Jamie Wolfer warns couples to ask venues about exclusive catering contracts before booking. His friend's wedding was disrupted when the venue wouldn't allow an outside caterer. Get the vendor list during your walkthrough and confirm pricing with them first.
The vendor restrictions thing caught my friends off guard at their venue. They couldn't use outside caterer they wanted because venue had exclusive deal with specific company. Would have saved them a lot of headache if they'd known that up front. This is why I always recommend, can I see a list of your preferred and/or required vendors? Ask this at the walkthrough, okay? And then you contact that vendor and you say, hey, how much you charge for this? Okay, before you book.
