Your wedding venue will undoubtedly be one of the largest items
in your wedding budget, although the total amount you pay will depend on whether you are simply paying to hire a room for your reception, or whether your venue is including everything from a room for the ceremony to catering and accommodation.
It helps to know what you have to pay and when before you decide on your venue, and here are some of the common questions brides ask about paying for the venue.
Who pays for the wedding venue?
It is customary for the bride’s family to pay for the reception venue, and the groom’s family to pay for the ceremony venue. However, this becomes harder to define if you are holding your ceremony and reception at the same place. If this is the case, it is easiest to take the total amount payable to the venue and determine what proportion each set of parents, or you yourselves, will pay.
If accommodation is included in your venue, for example if you are using a small boutique hotel and you need to reserve all the rooms as well as the reception facilities, it’s fine to ask guests to pay for their own rooms. This will help to alleviate the cost of having exclusive use of the venue.
What do we have to pay and when?
The number of payments you need to make and when you need to make them often depends on two factors; how far in advance you book your venue, and how much you will be spending in total. You should agree a payment schedule with your venue when you draw up your contract; this gives details of what payments need to be made.
The deposit
The first payment you will make to your venue will be a deposit. This confirms your booking and is generally non refundable if you change your mind or the wedding is cancelled at no fault of the venue, so think carefully before you hand it over. Some venues have a fixed deposit, usually around $1000, no matter what your overall spend will be. Others ask for a percentage of your total bill, anything from 10% to 50% is acceptable.
Your first payment
If you have booked your venue a long way in advance, some venues ask you to pay half of the outstanding balance three to six months before the wedding. Most couples are happy to do this as it spreads the cost out and you don’t have to find the whole lump sum in one go. If you book your wedding venue within six months of the wedding, you may be asked to pay half straight away, or you may be able to pay just the final balance before the wedding.
Your final payment
Most venues ask you to pay the final balance a week or two before the wedding. Generally as long as the funds have cleared into their bank account a couple of days before the wedding there should be no problem. Occasionally venues will allow you to pay the balance after the wedding, but this is usually if you have an open bar and they need to work out your bill at the end of the evening.
Can we use wedding present money to pay for the venue?
Weddings can be expensive affairs, and it’s not always possible to finance them using the bank of mum and dad. If guests are giving you money as presents they want you to spend it on something that makes you happy, and if hiring a particular venue will put a smile on your face then go for it.
If you do decide to spend your wedding present money on the wedding venue it might be best not to mention it in your thank you cards, and you should always have a back up plan in case everyone decides to give you household appliances instead of cash.