Wedding Services - prices and value?

piglet25

katy721 wrote: »

I have found it very difficult to find venues that will allow self-catering. The prices quoted even for just an evening buffet are so much more expensive than it would be if we did it ourselves.

I'm not sure if that is the sort of thing you are looking for, but lack of self-catering options made us discount an awful lot of venues outright.

Even if somewhere did a very basic buffet/nibbles for a couple of pound a head that would be better than the £7 a head minimum we have found so far.

Thanks for your response Do you think that they might be against self catering because people would prefer to DIY and possibly not meet catering standards ( for example, cross contamination etc ) or was it catering companies they were refusing to allow? xx

rosie-lee

Hi Piglet
I visit a lot of wedding venues & would like to offer a view on what makes a good & not so good venue. It's quite surprising how many beautiful places, still manage to get it so wrong.

There should be no need to pay for chair covers. The chairs should be nice enough for the ceremony/meal in the first place. If they are not, then plain White/cream should come as standard & you make your profit on the brides who are happy to pay for coordinating sashes etc.

The room needs to be set up, fresh & ready WELL before the ceremony. Guests hate having an excited look at the room, to find a couple of teenagers hoovering last nights party poppers.

Staff need to be clean & smart & smile & smile & when your feet are hurting smile some more.

If there is music to be played for the ceremony. Check it. Listen to the volume. It is pitiful to hardly hear a well chosen song. It is surprising how many venues, do not start it at the right time & bride & grooms don't know when to start their exit from the room & breaks the momentum. OR the worst is that the girl operating it from the next room thinks it's too loud yet no guests can hear it grrrr

Have someone visibly 'in charge', looking after this huge, significant event in this family's life., someone who the guests know is in charge, particularly close family & friends of B&G. They want everything perfect for their loved one & They hate wandering around not knowing whether to go into the room or where to go after. I can't think of what they ask, but believe me they do ask a lot of stuff on the day & do not like being unable to find staff.

Glasses of water for B&G, they get hot, they get dry & then have 10mins of ohotos after ceremony before they exit for more.

Cool the room if it's hot, open all the windows, warm it up if it's cold. Basic but often overlooked.

I see so many venues moaning that they are quiet whilst other places are bursting at the seams. It's usually obvious why & nothing to do with location or cost.

Just wanted to add... There is little you can do if guests check out late, we all know that but if you are expecting a lot of guests booking rooms & the ceremony starts before check - in time, please consider including a courtesy room in the overall package. Guests staying over are likely travelling to come to this wedding? Knowing I could only checkin after the ceremony, I would be very impressed being able to get changed somewhere & freshen up after my journey. That's the sort of thing that would prompt a positive comment on tripadvisor.

piglet25

Thank you Rosie-Lee, thats a really helpful post. I hadn't considered issues such as the water, and I can understand your point about chair covers. The place I will be helping is a really beautiful historic building, sadly due to inexperience and lack of caring has really affected the weddings and events side of the business so its going to be an uphill struggle but fingers crossed it will end up being somewhere people aspire to get married, not put up with

Mrs_Huggett

I would like to say that Rosie Lee has it spot on...I am a vintage DJ and supply vintage china and props for weddings, and her post took the words out of my mouth!!

duchy

piglet25 wrote: »

Of course you can Duchy, I am doing some research into what people most want at their weddings, and things which people wish they hadn't had in order to put together a selection of Wedding Packages for a venue which has lost its way regarding weddings and events and has asked me for a bit of advice. By asking on here it helps to avoid brides paying for things they don't really want and it also gives an idea of the average prices people think is acceptable to pay or is too expensive. My aim is to create the ideal package for a good price.
Would you like to add any of your must haves or wish you didn't haves? xx

No- I prefer not to do people's commercial research for them .
The wedding industry already has a bad enough rep already. If a company is paying you to do research for them they might expect a bit more from you in the demographics area though-I know I would !
The best way to find out is to leave the keyboard behind and go see for yourself - from making viewing visits to attending ceremonies and receptions -nothing beats knowing your market......and your competition ......first hand.

piglet25

I have actually spent quite a few years in the wedding industry in a different capacity and as I am not married myself I thought it would be nice to hear what people who have or are about to be thought was the best and worst services to use. The venue in question is being taken on by a manager friend of mine and they have asked me to help out with the mess that the weddings and events have become, as I have alot of event experience. For some reason you seem to have a bee in your bonnet about me asking a simple question and talking to other ladies, and for the record I aren't being paid to do anyones commercial research Duchy and I aren't going to engage any further with you, seems as how all you wish to do is cause bad feeling on here.
Thank you to the posters who have contributed to this thread in a positive way, it was much appreciated

theruffles

I got married in April and the services we booked were, I guess, quite modest, but we were on a budget and not really the kind of people who wanted the all-singing, all-dancing kind of wedding.

We booked cars for around £375, a photographer for £600 (we thought this was quite a good price given the quality of his photographs), and used a local company for the favours on the tables - around £120? for 50 people (boxes tied with ribbon with sugared chocolates). We could have made the favours ourselves at half the cost but didn't realise until we'd placed the order. We paid £650 for a DJ for the evening reception.

We had a sweet buffet but did this ourselves using supplies from a friend's wedding We didn't bother with any other entertainment for the daytime (though were tempted by a photo booth) and I can't stand chair covers/bows so didn't book those. We wanted somewhere that would allow us to bring our own caterers but who would be willing to supply drinks for the tables - we also asked for a discount on this!

Anatidaephobia

rosie-lee wrote: »

There should be no need to pay for chair covers. The chairs should be nice enough for the ceremony/meal in the first place. If they are not, then plain White/cream should come as standard & you make your profit on the brides who are happy to pay for coordinating sashes etc.

I never understand why venues are so petty about things like the cost of chair covers. Surely if you're paying a lot of money for a wedding in their venue, the least they can do is provide good enough chairs for your guests! This should already be included in the package. A venue that insisted on charging me silly amounts for "extras" such as chair covers or sashes definitely puts me off.

DomRavioli

Hi OP,

Self catering venues are few and far between as most venues make a HUGE profit on food. Nothing to do with food standards, most won't even let other professionals come in.

And I agree with other posters - get out there and do your own research, it isn't that difficult.

guardiangirl

Hi Piglet

Don't know why anyone has a problem helping - don't respond if they don't want to help! Strange.

Anyway, something I think is nice to be included from your venue is a kind of master of ceremonies. Just someone to make the day run smoothly and announce the next part of the wedding etc.

I looking into the costs of singing waiters - faaaar too expensive!|! Can't remember now but it was in the thousands, not hundreds.

I think more venues should allow you to supply your own booze and charge a reasonable corkage fee.