Planning your wedding can feel challenging at the best of times and at the worst of times it can feel downright overwhelming. Even for the most detailed and organised of couples the decision-making process can feel like a minefield of unknowns. While questions like ‘what font do I want on my invitations?’ or ‘do I want to keep the top tier of my wedding cake?’ are more easily answered, the bigger questions like ‘which wedding venue?’ require remarkably more consideration and contemplation.Â
From urban warehouse spaces to stunning and secluded homestead estates, it’s no secret that engaged couples are spoilt for choice when asking this all-important question. And while, in the early stages, it may be easy to narrow down your options to a favourite few based on price, aesthetic and location, how do you know the experience you’ve been dreaming about will be the experience delivered on the day? Especially if unexpected events arise!
To help choose the perfect wedding venue for your wedding day, the incredible team at Gabbinbar Homestead has compiled a list of seven essential questions for your wedding venue that only wedding planners know to ask.
1. Do you offer a wedding planning service or an on-the-day coordinator?Â
Believe us when we say there is a significant difference between the two! A venue that offers ‘on-the-day coordination’ will host and provide assistance on the day only, following a run sheet, which you may have to provide. On the other hand, a venue that offers a wedding planning service will have a team of wedding planners on hand from the moment you book to assist and bring your vision to life. Before booking, ensure your venue’s wedding planning service includes at a minimum:
- Comprehensive vendor recommendations
- Unlimited email and phone contact in the lead-up to your wedding
- Curated seating plans, run sheets and guest dietary requirements
- Extensive planning meetings to determine all the ‘finer details’ for your day
- Liaison with vendors in the weeks leading up to your day, confirming details, arrival times etc.
- Complete coordination of the entire day’s proceedings.
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Helpful tip: Ensure your venue’s wedding planning team plays all the music for you on your wedding day and carefully curates the length, volume and timing of your key moment music.Â
2. What is your wait staff-to-guest ratio? Can you give some examples of where your WEDDING venue provides exceptional service in this area?
This question is excellent for locking in some hard and fast figures for comparison. While a venue may promise you great service, this question will help determine who can deliver on that promise. Most venues will work on a wait-staff-to-guest ratio of 25 to 1. However, venues prioritising exceptional service will usually operate on a 10 to 1 ratio. Also important is determining what style of service accompanies this ratio. For example, will guests be tray served their drinks throughout the canape or garden party time, or will your guests have to find a bar to be served from? Will waitstaff be attentive to guests with special dietary requirements, or will this be an afterthought?Â
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Helpful tip: Clarify if your venue can dedicate waitstaff specifically to attend to you and your wedding party during your onsite photos so you don’t miss out!Â
3. Who is your head chef, and how long have they been working at the venue?Â
This is an important question especially post-covid and if your venue boasts culinary awards. You’ll want to know the chef that earned those awards is still in charge of the kitchen for your special day. Ask if the head chef designed the current menu offering and if they are open to customising and accommodating any dietary requirements.Â
Helpful tip: To assist with budgeting, ask if the food inclusions in the package are designed to be ‘more than enough’, or if you need to add additional menu items to ensure a great guest experience. Â
4. Do you have enough car parking onsite to accommodate all my guests? Can they leave their cars parked overnight?Â
If you are looking to avoid additional logistics, the cost of hiring a bus and coordinating guest arrivals and departures, confirm that your venue has enough onsite parking for all your guests. If your venue is centrally located, ask if they will allow guests to leave their cars parked overnight and simply collect them the next day when they are ready.Â
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Helpful tip: Guest arrival is equally important as guest departure – ensure your venue has a concierge designated to greet guests as they arrive and usher them to your ceremony location.Â
5. Is it possible to organise item drop-off the day before my wedding and item collection the next day?Â
On the morning of your wedding, you’ll want to arrive at your venue fresh, excited, empty-handed and with everything already set out for you to begin your day! To do this, ensure your venue offers a comprehensive item drop-off the afternoon before your wedding. That’s right, every single item for your day: Wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses, shoes, styling items, guest books, signage etc.
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Helpful tip: To ensure the process is just as enjoyable after your wedding, confirm that your venue will do a complete pack-down of all personal and vendor items on the night (including gifts) and that all items can be collected the next day.Â
6. What are your wet weather backup options, and how will they affect the vision for our day?
No one dreams of wet weather on their wedding day. With the current weather events, it is something that every couple needs to be prepared for! Not only should your venue have excellent wet weather backup options but you should feel confident they can execute these well. Â
Dive a little deeper by asking your venue if they can set both your preferred ceremony location and the wet-weather backup option (at no extra cost) if the weather is looking inclement. This way, closer to ceremony time, you can make a call as to where would be best.Â
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Helpful tip: Ask if the venue can provide umbrellas for all of your guests in the event of wet weather – this will indicate how prepared they are!!Â
7. What are your wet weather backup options, and how will they affect the vision for our day?
This one may seem a little left of field and not worth worrying about until it happens to you! Ask your venue what happens if there is a power outage on your wedding day. Do they have a backup generator that can power the whole facility without interrupting your day?
With wedding planning, often it is the questions you don’t know to ask that are the most important. Attend a viewing at your preferred venue armed with these questions. You’ll feel much more confident that the experience you’ve been dreaming of will be the experience delivered on your special day.Â
Special thanks to Gabbinbar Homestead for this insightful article. Check out more about the wonderful wedding venue, right here:
