Selecting the Right Venue For Your Wedding
Long story short: DON’T RUSH THE PROCESS.
When it comes to selecting the venue for your wedding in Los Angeles, it has more to do with than just aesthetics. The venue may be the one you have always envisioned, the dreamy interior or exterior that looks like everything you have seen on Instagram and Pinterest, but the question you have to ask yourself is - is it right for me?
Most articles that talk about finding your wedding venue talk about location, capacity, cost, amenities, and budget - and those elements are very important. BUT, there are two other important elements that most people don’t talk about:
Experience with your type of wedding
Responsiveness to emails and phone calls
Experience with your type of wedding
When it comes to the wedding industry - including weddings in Los Angeles - a majority of weddings have the same simple format. But, for those of us who come from dynamic ethnic cultures full of tradition, our weddings are unique and the reality is, not every venue is capable of effectively hosting them. So, ask your venue about this. Talk to them about those special traditions that you will be incorporating into your day. Ask them if they have hosted a wedding from your culture at their venue (and if they have, ask them their experience - do they speak highly of it or do they speak negatively about it? Yes, some venue reps are sometimes TOO open about any negative experience and that’s a red flag).
Most importantly - talk to them about the fact that you want to bring in your own caterer - one who can provide your respective culture’s food. Many will push back and say their venue can cook everything and say that once you sign the contract you can have a tasting (to that I recommend a stern no and to look elsewhere). What you will commonly encounter is that the venue will allow you to bring in an external caterer but will charge you $50 - 200/per person JUST for this (mind you - this doesn’t include the cost of the actual caterer you will bring). I’ll let you do the math there.
For example, say you are Nigerian and are looking to have a full blown Nigerian wedding in Los Angeles with a guest list of 200+ of your closest family and friends. During that first phone call or email to the venue, state this upfront. While you should give them the basic information of date and guest count, go further and let them know that you are Nigerian and want to bring in an external caterer - specially a Nigerian caterer. Furthermore, if you will be doing the traditional Nigerian ceremony the same day as the white wedding, let them know what that entails - and make sure they understand what you need in terms of support (staff to turn over the space) and possibly even different rooms within the venue. Go back and forth with your venue as many times as you need to before signing any papers - have the utmost confidence they can handle every single aspect of your wedding vision.
Long story short - get to know your venue intimately by asking all the questions. Which leads me to my next point.
Responsiveness to emails and phone calls
My philosophy with communication and vendors is simply not to chase. I strongly believe that the communication in the beginning of the process sets the tone for the rest of the planning process. Considering the venue is one of THE MOST important pieces of the wedding, it’s critical that you have a great relationship with them from the beginning. Now, I understand that venues are constantly hosting events and that you won’t get responses immediately, but if days/weeks go by and there is no returned correspondence, that to me is a red flag and that venue should no longer be shortlisted.
You want your venue to be able and willing to answer any and all questions that allow you to understand if they will be the best choice for you and how you want your day to be. If you have 75 questions, they need to be willing to thoroughly answer every single one of those questions without hesitation. If you come across a venue who either half-answers your questions or worse yet, does not even address your questions and instead sends you a templated email response, it’s going to be a long road with them. If your venue is not willing to go above and beyond BEFORE the contract is signed, imagine how they’ll treat you once they have your signature and your money?
Now speaking about money…
You will see this in other articles about selecting your venue - the conversation around budget. But it goes beyond if the cost on their website or their marketing material is in line with the budget you have in mind. The total cost for a venue can start out at $8,000 (which I’m sure many couples would say oh that’s affordable!) and by the time you get a final cost estimate that total cost has ballooned to 60k! And that my friend is the problem. So, to prevent that unwelcome surprise, after the venue has confirmed they have the availability on your date and can host your guest count, ask them for a total cost estimate so you know exactly how much it would cost to host your wedding at their venue. While that number may fluctuate depending on what you add or remove, it will be closer to the actual total. If your venue gives you any pushback about doing this or says they can’t until you sign a contract, that is a MAJOR red flag and it’s time to look elsewhere. You should never sign a contract without knowing how much you’re spending on the venue, what it includes, and whether or not there are any additional fees that may pop up along the way.
While I know the venue searching process is always the most difficult part of the wedding planning journey, my hope is that these less-often mentioned tips to navigating conversations with venue reps and sales teams will help. If you at any point need help with the process, send me an email!