Ten Tips on Choosing the Right Venue to Make Your Event Fabulous
My name is Notoya James. I’m a professional event planner with more than 15 years of hands-on experience. During this time I’ve learned that every event is a unique opportunity to show your guests an incredible time and to make lasting memories. One of the most important choices you will make regarding your event is the venue. In fact, choosing the wrong venue can ruin your event and make everyone have a horrible experience.
Here are the top 10 tips, plus 3 bonus tips on choosing the right venue for your social event, wedding, corporate event, or any organized gathering of people:
- Location, location, location – the location should be one that is comfortable for yourself and your guests. An ideal location will be in close proximity to restaurants, shopping and hotels.
- Convenience – Convenience means easy to get to, close to major highways
- Parking– It is not ideal for your guests to walk 5 minutes from their parking location to get to the venue. Make sure there is ample parking and don’t forget those that may be physically challenged. Handicap parking is extremely important
- Temperature Control – the room temperature will more than likely need to be adjusted depending on the number of occupants. The venue should have the option to adjust the temperature as needed to ensure the comfort of your guests
- On Site Assistant – A venue should provide assistant on site at all times during your event.
- Cost – Set a budget and looks for venues within your budget
- Hidden Costs – Inquire of any hidden cost prior to signing a contract. Hidden cost can include cleaning fees, damage fees, security deposits, required rentals, bartender fee, outside catering fee, security officer fees, etc.
- Ambiance – Consider if the ambiance matches your theme. Of course, you can use your décor to create the theme.
- What Is Included in a Standard Rental? – The cost of renting tables, chairs and linens can add a significant amount to your cost
- Is Clean Up Included? A venue that provides cleaning will save you a lot of stress at the end of your event.
- Are Speakers and Visual Equipment Available? This is important for corporate events or any event where you will want to provide to information to a large amount of people
- Is There a Stage? Dance floor or other area for alternative uses.
- What is the Capacity? Each venue has a maximum number of occupants it can accommodate at one time. Please keep this in mind when gathering your list of invitees and allow room for extras.
If you need help creating a perfect corporate or social event, please feel free to give me a call. We take the stress out of planning and delivering so you can have more time and fun with your guests.
Notoya James
Of the things that you said, what I appreciated the most was when you pointed out that one of the benefits of having a venue for a party is that I have someone to assist me with all the needs during the event so I won’t have to worry too much. I guess you were right on that one considering I have experience managing an event before, and it was hard. Now, I think it will be for the best that I choose a venue for my sister’s birthday next month. Thanks!
It got my attention when you said that when it comes to choosing a venue, it’s best to inquire about all the possible costs and the hidden costs, like damage and cleaning costs, so as to be sure that we will not be overpaying. I will be sure to take note of that though I can say that we’re likely to clean up after we have used a place. Anyway, I need a venue for my sister’s wedding next season, so it was helpful that I came across this article. Thank you!
It’s my parents’ 50th anniversary in about a month, and my sister and I want to hold a big party for them to celebrate. I think that you make a good point that you should make sure that the event space has a lot of parking and some handicap parking as well. A lot of their friends are older so that would be important. My sister and I will have to follow your tips to find the perfect space to celebrate their anniversary in.
I appreciate your tip to find a corporate event venue with temperature control since there’s a good chance you will need to adjust how cool the room is depending on the number of occupants. The company I work for is planning a party for our biggest clients, so they are wondering how to find the best place to hold it at. I will be sure to tell my boss that he should find a corporate event venue with temperature control capabilities since we might want to make it cooler.
There are a surprising number of factors that you have to take into consideration when choosing a venue for your event or function. I particularly like that one of the major points the article makes is about making sure that the ambiance fits. For example, if you are having a business luncheon you probably don’t want to be surrounded by loud singing and dancing.
Before choosing a venue, make sure you’re happy with the all of the facilities, staff and customer feedback. You know you’re in good hands if the service is outstanding, and your attendees are far more likely to enjoy the event.
Thanks for sharing it
My mom asked me to choose the wedding venue for her and her boyfriend’s wedding to be held this coming October. It was a bit hard for me until I came across this article and learned that one of the things to consider is the location. You said that I should choose a location that is comfortable for the couple and their guests. The most convenient is the rustic venue I find a few miles away from here. Maybe we should go for that one.
I like how you said that the location should be one that is comfortable for yourself and your guests. I am going to a special event this next week. Thanks for the tips for choosing the right venue.
Choosing the right venue is not a tough task to choose it proper venue where you organize the party should be at your convenience and the facility which the venue manager provides to you as the basic services should be a parking area where everyone can park their vehicle’s and the other big thing is location which needs to be identify easily without too much of difficulty.
Thanks for pointing out that when you are considering renting an event venue you should consider if the ambiance matches your theme. My fiance and are I are thinking about renting a banquet hall for our wedding luncheon because we think it would be a great place to celebrate our special day. I think that having a venue that could help us to decide on decorations and on what overall feeling we want to have would really help us be able to enhance our guest’s experience and help us match our overall theme for the day.
Thanks for this advice for picking a good venue. I’m glad that you mentioned you should see what the parking is like int he area and if it has handicap parking. I wonder if you should also ask any questions about the parking, like if some spots will be closed for other events or something like that.
You made a great point when you said that the ambiance of a venue needs to match the event you are trying to host. My wife has been tasked with hosting the quarterly earnings meeting with her company, and she still needs to choose a venue for it. She should probably try to find a venue that is professional enough to suit the needs of her presentation.
I would like to rent a conference room for my private book club’s first gathering, and I was considering looking for ones that are in hotels. Thanks for telling me that I should set a budget for our private gathering so I can look for a venue that fits that price. If I were to choose, I’ll look for some local rooms since most of the members of my little book club are mostly my neighbors.