Inspecting Wedding Venues

Every Bride needs to make a wedding planning checklist or obtain one from an experienced person who has covered many weddings.

Choosing your wedding venue is by far one of the most important decisions that you will make, so what are the most important considerations? Would you know what to look for when hiring a venue? In this post we look at some of the common sense issues which are easily overlooked and discuss some aspects which could have been improved at recent wedding receptions.

If you are getting married at a large venue which hosts multiple events, you may need a person to arrive before your guests arrive to ensure that all the boxes have been ticked and that the venue is ready for your party. Some venues do not demonstrate enough care and attention to details, which is very dissapointing when you consider the amount that they are charging for the service. Such venues are more focused on optimising their profits and turning over each wedding or event as quickly as possible, then moving on to the next one. For you, there is just one take and no rewind or undo button. You simply have to get it right the first time.

Here are 7 checklist items to help you.

#1.When you visit the venue for the first time, be switched on from the moment that you enter the drive or approach. What you are looking for are signs that everything is in order and that the venue is well managed.

#2. Start with the signs for the venue, if they are old and the paintwork has faded, what does this tell you? It could be an early reflection of a lack of maintenance. As you continue your tour, you can bet that there will be other items in need of repair or falling apart.
#3. Have a look at the grounds; if there are dead flowers in the flower beds all around the entrance, this is a red flag. You could at this point, get back into your car and find another venue. To continue after seeing these signals, is taking a gamble. What you really want is a venue that ticks all the boxes. A wedding venue that feels vibrant before you enter and start to plan your wedding celebrations.

#4. As you enter the reception area, have a good look around and see what impression you get from the staff on duty. Do they look competent and professional? Have they kept you waiting for a long time? Did they keep the appointment?

#5. When they take you on a tour of the venue, is the focus on the specifics that you are requesting, or are they more interested in selling extra services?
#6. Does the function suite or marquee look like a place which will make your guests feel special? Does the room look like it is regularly used, or more like it has not seen a wedding in a few years?
#7. Try ordering something to eat and stay for a short while. You can then see what their quality of service is like. Try the popular club sandwich from the bar menu and ask them to hold the tomatoes and see if they pay attention to details.

I bet that many people have dived in at the deep end and hired a venue without visiting the place or even trying the food and drinks? There is no room for reckless decisions when planning the biggest day of your life, it just pays to plan well and check everything. We recently covered a series of summer weddings and there were some annoying things that the venues had overlooked. In one place, the weather was hot and they should have opened the windows and aired the function room for a while before the guests arrived. The summer heat made the carpet smell terrible and there were ceiling fans, but they were switched off. At another large venue, the hotel guests were using the same outdoor area for tea and the tables were not fully cleared and reset. They also had problems with local wild life and there was pigeon guano stains on the patio furniture where guests were later seated. In another wedding venue, they had just one toilet for male & female guests and no additional toilets in the area where the reception drinks was taking place, you had to walk all the way to the main building to find another toilet.

Many venues are on the ball and take real pride in hosting events and you will not find anything to complain about. However, some hotels hire too many third-rate people as cheap labour and dress them up in smart uniforms, but you can tell that they don’t have a clue of what the required standard should be.

If you have recently chosen your venue or celebrated a wedding, please tell us what were the deciding factors and share your experience. If you would like to use our steel drum band for wedding reception music, please visit the website and send an enquiry.

If you used this advice to good effect, please leave some comments for other brides.