Looking to rent a wedding venue for your big day but find that the costs, fees, and different types of charges are difficult to understand? That’s actually fairly normal as not only are there so many different types of costs but each venue structures their packages differently – making it all the more confusing.
If you want to know exactly what to expect, here are the common types of costs fees, and additional charges for wedding venues:
Basic Venue Rental
The basic venue rental is essentially the cost to hire out the space for a specific duration. In some venues the price quoted may include furniture and linen rental – but not always, so you’ll want to check.
A sales tax will normally be applied to your basic venue rental charges – and that can vary depending on the state you’re in.
Catering Costs
Some venues offer catering on-site which may be included in the rental as part of an ‘all-inclusive’ package, or may be charged separately. It is typically based on the number of guests, and may include rental of tableware, glassware, and other items (but again, not always – so check).
Alongside catering charges, wedding venues may have a ‘food and beverage minimum’ which is a minimum amount that needs to be spent on food and drink regardless of how many guests are attending.
Administrative and Service Fees
Administrative and service fees are used to cover the wages of staff working the wedding. Administrative fees normally cover office workers in charge of booking and managing the wedding, while service fees are for servers, parking attendants, washroom attendants, bartenders, and other workers.
Not only are administrative and service fees pretty high (about 18% to 25%) but if you request additional staff outside of what is provided it may be added as a separate charge.
Permits and Insurance
Depending on the activities at your wedding, you may need certain permits, licenses, or insurance – and venues are likely to charge for them. For example, you’ll need permits for fireworks or noise permits for outdoor weddings in some locations.
If you are serving alcohol at your wedding odds are the venue will require you obtain liability insurance – though that is sometimes rolled into a more encompassing event insurance. For added peace of mind, you may want to consider Allstate wedding insurance, which provides liability protection along with other essential safeguards to help ensure everything runs smoothly on your big day.
Add-ons and Amenities
While the availability of add-ons and amenities may vary from one venue to the next, some of the more common items that may be available for an additional fee include:
- Audio/visual equipment such as microphones, speakers, displays, or projectors.
- Decorations such as backdrops, centerpieces, decorative lighting, flowers or signage.
- Outdoor amenities such as tents, space heaters, standing fans, and so on.
If you look for a venue on Breezit you’ll find that add-ons are normally listed there, however it is best to directly ask the venue about their availability nonetheless.
Non-Preferred Vendor Charges
Nowadays a lot of venues have a list of preferred vendors that they’ll ask you to choose from for catering, equipment rental, and so on. If you use an outside vendor that is not on that list they may require you pay an additional fee – that could be anything from 10% to 20%.
Be sure to check if your venue has preferred vendors, and find out what the charges are if you use other vendors instead.
Setup and Cleaning Fees
Cleaning fees are pretty normal and most venues will charge you for their staff cleaning up the space and getting rid of all the garbage after your wedding is done. Some venues may ask if you need their staff to help set up – for a fee, of course.
Conclusion
See how all the different types of charges and fees can start to add up? That is the reason why you should be very careful when looking at the price that wedding venues quote, and scrutinize what is and is not included in that price.
The last thing you want is to find out later that the price was just the basic venue rental and you have tons of fees and other charges tacked on after that. The good news is that now you know what to expect, the quotes from wedding venues should be far less confusing.
