Venue Visits

LabLove86 · January 2015

Hi there-

How long did you spend in your appointments with each venue?

Any specific - maybe not-so-obvious questions I should remember to ask??

We are starting to look in a few weeks . . . .just getting a feel for what to expect?

vulpiepop · January 2015

We spent about an hour or 2 per venue. We asked as many questions as we could come up with. Some of the good ones to ask are what's included in the venue fee (tables, linens, speakers, etc), if your getting catering through your venue then if gratuity is included in the bill and if you're having a bar then how much extra the bartender will be or if he/she is included in the bill.

Knottie74185698 · January 2015

It took over an hour at two I've been to so far.

floridabride44 · January 2015

It'll depend on how much research & communication you do with them beforehand.

I'm planning a wedding in my hometown but I don't live there anymore, so I got a lot of my venue information ahead of time via email because I wanted to have it really narrowed down before I went on any visits. I pretty much had one day to visit venues so I narrowed it down to four by getting a quote from each place ahead of time. They can send you what packages they offer, and you can choose what you think you want and give them a rough estimate of head count, and they'll write you up a banquet order quote ahead of time. Every place was willing to do this for me and it was a great way of seeing the financial aspect of each venue broken down by food cost, bar cost, room charge, the cost of adding a 5th hour to the reception, etc.

That way, when it came time to actually see each place in person I only needed about 30 minutes to take a tour and scope it out (some places look a lot different in person than in pictures!) and meet with their on-site coordinator.

If you're worried about being overwhelmed on your venue tours it might help to get as much info as you can from them ahead of time, so you know what you're getting yourself into!

LabLove86 · January 2015

Thanks for the response guys! We have it narrowed down to 3 venues we for sure want to visit, then have a couple "back-up" options if those ones aren't quite what we are looking for.

2/3 have prices right on their website which is nice. The last place I will email and see if they can give me some package prices.

floridabride44 · January 2015

@LabLove86 Good luck! For me, (and a lot of people, from what I've heard) choosing a venue was the hardest part. It can be very overwhelming, but once you have that figured out everything else is easier. The rest of the planning is the fun part.

atlastmrsg · January 2015

Ask for their requirements--ie, amount of insurance requirements, if they have a required caterer/bartender list, hours (party has to be shut down by a certain time), if they offer an event rep on site in case you have problems with anything, parking (allowed on grass, is valet service or attendant required), no candles/candles must be in jars, no glitter/confetti/rice/petals.

Any weather contingencies if any part is going to be outdoors.

LabLove86 · January 2015

Good call @atlastmrsg!! I didn't even think about insurance! Or if I HAD to use their bartender. I knew to ask about catering and minimum budget. Ect I am getting excited to start planning!!! Yay!!!

atlastmrsg · January 2015

My venue was historic, had a lot of art, so it required a rider for a set number of millions of dollars. Then the rest of the policy just asked questions like if it was open bar, a bartending service was serving...

AuroraRose41 · January 2015

@LabLove86 good luck! I know one thing that was really important for us was to think of it from the guest perspective. One venue was vetoed because the bathrooms were in the basement down a steep set of stairs, and there was only a very tiny elevator for any of our guests who couldn't walk down stairs. I envisioned drunk people falling down them or trying to all cram into the tiny elevator.

Another only had 1 bathroom per gender, and also had uneven flooring where people might trip.

Yet another had no handicap access to the ceremony area, and we would have to pay to rent a golf cart to bring people who can't use stairs down the hill. That was the same venue where we crashed another couple's wedding during our tour, and the venue told us that it would most likely happen during ours too if we booked.

Another one was vetoed right away for us after attending a wedding as guests there, and the cocktail hour area was standing room only. There was no where to even put tables and chairs, and that was important for us to have at our wedding.

LabLove86 · January 2015

AuroraRose41 said:

@LabLove86 good luck! I know one thing that was really important for us was to think of it from the guest perspective. One venue was vetoed because the bathrooms were in the basement down a steep set of stairs, and there was only a very tiny elevator for any of our guests who couldn't walk down stairs. I envisioned drunk people falling down them or trying to all cram into the tiny elevator.

Another only had 1 bathroom per gender, and also had uneven flooring where people might trip.

Yet another had no handicap access to the ceremony area, and we would have to pay to rent a golf cart to bring people who can't use stairs down the hill. That was the same venue where we crashed another couple's wedding during our tour, and the venue told us that it would most likely happen during ours too if we booked.

Another one was vetoed right away for us after attending a wedding as guests there, and the cocktail hour area was standing room only. There was no where to even put tables and chairs, and that was important for us to have at our wedding.

This is SOOOOOO important to both of us! (Fi and I - but also you and I! Haha) But yes - I will make sure that I am looking at it not only from our perspective but also from our guests.

ETA - its so amazing to me that venues would make things difficult for their guests. I mean - I get that those SS brides might not care - but you would think that the venues themselves would want optimum comfort for all guests - even if they are not the ones footing the bill.

AuroraRose41 · January 2015

@LabLove86 I know! I am always shocked when I see things that the venues don't seem to care about either. All I think is that you are potentially turning away business by doing this (which is exactly what happened at a wedding that FI and I went to!).

Our venue wasn't perfect either, but they at least realize that they have some things that make it less than stellar and try to overcome those without charging us anything extra. The main issue that I can think of is that there is a set of stairs in the building in between our ceremony and reception area and no elevator. But, the venue realizes this is a problem and as such will drive any guests that need assistance between the two areas in a van, complementary. FI and I will give them a list of people who will need this the week of the wedding and can direct people where they need to go to use this service.

ETA: Also, FI keeps calling me a reverse bridezilla for keeping everyone else's comfort in mind over any wedding vision I may have.

LabLove86 · January 2015

Haha reverse bridezilla. I'm going to aspire to be that too. Haha

Coalette2013 · January 2015

Something else to ask would be if any other events would be taking place the same day. Also, would any other perspective brides be allowed to look at the venue that day.

Sounds silly, but when my best friend got married, they rented out the entire place, which you had to do, but yet the venue scheduled a showing with another bride about 1 hour before the wedding would begin. The MOB ran them off and let the manager/coordinator have it. I felt bad for the perspective bride b/c it wasn't her fault, but I don't blame the MOB either, you don't want strangers walking around while the wedding is getting started.

LabLove86 · January 2015

@Coalette2013 I don't know if I would mind someone looking around before the wedding was getting started - but once started - no - I paid for this to be my time. So I get it . . . .

But I wouldn't be surprised if they are setting up for a wedding when I go to the one venue next weekend - as my visit time is 330. And its on a Saturday. But its also January so . . . . I guess its a 50/50 shot.

Anywhoo . . . Thanks for the heads up! I will consider this for sure!

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