What's up, CreaTiffs? Welcome to the Tiffy
Show. Today I'm going to be going over what to look for in a wedding venue. Let's get to it.
I am getting married in Los Angeles, which is one of the most expensive places to get married
in. Yay, me. It is what it is at this point, but I have seen my share of venues in this
process, and what I can tell you is there's no cohesive, one size fits all, one price fits
all kind of thing. Prices are all over the place. Venues do what they want to do. They offer
what they want to offer, so I'm hoping that this video will give you some tips when you are
looking for what venues so that you know okay, this is generally what I want to
ask, this is what I'm looking for.
What they offer. When you are searching for a
venue, I think it's important to know what they offer. There are two ways you can do a venue.
One way is completely do it yourself. You are just getting a location. It could be a warehouse
in downtown LA. It could be a studio. It is just a blank canvas. You are renting that blank-ass
location and you are bringing in everything to fill it up for your wedding. The other option is
finding a place that is used to doing weddings and has everything in terms of doing a cookie cutter
wedding. They know here's your packages for the bar, here's your packages for food. We have
linens. You can bring stuff if you want, but that's going to be extra. That's another way
of doing it. The two differences in this, I think, is just your creativity process. If you
are a person that is like, you know what, I want a very unique wedding, I want it to look
like no other wedding I've ever seen in my life, I want to fit this style, then you
probably want to do it yourself all around.
If you're a person that's like, I want a wedding,
I want it to be fun, I want drinks and food and a good time, then you might want to just
go with one of the other routes, banquet hall, hotel. Just places that know how to do weddings.
Now, do you save money in doing one or the other? You could, but you're looking at the
different between dollars and cents right now, because honestly, the cost can move up in terms
of you doing it yourself because now you're renting everything, you're bringing in your
own caterers, you're getting your own cake, everything. That cost can add up, and then the
cost of getting a place where they have a bar package and a menu package can be high too.
Then you're looking at like basically equal. What you need to look at is are you willing to
do all the work for the do it yourself place or get a wedding planner to do it with you, or are
you down for just doing the other kind of style? I did the style where there was a package and they
had a lot to offer.
That's because that's what I wanted. I didn't really want to do the work that
is entailed in making a warehouse into an event, but that is really cool if you decide to do that
one. In the end, know yourself. Know yourself. Now, when you are talking to venues, it's a good
idea to see what they offer. That is the whole point in this section. You want to ask, even if
it's a do it yourself, what do you have to offer? Even if it's to rent.
Make sure you ask them if
they have tablecloths, tables, chairs, utensils, plates, chargers, vases, candles, easels. These
are all things you want to know. What do you have for me? A cake table, because some places will
have some of those ready for you to use and you'll be like yes, thank you. I don't have to go buy it
myself. Other places will be like, nah, you got to bring all that. You want to be prepared.
You want to know what they have to offer. Contact them all. Contact all the venues. All of them. If you see a picture and
you're like, I could have a wedding there, contact them. Contact them all, because you'll
be surprised at the amount of venues that just will not contact you back.
It's best if you
see a picture, you're like, I could have a wedding there, just contact them. Get the pricing
guide, go through Zola, Wedding Wire, or The Knot. You are going to get to a point where you've
seen them all. You're going to be like, oh my God. There's really only so many venues
in certain areas for you to look at if you're trying to stay within a specific place. Once you
hit all the venues you can, look through them, look at their pricing, see if they fit
your budget. If they fit your budget, you've priced the numbers, you know how much
generally it's going to cost per person, obviously when you go talk to them and
do your tour they're going to give you some upsells or tell you that taxes this,
but you generally know these venues work. Then those are the ones you need to schedule to
see the location in person. Do not book ever. You should never book a venue without seeing it in
person, unless you're doing a destination wedding and you've seen all the pictures and videos
you possibly can for that destination.
Vibe check. Vibe check means when you go to the
location, check your vibe. How do you feel? Were you excited when you saw the place? Was the
outside pretty? Did you like the outside? Did you like the inside? Did you feel like you
could have a wedding there? On top of that, how are the vibes with the person giving you
the tour? This is a person that you're going to be working with probably if you book this venue.
This is going to be your right hand man or woman or person you are working in this spot and
having a wedding here, so you want to have a good vibe with them, because this is a person
you got to be like hey, can my flowers come, or this is my cake or whatever.
You want to
have a good energy with that. I literally had a person give me a tour of a place and he seemed
like he didn't want me to book the venue at all, which is weird. I don't even know why he gave me
the tour in the first place, but he was like here, this is this and that's that. I guess
you can have a wedding here. It's like, wow. I'm not going to have a wedding
here with you. You know what I mean? Logistics. I know it's your wedding. You are super
excited. Oh my God, it's your wedding, but it's your wedding, it's your special day, but everyone
else has a life outside of your wedding day. You just want to make sure that you're thinking
about everyone in this process. What I mean by that is you might fall in love with the venue,
but if the logistics are really difficult in getting to that venue, unless you are the
type of person that is planning a wedding that is very difficult to get to because you want
a small wedding and you want to eliminate people, which is dope, I support that, but
if you want people at your wedding, make it easy for them to get to,
even if it's a destination wedding.
