is that something you’ll need to look at bringing in?
Who’s Included?
In those initial reception packages, what members of the staff are included and who are the Plus Ones? Is there a valet (or will they be an additional cost)? Does the venue offer the services of a wedding coordinator?
You’ll also want to find out if you can add and remove positions based on the nature of your event. (For example, if you’re going to have shuttle bus services, you won’t need a valet.)
Saving Money On Your Wedding Venue
Yes, it’s your day, but if you’re looking to keep costs down, you might have to work. (Or at least call in some favors.) That’s because one way to cut expenses is through what the hosts of the home improvement shows call “sweat equity.” If you’re willing to do things like getting your hands dirty setting up tables and chairs and taking them down the next day, you may be able to find some bottom-line savings.
Additional savings can be found in your meal options. If the venue allows it, you could consider using an outside caterer. It will take a little coordination on your side but you also might be able to save a little on the front-end.
“Wait, I Have to Pay for That?!?”
You’ll certainly do your research, check out a couple of venues and compare their quotes. And that will give you a good baseline as to what that venue is like. You might also try to talk with some couples who used that space for their wedding. Were they happy? Were there any surprises on the final invoice? Anything they wished they knew ahead of time to make their day more budget-friendly?
For example, are there “overtime” costs if the party is the kind of party that just won’t stop?
Careful planning will get you far but there are always going to be some “surprises” that pop up along your wedding planning path. Being prepared for those will help you to more easily manage your budget.
The Value Of a Smile
In all parts of your wedding planning – from venue selection to your choice of entrance music, there should be one factor driving your decision – what will make you happy?
If you know what will make you happy or have questions about what we can offer to increase your happiness and would like to explore using the one-of-a-kind Hotel LeVeque as a wedding venue, we’d love to show you around.
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