How to Save on Your Wedding Budget: Wedding Venues

Photo by Eric Doolin Photography

Welcome to Part 3 of my series: How to Save on Your Wedding Budget: Venues. Check out Parts 1 and 2 before you read this edition to learn some great general ways to save and tips for Micro-Weddings and Elopements. Today we're going to learn some ways to save on your wedding venue! If you have a wedding planner or a planner is in budget, make sure you're working with them or have booked them before you book a venue, so that they can save you money and find a spot that's in your budget! If you don't have a planner, this is how I tackle wedding venue hunting for my clients' budgets.

Avoid Becoming Venue-Poor. Have you ever heard the term "house-poor?" That's when you've poured all your income into a home purchase and don't have liquid funds left to spend. All your money is in your house! In that same vein, I don't want you to end up "venue-poor." If you have a tight budget, I want to caution you away from even looking at venues with venue fees that would make you "venue-poor" and then falling in love with the look and feel of a venue that will ultimately make you blow your budget or make you sacrifice other elements that you care about or that are otherwise necessary to make a wedding enjoyable. This amount will be different for every couple, but you know your total budget! Is that venue going to eat up most of the budget right off the bat? Maybe just don't even go see it!

Do the Math on what is included and look at a venue's inventory. Most, though certainly not all, venues have some basic inclusions: potable water, clean and comfortable restrooms, power access, a catering area, banquet tables, and chairs. Sometimes they also have linens or a dance floor or a wedding arch or two. Not needing to rent those items can be a savings! If you love a venue like this, I'd do several things:

1. Ask to see the inventory to make sure you wouldn't want to or need to rent your own.

2. Ask if they set up/clean up their inventory and if a fee is added to do so.

3. Pop the venue costs into a spreadsheet and go to a rental supplier website (maybe the venue has a preferred vendor) and look through their online catalog to find basic rentals based on your top guest count and compare the numbers! You're not picking your faves at this time; you're just getting some basic costs on paper.

Also be aware that most caterers will handle your rentals for a fee (that fee is usually worth the headache in my opinion) and/or will handle tables and chairs with a fee. Or some caterers have their own inventory for rent or is, even more rarely, included. Again, get quotes, pop those numbers in a spreadsheet, and compare those costs!

Photo by Kelsey Straus Photography

Catering-Inclusive Venues, (by which I don't mean "all-inclusive," which would include all your vendors, from photographer to DJ), provide catering and catering labor, bar service, and rentals, and can either be a great place to save or a money-pit (to borrow another house term), so ask all the questions and ask for all the docs and what the fees are and read contracts in detail before you get stuck!

My favorite type of these venues for the budget either have a small venue fee plus a food & beverage minimum (the minimum amount you must meet in food and bev costs) or, even better no venue fee at all and only a F&B minimum to meet. In these cases, depending on your guest count, that catering budget gets maximized. Most of these venues include catering labor in your service fees, so that can be a savings when that's the case, and include all rentals (linens, tableware, barware, etc.), which, if you like their stuff, can save you on rentals plus delivery and handling fees.

But again, you'll want to do the math! I recently saw a venue with a high F&B minimum and a small venue capacity - that could be a trap depending on the overall budget. Or if you have a small guest count, meeting that minimum might be really difficult and those funds might be better spent elsewhere. Or if a venue has a very high rental fee plus a F&B minimum, you might end up venue-poor plus catering. One last word of cation for this type of venue: do a tasting! You'll likely have to pay for that, but it's worth it to do before you commit to catering you might not like.

Restaurant Buyouts can often, though certainly not always, be a similar way to go to get a small or no venue fee plus a F&B minimum for those who love a certain chef or cuisine, depending on your guest count and capacity, which can also save you some dollars. Some words of cation, however: try to find restaurants that can fit your whole guest count into one room, so dinner isn't split up. Also restaurants often don't have getting ready spaces, ceremony space, or dance floors, so you'll want to factor those elements into your planning.

Photo by Hazelwood Photography

Publicly-Owned and Non-Profit Venues can be a significant savings in rental fees compared to more traditional wedding venues. Examples of these might include city and state parks, community centers, indoor pavilions and the like connected to public spaces, and event spaces in non-profit businesses. Be aware that these types of venues can typically be bare-bones when it comes to inclusions and service (and check out the state of the restrooms) and can bump into the general public (which can be fine if you're not private people), but if you like one of these spaces, sometimes the cost is so low that even bringing in rentals or restrooms can be a savings compared to traditional venues in the same area. Words of caution: make sure you are abreast of all the rules when it comes to booking, permitting, fire, and alcohol so you don't run into any headaches or fines!

Non-peak wedding dates can be a great way to save some money on venue pricing! Most venues will offer lower rates for non-peak days of the week, which will vary from venue to venue, but usually means weekdays and sometimes even Sundays and non-peak times of year. So if you're not married (see what I did there?) to the idea of a summer Saturday wedding, you could save some dough!

Some other venue budget pitfalls to be aware of:

Keep an eye out for hidden fees! I've seen mandatory security or valet pop up that wasn't mentioned in the contract. And couples also often forget about service fees and gratuity (that's at venues that provide catering).

What contracted hours do you have access to the venue? A getting ready space is pointless if you can't access it in enough time to take photos or you have to pay extra to get in earlier. Or if you really want that floral ceiling install but the florist needs more time than the venue allows, you might have to pay extra!

Wedding rehearsal time is not always included in the cost and sometimes not allowed at all (and when included, usually not the day before), but you can always have your rehearsal somewhere else.

Breaking venue rules often incur fees, such as smoking, alcohol, certain decorations and harming their property, and overtime charges. Make sure your vendors and guests are aware of the rules so you don't get stuck with fees and fines!

What are the rules around trash and recycling? Are you allowed to dispose onsite? Is there a fee to do so? Or a capped amount? If you need to remove, you'll want your caterer to take care of that, but that usually has its own fee.

This list is by no means comprehensive, but can be a great start in saving money on venue costs!

Happy wedding planning,

Andy <3