What I mean by that is if it's a destination
wedding where they have to take a flight, then they have to take a train out in the middle
of nowhere to some place that they had no plan on going to any time in their life. Don't force
a vacation on people that they didn't ask for, but if you have a destination wedding
and it's in Hawaii and it's near other hotels that they could stay at and get to your
hotel for your wedding and in a cool location, easy to get to and from the
airport, awesome. Do that, but just always keep in mind the logistics, keep
in mind the logistics of decorating your space. I toured a location that I liked, but basically
you would have the ceremony at the top floor. Then you would come down to the first floor
for cocktail hour.
Then everyone would have to go back up to the top floor for the reception,
which is fine, but this was an older building, so it had like two elevators. It wasn't a
very logistical place in terms of decorating. It just didn't work out and that was the main
issue. If you are picking a place like that, let them know that you have an issue with that
because you'd be surprised about how they'd work with you. Even at this location, I decided not
to go with it just because of that logistic, and I found a place that I liked better, but
they were willing to close the elevator and make it a private elevator just for my event
to make it easier for people to go up and down. If you have a situation like that, let the
person they're trying to sell you on this venue, let them know what you're hesitant about,
and you'd be surprised at what they will do to make it work for you or they might
throw in an extra hour, extra 30 minutes. That all matters in the big scheme of wedding
planning.
Just pay attention to logistics, whether it's a destination wedding or a
wedding in your state. You don't want to make it difficult for people to attend
your wedding if you want them there. Hidden costs. When people are giving you a tour of
the venue, the last thing they want to do is let you know about the hidden costs. Ooh, they don't
want to let you know about hidden costs. Guess what? I don't care what venue you're touring. If
you're doing the warehouse that's do it yourself or you're doing the hotel. There are some hidden
costs that they're not letting you know. When you are doing that tour, make sure you ask them
ahead of time, are there any hidden costs? They will still probably say something like no, but dig
deeper. I am talking about there might be hidden costs in terms of having your DJ plug in their
speakers instead of using their speakers.
That's a hidden cost, or you might have to use their
DJ equipment or system. That's a hidden cost. From my venue, I didn't know, but I have to
provide my own day of insurance. When you book at hotels, they already usually have insurance
so you don't have to do that, but if you book off the beaten path, you might have to provide
your own day of insurance. That is an extra cost. Other hidden costs that might occur. You want
to find out how early you can start setting up. You want to find out if you can store items that
you might need for your wedding. You want to ask what the overcharge is. If your
wedding goes a little bit over, some places have where they start charging
you every 10 minutes, every five minutes, if you go past when your wedding is supposed
to end.
Make sure you pin down the hidden cost. If you are even questioning if it might be a
hidden cost, ask them. Some places, the hidden cost is cutting your cake. Some places a hidden
cost is having a cake that's not on their list. I promise you, I don't care how dope the venue
is and how affordable it seems, they're going to hit you with some hidden costs, so make
sure you ask them about them ahead of time. Go online, research hidden costs, make a
list, go to your venue when you are doing the tour and just know what they are. I'm
not saying that should dissuade you from using the venue because every venue's going
to have them, but just know that so you can factor it into your budget. You can factor it
into the cost loss per person for that venue. Bonus tip. Gratuity and tax. In Los
Angeles, if you're looking at venues, you are going to be hit with gratuity and tax.
This is mandatory.
They're going to do it. Now, the thing that's not mandatory is this
price can fluctuate. Not so much the tax, but the gratuity. Some places do 15%, some do
all the way up to 30%, and it's non-negotiable. That is something that you're going to be
paying. It could be seen as a hidden cost, but I'm letting you know so it's not
hidden. Most venues will make you pay this. Now, when you know this, make sure
you factor this into the prices, because when you get price guides from venues,
it's going to give you the price per person, it's going to give you the price per package
or the price per bar package, but it's going to say something like excluding tax and gratuity
because they want to make it look more enticing to you.
They want to bring you in and then they're
going to hit you with that. If you want to do the math on your own, just make sure that you're
calculating that yourself on top of whatever price they're giving you in that guide if they're
saying that it's excluding the gratuity and tax, because they're still going to hit you with that.
They're just giving you the price before taxes and gratuity. You're like, give me the price
after, but whatever, they're not going to. Just make sure you calculate it ahead of time. It
will help you a lot in finding out which venues are actually in your budget and which ones
aren't, because you'll be surprised because the venue that's in your budget that's hitting
you with a 30% gratuity and tax can end up being more expensive than the more expensive venue
that's hitting you with 15% gratuity and tax. You see what I did there? Just make sure you're
doing that when you're calculating the math. If you enjoyed this video, make
sure that you share it, like, subscribe and comment.
Comment below. Let me
know any tips I missed because I'm sure that there are people that would love those tips,
and I will see you next time. Stay CreaTiff..
