43 Questions To Ask Your Wedding Venue

With just six months to go until your wedding day, your venue will likely arrange a meeting to discuss the finer details, such as the menu, welcome drinks, order of the day and the finishing touches. I just had my meeting with our venue Deer Park Country House ready with my list of questions to ask your wedding venue and I can’t tell you how excited I feel again now I know all of these little details that we know our guests will love, as much as we do! 

Now, as you know I am also Art Director at Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine so I hear story after story of things that venues have caught couples out on. So I had quite the list of questions to ask our co-ordinator. I wrote them all down, and although a lot of them got answered during our meeting, I still had some that we hadn’t covered yet. 

Here are 43 questions to ask your wedding venue at your 6 month planning meeting:

1. How does the room set-up work if we are getting married and having our reception in the same place?
2. When will the florist be able to drop off the flowers?
3. What are our ceremony options? This can be to where you stand, how long the aisle is, which way the bride enters in from.
4. How will the bridal party receive breakfast when getting ready in the morning?
5. Where and when do our guests have their breakfast if they are staying the night before?
6. Where do the groomsmen get ready?
7. Is the bar open for guests before the ceremony?
8. How long before the ceremony should guests arrive?
9. What are our welcome drink options for after the ceremony?
10. How does the ceremony music work if it’s on a playlist? 
11. Can me and my partner have 5 minutes alone after the ceremony before joining the guests? TOP TIP: This is something I have heard couples recommend time after time, to make sure you do spend actual time with your newlywed on your wedding day!
12. Where and when do we have our confetti shot?
13. Do you have music playing during the canapés?
14. How long do you need to change the room over during canapés?
15. How do you want all the table decor supplied to you for set up?
16. What are the bar prices?
17. What are the canapés and are there vegetarian options?
18. Where can we have photos taken?
19. Do we have to have a receiving line? This is an older tradition where the guests line up to chat to the bride and groom before heading in for the wedding breakfast. 
20. What are the wet weather options for photos and canapés? Luckily we have a country house with a few different rooms where guests can be inside.
21. Can we arrange for hot food for our photographer, videographer and DJ?
22. Where is the smoking area?
23. What shape tables are available and how many guests on each?
24. Is the top table straight or round?
25. Wedding breakfast options?
26. Which wine will be on the tables?
27. Do you have chair tie-backs?
28. How long will the wedding breakfast take to be served and eaten?
29. Food options for children?
30. Do you recommend speeches before or after the meal?
31. Is their a cake-cutting fee? This came as a surprise but yes, some venues charge a cake-cutting fee!
32. Do we need to bring our own cake-cutting knife? 
33. How much time do we have for speeches?
34. Can we cut the cake after the speeches to be served with tea and coffee while room gets changed ready for the party? TOP TIP: I’ve heard countless couples say their guests never ate their cake because they cut it too late when everyone was already drinking and dancing. Cutting the cake after the speeches means it can be served with the tea and coffee after the meal so it won’t go to waste.
35. What decor do you have at the venue for us to use? This could be easels, lights, cake stands etc.
36. Where can the DJ set up?
37. What are our evening food options?
38. Can we have sparklers or fireworks? TOP TIP: We found out a sand bucket is needed for the sparklers after they’ve been lit.
39. When does the bar stop serving?
40. When does the music have to be switched off?
41. Can guests still hang around the venue after the party?
42. Is there a clean-up fee?
43. Where and when can we have breakfast the morning after?

I hope some of the above questions have been useful to you in your meeting. How long until your big day and where are you getting marries? Let me know below!