Starting a Wedding Venue? 6 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself First
It may look fun from the outside, but be ready for some serious work...
There are so many reasons you might have this big, exciting idea of starting a wedding venue.
It might be because you’re already in the wedding industry and want to expand. It could be because you have a beautiful piece of property and you see business opportunity. It might be because you’re amazing at party planning and hosting. Or maybe it’s because you want to leave corporate and have the entrepreneurship bug.
Whatever the reason, if you’re even considering building or opening a wedding venue, there are some questions you need to ask yourself first.
These six questions will help you identify if pursuing this business is a good business opportunity, or just an expensive dream business.
1. What’s your why?
The first question you need to ask before you dive into this business is: “What’s my why?”
By that I mean— why do you really, really want to embark on this adventure?
Is it because you have some existing competitive advantage to exploit? Are you a construction company or a landscaping company? Are you already in the wedding industry and you see a need for a specific type of venue in your market not being met?
Although this business looks like a fun, easy cash cow from the outside, speak to any venue owner in the industry and they’ll tell you that’s not the case.
Building a wedding venue takes time, effort, and lots of money...and that’s just getting it started. So before you make any big plans, take a minute and ask yourself why you want to do this. If your why is something along the lines of “I think it will be fun,” you may want to reevaluate.
Of course there are going to be fantastic days and experiences, but like any other business, owning a wedding or event venue comes with risks and drawbacks.
You’ll likely be dealing with late nights, tight deadlines, balancing big expectations, and the pressure of a once in a lifetime day. The ability to create fantastic experiences again and again while under high pressure is an absolute necessity.
And that’s only after you get your venue up and running. This business isn’t something you want to get into if your plans are short term, or if you are hoping to get it running and move on to working on something else. When you think about everything it takes to get an event venue up and running, you’re going to need to commit yourself to it, long-term.
Whatever your reason may be, get really connected to your why before you dive in. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is jumping into owning a wedding venue without extensive planning, financial modeling, and market research. Taking some time to find your why might be the difference between a successful business and one that will flop.
2. Are you building for you or market demand?
If you have a good why the next question you need to answer is: “Do I thoroughly understand the market I will be operating in?”
No, this doesn’t mean you’ve read a report or two or glanced over some industry statistics for your state. When I say thoroughly, I mean thoroughly. Smart people like you are going to be looking for trends and unmet needs in the marketplaces. They’re going to be looking at the local climate and trying to find any unmet needs that justify their business.
Remember your why from the previous question? It’s time to take a second look at it–because at this point it all boils down to whether you’re doing this for you.
If you are, that’s great, but only if you have money to burn. If you want to create a wildly successful venue then you need to build with market demand as a primary business driver.
The myth is that you create market demand for your venue. Instead, really successful venue owners capitalize on an unmet demand that already exists in the marketplace.
Does this mean that it might be harder to get a venue up and running? Depending on the market demand, yes. That’s why it is so important to understand your local climate and market need.
Start a wedding venue in the right location
3. Is your location prime?
Here’s an understatement: venue location can be complicated.
The location you choose will 100% dictate your cost to get into the business. And it’s not something you can ever change in the future, so before you select a location, really challenge your thinking on if it’s the best location based on overall cost.
When you are building a wedding venue you can go one of two ways: use a location you already own or purchase a location to use for the venue. If you already own a location you have some advantage when it comes to purchase costs, BUT it also means that your location is dictated by what you already own, and if your place is in a less prime location, that will drive your rental fee down over time as the market continues to saturate.
What do I mean by a less prime location? Imagine you’re getting married and you are choosing between two venues. Getting to the first one means you have to travel 30 minutes out of town on back roads. The second one is conveniently closer to town and located close to a great hotel. Which would you choose?
The closer you are to metro areas the easier it will be to access your venue–but the most prime locations are also going to be more expensive to build upon (often due to changes in permits and zoning.) It adds up quickly! With location it’s all about finding the right balance of cost and convenience.
Remember, your clients are going to be looking for the venue with the most value. What’s going to make them choose yours?
