20 Questions to Ask Your Venue Before Paying your Deposit

Booking your venue is one of the biggest decisions you will have to make when planning your wedding, there are many things to think about when deciding on your perfect venue. Below I have put together 20 questions that may not necessarily spring to mind at first but are important to ask your venue before confirming your booking.

1. Do they have a corkage charge?

This is when you have to pay your venue to bring in your own drinks and alcoholic beverages, it is worth checking on this as you may want to provide your own but could end up deciding it is too expensive to do this. 

2. Is your Wedding Breakfast menu a choice menu?

This means guests are allowed to choose what they would like from the menu or do they all have to have the same. Bare in mind with this if you do decide to go with a choice menu you will need to allocate more time to arrange a spreadsheet to organise everyone’s orders.

3. Can you have a link to their reviews?

It is really important to check reviews from previous couples to see what their experience was like and if they would recommend the venue and service.

4. What is the full breakdown of what is included in your chosen package?

You need to go through this in detail as it may not necessarily include all the basics. For example does this include tables, chairs, linen, and glasses.

5. Can you have your civil ceremony at the venue, if so is this extra to your package price?

Make sure you consider this in your budget as it may be an additional charge to have your ceremony there as well as the reception. One thing to consider for this is that it may be more money but you may save on transport costs if you go for a ceremony at your venue.

6. Do you cater for all dietary requirements?

There may be a number of your guests that have dietary requirements such as being vegetarian or having intolerances and allergies. Be sure to check if the venue charges extra for providing different meals for these guests. In order to check which guests have dietary requirements include a section for this on your RSVP’s.

7. What time is last orders at the bar?

If you and your guests like to party hard and keep the party going as long as possible you will need to check what time the bar will have to close, some venues do allow a bar extension so it may be worth asking about this too.

8. What time does the DJ have to finish?

This time is often different to last orders, for example quite often last orders can be at 11pm but the DJ does not have to finish until midnight. If you would like to keep the party going as long as possible it may be worth speaking to your wedding DJ and venue to see if you could have last orders at midnight and your DJ until 1am. After all, why not keep the party going for as long as possible while you have all your friends and family together?

9. Do you have a sound limiter?

This may not be an obvious question but it is an important one, if your venue has a sound limiter this means there is a cap to how loud the music can be. This isnt always a negative thing depending on how loud their cap is, it is definitely worth checking if you are planning a big party in the evening. As with the sound limiter your DJ really isn’t able to play louder than the maximum stated. 

10. Will the staff at the venue set up for me?

Depending on the arrangements you have made for your decorations you may have decided to arrange some yourself as opposed to booking it all with suppliers. If this is the case and you are unable to set up the day before the wedding, you should check if anyone from the venue will be able to help do the set up on the morning of the wedding whilst you are busy getting ready.

11. If you have a drinks package included can you do a non alcoholic version?

You may have a drinks package included in your package, it is important to bare in mind that not all of your guests may drink alcohol for various reasons. Be sure to check if the venue can provide a percentage of non alcoholic options as an alternative, if so what will these options be?

12. Do you have a children’s menu?

If you are having children attending the wedding make sure the venue has a children’s menu, as depending on their age they may not be able to eat the same as the adults. Children’s options may also be lower priced so this may help with your budget.

13. Do you have highchairs available?

If there are children attending it’s not ideal for your guests to have to bring and carry around their own highchair. Your venue may have some available so be sure to check ahead of the wedding how many they have and let your guests know.

14. Can you supply your own decorations?

Some venues only allow you to use their own decorations or from their recommended suppliers. This may not be an issue however if the venue’s suppliers are out of your budget or not quite what you are looking for you may want to source your own. Even if you may not be obliged to book with their recommended suppliers I would advise to see who their recommended suppliers are to see who the venue trusts to do a good job and who knows the venue well, if you do not already have suppliers in mind.

15. What time can you and your suppliers access the function room to start setting up?

This will help to determine what scale of decorations you can do, because the amount of time you or your suppliers have will determine what can be pulled off in that time. Your suppliers will be able to give you an idea of what can be achieved so also speak to them about this before confirming anything.

16. Are you able to get ready at the venue the morning of the wedding?

Getting ready at your venue can take a lot of the stress away and also means you are around in the morning should you need to check anything or do any last minute decorations. Even if your venue is not a hotel some venues do have designated rooms for getting ready the morning of the wedding so be sure to check on this.

17. Can you provisionally hold a number of bedrooms for your guests?

You may have a number of guests travelling over for the wedding or simply just wanting to stay over after the reception. When confirming your venue you may not have a definitive number of rooms you will need but you will not want the rooms to sell out and your guests be left without accommodation. Check if you can hold a group of rooms without being committed to them with a deposit.

18. What photo opportunities/ locations do you have?

You need to know that there are plenty of good spots for your photos to be taken, as not all venues are blessed with stunning backdrops. It is also important to check where photos can be taken inside if the weather is not on your side.

19. What are your typical drink prices at the bar?

If you are not having a free bar this will probably be one of the first questions your guests ask you, you want your guests to be able to enjoy the day with you without having to hold back because they are worried about racking up a big bar bill. 

20. When are all payments due?

This is important as this will likely be your biggest payment due, it is important to plan for this so you can factor in when all of your other supplier payments are due, you don’t want to have them all unexpectedly due at the same time.

Questions for your wedding venue

If you think of any more questions feel free to let us know and we can discuss these in another blog.