While venues can draw you in with their unique features, it is important that they can live up to expectations and enable you to achieve the wedding of your dreams.
Finding the perfect wedding venue may not be a breeze like you first thought, but thanks to our tips below you can be sure to ask all the right questions when searching, visiting and booking your venue.
General Wedding Venue Questions
Even before you visit a venue, it is a good idea to start asking questions.
For instance, many answers can be found by simply looking at a venue’s website, brochure or even testimonials from couples – guest allowance, parking, whether or not you can exclusively hire the venue and if Civil Ceremonies can take place on-site are just a few examples. The venues’ recommended suppliers, if they have any, can usually be found on their websites too.
We at Quendon Hall have a list of Recommended Suppliers, which you can find here.
However, some general questions are best asked upon visiting, such as specific queries regarding external suppliers, and accommodation-related enquiries which might simply be cleared up by seeing the room or suites in person.
Remember, even if you’ve visited a place three times already you can still pick up the phone and ask away!
Ceremony Questions
As you know, the wedding day is made up of different sections, a very important one being the ceremony (i.e. when you are made ‘official’!). As such, it’s vital to get as much information as possible from the venue about what is allowed during this momentous part of your day.
As an example, you may need to ask permission to decorate the ceremony space in order to make it your own – this might involve flower arrangements, seat covers, a carpet or runner, candles, lighting and any other visual accessories.
This is the time when some of the most candid shots will be taken by your photographer, so if you have an idea in mind of how you’d like the space to look when you look through your photo albums it is definitely worth asking these questions right at the start to ensure that you can achieve your fairytale!
Do they allow confetti to be thrown? Not only you but your photographer will want to know this ahead of your big day. Where allowed, most venues will ask that you only use biodegradable confetti. Confetti is permitted at Quendon Hall inside the venue only, and you can find out more about decorating your ceremony space on our dedicated Décor page, here.
Discovering how flexible the venue is about the timings of your ceremony may also be a deal-breaker, particularly if you want to veer away from the norm and get married at dusk, for example.
Wedding Breakfast Questions
The primary food-related questions to keep in mind when visiting your venue are: ‘What are the menu options?’ and ‘Do you cater for dietary requirements?’. Most venues offering catering services will have vegetarian and vegan options but it might be necessary to make it clear if you have any further dietary needs which need to be catered for.
To view the various menus on offer at Quendon Hall, see here.
Food aside, there are other questions to ask concerning the wedding breakfast that you might not have thought of. Do you know the table shapes and sizes and how many guests may be seated at one table? This will directly impact your seating plan so this must be asked before booking, along with whether the crockery and linen are included in the price as this will, in turn, affect your budget.
Reception Questions
The wedding celebrations can create the fondest of memories but you’ll first need to find out if you are allowed to have a live band playing at your reception. You will also need to know how late the venue can legally stay open for guests as your band or DJ will need this information. Timings will often be printed on your wedding invitations too so this is certainly a question to ask early on in the booking process (while you have the option to say ‘8 ‘til late’ or similar on your invites, guests who aren’t staying at the venue may need to plan their return journey and will be grateful for a note re Carriages.)
Facilities Questions
Do you have elderly or disabled guests attending your wedding? If so, you will want to know about disabled access or any restrictions, probably upon your first visit to the venue. Some old buildings make the perfect location for a romantic wedding but sadly may not be wheelchair-friendly due to stairs or uneven ground.
If any of your guests have babies or youngsters then it would be a good idea to find out if there are any changing stations at their disposal too.
It’s always wise to suss out the toilet situation in general when you visit your venue, as you could be left frustrated on the day if you find that there are only two toilets for 100+ guests!
Pricing and Payment Questions
And now for some of the most significant questions of all – those to do with money!
It can be so easy to get carried away with planning your wedding that you forget to ask some of the most crucial questions. For instance, one of the biggest financial fails from couples is neglecting to check if VAT is included in the price, since this can lead to more of their budget being eaten up and the need to cut spending in other areas. After all, once you are booked in and you have agreed to the terms and conditions, there’s no backing out… or is there?
Checking on the venue’s cancellation policy is always handy, because even though you never plan to cancel your wedding you simply cannot predict the future!
Other monetary questions might include: ‘Do you accept any form of cash payments?’ (e.g. gifts from families), ‘Can others make payment on our behalf? (as some businesses will only accept payments from the persons named on the booking for security reasons), ‘Do you accept credit cards’ and so on…
Last but not least, each venue will have its own rules about when payments must be received. For instance, most will take a non-refundable deposit upon booking and may ask for payment in full in the run up to the wedding. But if you would prefer to pay in instalments, then this is something you could ask the venue.
We hope these questions were useful and that they help to guide you to the right venue.
Summary of questions to ask your venue
Be sure to print the below questions out as your checklist when visiting your venue!
General Wedding Venue Questions
What is your guest allowance/capacity?
Do you have parking for guests?
Is exclusive hire of the venue available?
Are civil ceremonies permitted?
Do you have a list of recommended suppliers?
Do you allow external suppliers?
Do you offer accommodation?
Ceremony Questions
Can we decorate the ceremony space?
Is confetti allowed after the ceremony?
Are you flexible with ceremony timings?
Wedding Breakfast Questions
Can I see your menu options?
Do you cater for dietary requirements?
What shape are the tables?
How many guests can be seated at one table?
Is crockery and linen included?
Reception Questions
Can I have a live band?
What time do guests need to leave?
Do you have an in-house DJ?
Facilities Questions
Do you have disabled access and disabled facilities?
Do you have baby changing facilities?
How many toilets are there?
Pricing and Payment Questions
Is VAT included?
What is your cancellation policy?
Do you accept cash payments?
Can others make a payment on our behalf?
Do you accept credit cards?
How much deposit do you require?
Can I pay in instalments?
When is the final balance due?