Venue search - questions

You might not know anything about your wedding - whether it's going to be big, small, buffet style, sit down, civil ceremony or in a church - but you know you need to start looking for a venue.

Venues can get booked up far in advance, especially if you are doing the 'wedding season' - May to September - so you should start looking early. We're looking around 14 months before when we want to get married, because venues in or around London for over 100 guests are scarce.

When you do start looking (I tended to find a lot of the venues on my list through Hitched, Wedding Venues and Find a Wedding Venue), you may want to have a handy list of questions to ask when you go to look at the venue.

I tend to find that these questions fall into various categories:

Venue availability and the rooms: check when it's available and what areas/rooms are available. Find out the maximum and minimum number of guests, where they can put their coats and if there's a room handy for kids or the band/DJ to eat or get ready in. Also ask if you need to set up the room yourself and whether there's rooms for guests to stay in and especially a room for the bride and groom to get ready in.

Venue price: check what's included in the price, if it's ex-VAT, what the deposit timings are, if there are different prices for different months/days and whether they have any wedding packages that can be tailored. Also find out the cancellation and postponement policy - sounds like tempting fate, but it's better safe than sorry.

Decorations and entertainment: ask whether you can have confetti/fireworks/naked flames, or if there's anything you absolutely cannot have, ask about lighting and PA systems, look at the space for a dnace floor/band/DJ/bar, check what time the bar has to close, check what time the music must stop or if there's volume considerations, check if the venue supplies things like cake stands and knives, chair covers, table linen, table numbers and place cards and a table seating chart. Some do, some don't and the economy is something you need to consider.

Suppliers and food: ask for a preferred list, ask what they do in house as it might be cheaper and you can negotiate a deal, ask when you can have a food and wine tasting, see if they will cater for special dietary needs and if you can change something within a set package. Also ask if they have any deals with local taxi firms and if your photographer can look round the venue before your big day.