Wedding venue tours are a huge opportunity. By visiting the venue, walking through it and seeing it with your own eyes – you can decide if it lives up to the photos and videos you’ve seen online, and whether it’s really what you want.
To accomplish that, you need to be prepared and know how to make the most out of your visit so you don’t end up wasting your time. That’s exactly what we’re going to cover in this article – so just keep reading.
Get Your Ducks in a Row
Before planning your venue tours, you need to get everything organized on your end. That means that you should decide on your budget, total number of guests, and roughly when you plan to hold your wedding.
These basic details are essential as they will help you answer questions the venue staff may ask, and will let you ask relevant questions in turn.
Book an Appointment
Don’t just show up to a venue out of the blue and ask to be allowed to tour it. Not only is it not very professional, but you may find the venue is unavailable and you’ll have just wasted your time.
By booking an appointment in advance, not only can you guarantee that you’ll be able to tour the venue, but the venue will also normally arrange for their coordinator to walk you through it so you can ask them questions and get answers.
Prepare Your Questions
When looking over Breezit’s venue selection and researching venues, start to prepare questions that you may want to ask. Some of the more common questions that should be on your list include:
- Is it available on the date that you’re thinking of?
- Can it fit your total number of guests?
- Can you add guests at the last minute – and if so, how many?
- How much is the rental fee and what is included in that fee?
- Does the rental cover cleanup costs or is that separate?
- Are there additional costs for certain items or services?
- Are there any restrictions on decorations, noise, lighting, and so on?
- Is there a list of preferred vendors and are there extra charges if using vendors not on that list?
These questions are just a sample of the more typical questions you’ll want to ask. On top of that there may be specific questions regarding the venue and your plans that you should add to the list so that you don’t forget any.
Take Notes and Photos
While touring the venue, be sure to jot down notes about anything relevant – be it observations you make, or questions that are answered. That way you won’t risk forgetting anything later on and can always check your notes if you are worried that you have.
In addition to notes, snapping photos of the venue may help with the rest of the planning so you should definitely take some too. Focus on important areas such as the reception space, ceremony space, ready rooms, and any other location that you plan to use for your wedding.
Make Connections
Take the opportunity while touring to see if you can connect and get along with the venue coordinator. If the vibe is off and you find it isn’t easy to deal with them that may cause difficulties moving forward.
Keep and File Everything
The venues that you visit will normally give you pamphlets of information including menus, terms and conditions, rate charts, guidelines, and so on. Make it a point to keep everything that they hand you and file it away for future reference.
If possible try to come up with a filing system so you keep all the notes, photos, and materials that the venue gives you in a separate file or folder for each venue.
Conclusion
By making the most of your venue tours you should be able to gather all the information you need and keep it organized so you can refer back to it in the future. Not only will this help you save time, but it will also ensure that you make a better and more informed decision after you’ve toured all the potential venues on your checklist.
