Restrictions impose by venue/hotel

Venue is probably one of the first things that a couple books before any other vendor. This could be a dangerous move and here is what we think should be done or avoided.

1) The venue that you book is subjected to the number of guests that you plan to invite, the quality of the food, the ambience of the place to fit your theme, the service of the venue and most importantly, does it fit your budget.

2) Always book the place that is about 20-30% bigger than your initial expected capacity, so as to cater to any increase of invitations when the date gets nearer.

3) Before booking a venue, couples should attend 1-2 events in the same venue to assess the service of staff and the quality of food.

4) Also, couples should try to make sure there are no morning or afternnon event in the same venue on the same day, as this will restrict the time for setup, which means the decoration has to be simpler, all vendors will have to rush their time which might result in less than ideal finishing.

5) Couples should ask the venue to state clearly at the outset any restrictions imposed by the venues. Some venues do not allow outside food or catering, deco, entertainment, video photo and other vendors who are not in their partner list. This restriction could be a pro or a con. It depends on the venue's criteria for the selection of their partners. Most of them include vendors that pay a fee, which means that there is of zero value to couples. However, there is some value if the venue shortlists based on the quality & professionalism of the vendors.
Couples should try to negotiate with the venue to have the restrictions lifted whenever possible. But based on our extensive experience, most venues who keep a list of "approved" vendors are not flexible & most of the time, the couples have been told to "take it or leave it". Couples have to decide for themselves if this is a venue in which they still wish to have their reception in. Some venues also have a time restriction for the total number of hours that it can be used for.

6) Electricity is of importance too, most venue will provide a certain amount of free electricity and charge the couple for additional wattage. Couples need to know total estimated amount of electricity used by all the vendors before hand or they will have to pay more at the end of the party.

7) At Party Purrfect, we provide all our couples with a complete vendor checklist & consultancy on the venue (and all other vendors). Many of our couples have told us that it has eventually saved them a lot of money. A professional WO will not only help you in all your preparations but also help you to save money too.

Posted in: 2) Beware when booking the venue