Wedding receptions are the icing on the cake for your big day|Wedding receptions are the icing on the cake for your special day}. Planning them can be easy and fun if you know how to approach it. Whether it’s a castle wedding reception or a local pub or hotel, planning is the key to success. When booking a venue, take a checklist of questions to ask so that you can budget and plan properly because reception sites can break their prices down differently. Request itemised costs to make sure you have covered everything. You will need an idea of what you want before you talk to the venue so that the estimate is as as relevant and accurate as possible. You will need to know how many people you are planning to have and what aspects you plan to do yourself and which via an outside company. Items you will need on your list are staffing availability and fees, venue rental fee, food costs, drinks costs, setting up and clearing up fee, overtime fee and parking availability. Also, if you are planning on having your ceremony on site, what is the ceremony cost?
Some venues offer wedding packages which can be both cost-effective and convenient, as long as you take care to find out exactly what is and isn’t included in the package. You may be able to purchase a whole package or just part of one. It may make a difference to the cost whether you are having a summer or winter wedding because summer ones are generally more popular. Sometimes a venue will have a preferred list of vendors. This is useful as you then have the security of knowing that they have all worked well together before and that they know the venue.
You may find that you are tied to having to use a certain vendor for things such as catering. You need to check this. If you do bring in your own caterering team, you will have to find out if you need to cost for or hire kitchen facilities. Don’t overlook practical things such as how many people will the cake serve and what will your chair covers and table linen look like. Also, there’s cutlery, plates and glasses to think about which will be an additional cost if the venue isn’t providing them. The venue will also need to have ample space for parking.
With careful planning and a venue quote that has no hidden extras, your wedding reception should be a real success.
