The Questions Worth Asking on a Venue Viewing

It is very easy to fall in love with a venue in the first five minutes. The driveway, the light through the windows, the person showing you round who calls you "the happy couple" before you have even sat down. All lovely. All slightly dangerous. A viewing is your one proper chance to find out what the place is actually like to get married in, not just what it looks like on Instagram. So before you go, agree between you that one of you is allowed to be swept away, and the other is holding the list. ## The money questions Ask what is actually included in the hire fee. Some venues quote a headline figure that covers the room and very little else; others include tables, chairs, linen, staffing and a coordinator on the day. Neither is wrong, but you need to know which one you are looking at before you compare prices. Then ask about the extras that catch people out: corkage if you are bringing your own wine, a charge for cutting and serving your cake, late-licence fees, and whether VAT is included in the figure they have just told you. On Ever After List we ask venues to publish a starting price for exactly this reason — but the detail still matters. ## The practical questions What time can your suppliers get in to set up, and what time does everything have to be out? If the answer is "in by 9am, out by midnight", a florist with an elaborate installation needs to know that now, not the week before. Ask where everyone goes if it rains. This is Britain. If the plan is drinks on the lawn, there needs to be a plan B that is not "forty people standing in the corridor". A good venue will answer this without blinking, because they have done it a hundred times. Also ask how many weddings they host in a day. One is ideal. If there is another wedding before or after yours, find out how the turnaround works and whether your guests might meet the previous couple''s guests in the car park. ## The people questions Who is your point of contact, and will they actually be there on the day? The person giving you the tour is often the sales manager. The person running your wedding might be someone you have never met. Ask to meet them, or at least to have a proper handover call. And ask the quiet question: what do couples usually wish they had known? You would be surprised how often venues answer this honestly. ## Before you leave Take your own photos, including the boring bits — the kitchen access, the loos, the car park, the room with the lights on and off. And ask them to hold your date, even for a week, while you think. Any venue that pressures you to decide on the spot is telling you something. The right venue will still feel magical after you have asked all of this. That is how you know.

The Questions Worth Asking on a Venue Viewing

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