Along with our resident “Engaged Man”, Jaime Winston, I suspect there are several newly engaged couples that are currently on-the-hunt for the perfect venue. Aesthetics, location and budget aside, booking a venue is a big endeavor. It’s the first of many contracts—not to mention the BIG contract you sign on your wedding day—that you will sign before you walk down the aisle. Fortunately for our readers, event logistics extraordinaire, Carolynn Bottino of the Memorial House will be guiding us through all the hurdles of booking the ideal wedding venue. The first step: compare and contrast. Thanks, Carolynn!

Planning a wedding on a budget can sometimes be overwhelming.  One of the first decisions to make that impacts your budget is the location.  But how do you compare venues when they are all priced so differently?  Here are a few tips and things to consider.

Overall, there are two types of venues – those that rent the space and give you a choice of catering (Memorial House, Red Butte Garden, Cactus & Tropicals) and those that include the space and catering together like a hotel or restaurant (Log Haven, Millcreek Inn, Joseph Smith Memorial Building).

Silver Lake Lodge, Deer Valley

To compare venue prices, you want to make sure you understand what included – especially the basics like tables and chairs, linens, catering, and china.  If the venue includes catering, be sure to ask about minimums, average per person costs, and tax and service charge.  If they charge for the room, do they charge tax and service charge the room rate?  If you are looking at a venue that does not do its own catering, make sure you understand their catering policy.  Many venues require you to use someone on their preferred list.  Look at the catering options and ask the same questions about minimums, average per person costs, and tax and service charge.

Log Haven

Prices on the surface aren’t necessarily the cheapest – if you have it in a friend’s back yard, the venue might be free, but tables, chairs, linens, and delivery fees are not.  Just because a venue only charges $500 for the room, the food minimum might be $10,000.

Millcreek Inn

Once you know what’s included – NOW WHAT!?  Honestly, my best advice is to use an excel spreadsheet to compare prices – that way you can make sure that all of the items that will have a tax and service charge are accounted for and you know all of the charges.  Make sure you have all of the budget items you are comparing – venue, catering, linens, china, etc. listed and account for anything that is included by either the venue and/or the caterer.

Devereaux Mansion

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the numbers, now is a great time to think about hiring a wedding planner (this is a topic all on its own) – or at least recruit a friend or family member who is good at numbers to help you make sure you are comparing apples to apples.  Many of the wedding planner books and websites also have tools to help you build your budget where you can fill in all the costs and get your numbers organized.

Carolynn Bottino is the Memorial House Manager located in Memory Grove Park.  She has been in events for almost 15 years and has planned everything from fundraisers, to corporate events, and hundreds of weddings.

Posted: Monday, January 16th, 2012 @ 4:50 pm
Categories: Venues.
Tags: Cactus & Tropicals, Carolynn Bottino, Deer Valley weddings, Devereaux Mansion, Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Log Haven, Memorial House, Memory Grove, Millcreek Inn, Red Butte Gardens, Selecting a Venue, Utah weddings.