WHAT TO ASK YOUR WEDDING VENUE BEFORE BOOKING
When it comes to planning your wedding, your venue is one of the most important decisions you can make. It sets the entire tone of the day. It has to accommodate all your nearest and dearest you wish to spend your day with and be conveniently located enough that they can all find their way there on their big day.
This is even more important for cultural weddings that need much larger spaces. For many Asian and African weddings, the venues also have to be dry-hire spaces, allowing the happy couple to make the place entirely their own.
Holiday Inn Brentford Lock Knows Cultural Weddings
At Holiday Inn Brentford Lock, we’ve hosted our fair share of cultural weddings. From Southeast Asian weddings to grand Nigerian affairs, we have experience perfectly executing the most important day of your life. So, we’ve gathered our top questions to ask your wedding venue before booking to help you feel confident that you’ve made the right decision.
Questions to ask your cultural wedding venue before booking.
How large is the capacity?
While you can generally get a feel for the size of the space when you tour it, it can be hard to tell the actual capacity once the room is fitted out with your tables and decorations and dancefloor. The venue will know how many people will comfortably be able to fit into the space, as well as the legal limit to ensure safety for all, your guests.
What facilities are available?
With the larger size of Asian and African weddings (as the average Asian and African Wedding is at least three times larger than the average number of guests in a UK wedding) you need to make sure the venue is prepared for the number of people. While they may be able to fit your 300 guests, are there toilets and changing facilities to keep everyone happy and comfortable? At Holiday Inn Brentford Lock, our stunning wedding venue, The Waterfront, can comfortably host up to 450 guests with the use of a private bar, car parking, and facilities.
How late can the venue stay open?
When it comes to cultural weddings, there are often many ceremonies and traditions that take place during the main day of celebration. Traditional Muslim weddings can span two weeks with the actual reception going late into the night. A guest at a Chinese wedding dinner can be expected to stay around four hours. So, you need to make sure your wedding venue is fit for purpose and doesn’t have a legal closing time that will cut off your fun. Even if there is an end time to your celebrations, knowing in advance allows you to put it on your invitations, so your guests have all the information they need!
How does payment work?
While it can be painful, you need to know the price before confirming the booking of your venue. Due to the size of many cultural weddings, the venue can be pricier than more intimate venues, but they’re also more likely to be dry-hire spaces where the wedding party has to provide their own catering services, decorations, and more. There’s more to be considered in terms of your wedding budget before diving straight in with a venue. You should question how the payment should be made – will the venue accept cash or payments made on your behalf? Is VAT included in the price?
Do you offer catering or are you open to us providing our own?
If you’re looking for a simpler solution to wedding planning, having your venue cater your meal will streamline operations. But the menu options can be limiting. If you want to make sure the unique dietary needs of your guests are met and that your culture is honoured in the food you serve, then you may want to hire your own caterer. So, you’ll need to check if your venue allows this.
A dry hire wedding venue is a venue where you’re paying for the exclusive use of the space. At Holiday Inn Brentford Lock we offer dry hire of The Waterford Suite and externally catered wedding packages, meaning you can make the day exactly how you want it. This is especially important to consider for Hindu ceremonies, where many of the guests will be vegetarian or vegan.
What time can you arrive at the venue?
Many cultural weddings will host a reception on a day separate to the marriage ceremony. This means that there aren’t as strict time limits between moving from event to event. If you’re booking a venue for your reception, you might want to consider what time you can arrive to decorate the space and get ready yourself. Booking a hotel room at the same location as your reception venue can be an easy hack, giving you a space to prepare yourself, get dressed, and a quiet retreat in the middle of the busy day.
Basic Questions to Cover for your Cultural Wedding Venue:
- Is the venue available on my date?
- Where is the venue located?
- Is there parking at the venue?
- Do you allow alcohol?
- What equipment is provided?
- How much is the cost?
Securing your Asian or African wedding venue
Once you’ve covered all the basics, investigated your burning questions, and toured the venue it’s time to take the plunge and book your venue! Congratulations, it’s a very exciting step towards the biggest day of your life.
If you’re still on the search for your perfect cultural wedding venue, Holiday Inn Brentford Lock is located just outside of London (only a fifteen-minute drive from Heathrow airport) with a fantastic event space. The Waterfront has stunning views and a large capacity, making it perfect for your cultural wedding.