A package is a venue's attempt to make itself comparable, and it works only if you read what is inside it. Two venues quoting an all inclusive figure for a hundred guests can be offering quite different weddings, and the difference is never in the headline. It is in the hours, the drinks, the staff, the accommodation and what happens to the price when your numbers move.
Ask three suppliers for a price
How to choose a wedding venue package: the eight lines to check
Hours of access and hours of the event; the meal, how many courses and whether canapes are in; the drinks, how many glasses per guest and what happens after; staff and whether a coordinator is on site all day; furniture, linen and glassware; the ceremony room if the venue is licensed; accommodation and how many rooms are included or held; and the guest number the price assumes. Get those eight from every venue and the packages become genuinely comparable, usually for the first time.
Wedding venues with lodging on site: accommodation changes the whole sum
A venue with rooms is selling you two things and often discounting one to sell the other. Where a package includes the bridal suite and holds a block at a rate, the real value can be large; where accommodation is compulsory and priced above the local market, it can quietly add a third to the day. Ask how many rooms are included, how many are held and until when, what the rate is against the venue's ordinary rate, and whether guests may stay elsewhere without penalty.
What a low package figure usually means
It usually means fewer hours, a shorter drinks allowance, a smaller minimum guest number that your real list will exceed, or a midweek date. None of those is dishonest and all of them are worth knowing. Ask for the package priced at your actual guest count and your actual date rather than the advertised minimum, because the advertised figure is almost always the cheapest combination the venue offers rather than the one you will buy.
Questions people ask about wedding venue packages
What does an all inclusive wedding package include?
It varies so widely that the phrase means little. Check the hours, the meal, the drinks allowance, staffing, furniture, the ceremony room, accommodation and the guest number assumed, and compare those rather than the headline.
Are venues with accommodation better value?
Sometimes considerably, where rooms are included or held at a good rate. Sometimes worse, where accommodation is compulsory and priced above the local market. Ask for the rate against the venue's ordinary rate.
Why is the advertised package price never what I am quoted?
Because it is priced on the cheapest combination the venue offers, usually a low guest number on a quiet date. Ask for the package at your real numbers and your real date from the first message.