What questions do we ask the venue

Kinski

My daughter has her wedding booked and on Monday she is going to the venue to discuss it, her oh can't go so I'm getting dragged along. Neither of us have any idea what to ask or what's expected of both the venue or the couple. Can anyone please give us some tips on what to ask, I got married a long long time ago and everything has changed, we got married at a registry office then went back to ours for a p*** up so none of us have ever done a proper wedding before.

binkyboo_2

is there minimum guest numbers
do they have different options for food i.e sit down meal/carvery/buffet/bbq etc
Do they charge corkage if you bring in your own wine/champagne
what do they include in your final price. (my venue gave us for free - bridal suite for night of wedding, red carpet, champagne breakfast in bed the morning after etc)
can you bring in your own suppliers - chair covers, dj, sweet buffet etc.
what is their special rate for guests rooms if they have them

if i think of any more i will come back!

Kinski

Thank you that's really helpful, she's getting married at the golf club her dad's a member of, he's there a lot but the rest of us only go very rarely.

White_Sapphire

Two lists here:

http://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-venues/venues/checklist.htm

cheap- wedding- success. co. uk/wedding-venues
(copy & paste, remove spaces, add www. Link won't work!)

Compile your own list on Word or equivalent, missing out any questions that aren't relevant to your situation. Make sure you leave spaces between each question to jot down their answers on your visit, then print one off for each venue. Et voila! Easily comparable venue info to help make your choice!

Kinski

Thank you White Sapphire, I've e-mailed that site to my daughter.

minerva_windsong

If she has her heart set on anything specialist (gaming tables, band, ice cream van, chip van, hog roast, chocolate fountain, fireworks etc) I'd find out about whether the venue can accommodate that.

pinkteapot

It sounds like you've already booked the venue, and this is a planning meeting? Is that correct?

If so, make a list. Run through the whole day in order - guests arriving, ceremony, drinks reception, meal, evening entertainment. You want to understand exactly what will happen at each stage.

For example: Section: Guests Arriving
1) How will guests know where to go on arrival?
2) If guests arrive early and end up in the bar, who will round them up before the ceremony?
3) How long before the ceremony starts will the guests be seated?
4) Where do groom and bride meet the registrar before the ceremony?
5) How do you ensure as few guests as possible get a glimpse of the bride before the ceremony? (And keep the groom separate!)

You want to know exactly what their wedding coordinators do and don't do. If there are any jobs they don't cover, she can then arrange for a member of the wedding party or friend to cover it.

I got married in June and we had one long meeting with our venue beforehand. You want to end up with every detail of how the day will run clear, because then there's no stress about what's happening on the day. :j

Kinski

Thank you pinkteapot some really good things to ask there :T. We've not been to a wedding in years and have absolutely no idea how things work.

jakes-mum

when I got married one of my guests had food allergies so I had to ask about how the food was prepared and whether they could accomodate her allergies (one was onion which is in pretty much everything we were having so they prepared a separate meal for her!) also if you have children coming do they do a child sized portion of the menu and how much does it cost compared to the adult meal per head (they did half price for us)
For evening reception will staff be available to arrange more seating for evening only guests? what time can the reception carry on till (our venue had a midnight finish policy)

Kinski

Good point about the allergies, my eldest son has the peanut allergy and also one to pulses. I'm very very glad you mentioned it, we would probably forgotten to mention it . There's going to be a few brats including my daughters daughter who will be 20 months, also my other granddaughter who will be nearly three and my grandson who will just be three a couple of weeks before the wedding. I told my children that they had to wait til I snuffed it before they had brats but did they listen like stuff and they did :rotfl:

Impet_Limpet

We asked about parking spaces, parking charges and whether here were any problems with guests leaving their car at the hotel to collect the following day.