Wedding planner Jamie Wolfer explains how venues trap couples into expensive mandatory vendors. A $3,000 venue rental sounds cheap until catering costs $100 per plate, fast draining a $15,000 budget. Check vendor lists and pricing before you sign anything.
Rule number 1, we need to make sure that you don't fall into the venue trap. What is the venue trap? That's when you go and you look up wedding venues near me and everything that pops up at the top is going to be a professional wedding venue. This is what they do. It's the only thing they do. They're really good at it and they're very likely worth every single penny. They also have honed in their craft so well that they know what vendors they want to work with and they've earned the right to say, we only want to work with these vendors. That's where the venue trap gets you though, especially if you're operating on a lower budget. If you are working with a venue that requires you use a caterer or has a list of preferred caterers, you need to see those numbers first before you sign the dotted line. Because while $3,000 for a venue rental sounds really, really nice, if you're looking at $100 per person per plate, then all of a sudden your budget starts to run away from you really quickly. So as you are looking for venues, be sure that you are looking at any preferred or required vendors in your food category and in your beverage category. Frankly, in any category, if they're going to require that you choose from a list, it does really streamline your options, but it doesn't give you the ability to DIY or look around for a cost that's a lot more affordable, especially when you were working with a $15,000 budget.