4. Can you really handle drunks, working late night weekends, high pressure days, and wearing all the hats?
You experience some magical moments as a wedding venue owner. There are great people who are going to book your venue, and you’re going to love them! There will be days when you’re going to feel like you’ve made someone’s dreams come true. Those days are going to be awesome.
But the truth is, what comes along with those days is not for everyone.
People often get into the wedding venue business thinking they won’t be involved in day to day happenings after the initial startup. And while that is a great long-term goal, don’t expect to be running things from home any time soon. (Truthfully, I am a venue owner who works about 15 hours a week and we host 100 weddings per year, but getting to that level in this business is the minority in terms of success and far from a given.)
As the owner of an event venue, you need to be prepared to wear a lot of different hats. Being the boss is just one of them.
You’re going to be the face of the business, sure, but oftentimes new venue owners don’t realize that you’re going to be the one cleaning the bathrooms, you’re going to be the one flipping the venue, you’re going to be the one setting up appointments and showing clients around.
In the beginning (and honestly, for a while after that) you’re going to be doing anything and everything to make sure your venue is successful. No job is too small or unimportant for you.
It’s important to take some time and evaluate yourself and the gamut of responsibilities of this business. Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.
Something else to consider is that you’re likely going to be working a lot of late night weekends...a lot.
So when your friends with nine-to-five jobs are taking a break from their grueling work week it means that you’re going to be at your busiest. This is really a life-changing job when it comes to your social circle and is a real challenge for some.
Most importantly, remember that what we do is a high stakes game. In this business you literally have to be at your best every single time. When you are dealing with someone’s wedding, with the most important day of somebody’s life, you don’t get a second chance if something goes wrong and neither do they.
Every event that you book MUST be the best event you have ever hosted—no pressure, right?
5. Do you have access to capital to fund the build the wedding venue and build the business?
Let me tell you something: you’re going to go over budget when opening a wedding venue.
Everyone goes over budget. And in this industry, over budget means over budget. I’m talking multiple zeros. So the questions here is: do you have access to the funds you need and more?
Imagine this: you’ve purchased or built your venue, spent time and money bringing it to life, and you’re ready to start booking clients... then you find out that you’re required to install a new fire suppression system throughout the property to meet code after you thought you had all of your I’s dotted and t’s crossed. (This is an all too common story - and it’s pretty easily a $100K+ expense.)
I’ve been there and it’s not fun.
So be prepared and plan for the unexpected to happen, whether the unexpected be some unforeseen damage that needs to be repaired, a legal requirement you didn’t know about, or something else entirely.
The only thing you can always plan on is not being able to plan for everything, so give yourself a large buffer and make sure you have funds allocated for after the initial build.
Speaking of not being able to plan on everything, one of the biggest mistakes I see new venue owners make is spending all the funds on building a wedding venue and not leaving any for marketing to grow the business.
Can you imagine having finished this beautiful, expensive venue and not being able to book any events because you don’t have funds for marketing? That’s a scary and all to common place to be, so don’t let it happen to you.
6. Are you intimately aware of the code, regulations, and permits that will be required?
Here’s a question that you need to consider early on.
Just like you need to be intimately knowledgeable about the market demand and local climate of your area, you must know everything possible about codes, regulations, requirements, and permits in your county.
The frustrating point here is that regulations can vary drastically from area to area and district to district. For example, what the fire district may say is okay in one area can be totally different from what is acceptable in the district right next door. And this difference is going to have a big effect on your wallet.
Before you make any concrete plans, do yourself a favor and take some time to learn everything you can about your city or county’s requirements when it comes to owning and operating a venue. Not only will this help you avoid unpleasant surprises down the road, but it will help you advocate for yourself if something goes wrong.
And that’s important: you HAVE TO be your own best advocate, because no one else is going to do it for you.
The venue industry is booming, and as a result most counties are still playing catch-up. Learn as much as you can because this is your business and your money on the line. And more importantly, it’s a bride’s wedding day on the line.
Being aware of the codes, regs, and permits will save you a huge headache down the road, so take the time to dive deep. And whatever you do, DO NOT start booking weddings until you have everything in order.
Did you find this article helpful?
If you are a new or prospective wedding venue owner, you can find more helpful tips and support in my free Facebook groups or in my Venue Accelerator.