Why Do Venues Refer or Not Refer You
Blog post brought to you by Weddings For Real podcast
When I first started working in the wedding industry, I began as a venue coordinator. I worked with both clients of the venue and vendors in the event industry. Later on when I became an event planner, I used my wedding industry experience to build relationships. Those relationships ultimately helped me grow my business. Relationships with venues and referrals from venues are so important as a wedding industry professional. Venue referrals can help you take your business to the next level quickly, and I’d even argue that venue referrals might be more valuable than past client referrals. For this very reason, I asked for advice from fifteen venue owners and compiled this list of tips for venue referrals.
How to Get Your Foot in the Door with a Venue
Venue owners and managers are looking for planners to get to know their venues. This can be done by touring the venue, asking meaningful questions, planning a styled shoot at the venue, coordinating an open house at the venue, attending networking events at the venue, and referring business to the venue. The key to networking with venues is relationship marketing. It’s important to build real relationships with various venues by following them on social media, by commenting on social media posts, and by creating content (like blog posts) and sharing it with them. Deposit into the relationship before you ask for anything in return. If you’re looking to learn more about relationship marketing, be sure to listen to episode 131 of Weddings For Real, where I spoke with Don Mamone about all things relationship marketing.
Kinsey Roberts of Vista View Events says that the best way to network with a venue is by sending business to the venue. Getting your event planning clients to book their event at the venue can be easier said than done, but it definitely goes a long way in the eyes of the venue.
Next, we’ll dive into how to make a good impression with a wedding venue, which will lead to venue referrals.
How to Work Well with a Venue
Working well with a venue can be broken down into a few categories.
The first category is communication. When working with a venue, be sure to return communication in the way it was received. If the venue contact sent you an email, email them back. If they called you, call them back. It’s important to respond to all communication in a timely manner. Additionally, it’s important to be clear and concise in all communication.
The next, is diligence. It’s important that you take the initiative to read up on all of the venue’s resources, and it’s important that your ultimate goal is to work well with the venue. Before asking questions of a venue associate, ensure you’ve read all of the information provided by the client and the venue. For example, be sure to read the contract, welcome guide, and frequently asked questions to ensure you are avoiding asking redundant questions. Ultimately, it is the job of a wedding planner to work with the venue, not against it. I recommend that you set up a call with the venue coordinator as early as possible to let them know that your top goals as a wedding planner are to plan a great event for the couple and to make their lives easier. During this call, you can better communicate your goals and expectations as the wedding planner.
Amanda, the owner of North Carolina wedding venue Walnut Hill, says that the wedding planner and the venue coordinator’s motivation should be the same and that a wedding planner can truly make the venue coordinator’s life easier.
Shannon Tarrant says that a planner should learn about the venues additional offers. The venue could offer add-ons like chairs, linens, etc. A wedding planner can help the venue make more money while also leveling up the client events. This is sure to leave a great impression on the venue and is sure to lead to venue referrals.
Best Practices Leading Up to the Wedding Day
Leading up to the wedding day, wedding planners can do several things to make a lasting good impression on wedding venues. First, make sure you get final head counts on or before the deadline. To do this, I recommend buffering the due date when asking for this information from clients. That way, you’ll have the official headcounts in advance of your deadline with the venue.
As a wedding planner, you must wrangle any chaos that comes from last minute stress from client or client’s family. The wedding planner must serve as a buffer to the vendor team from the couple’s anxiety and stress. Work with your client to ease any stress and ensure other vendors aren’t hearing negative thoughts from the client.
If you’re working with a month-of client, ensure you have all of the relevant information from the couple before the final walkthrough. It’s crucial that you don’t go to the venue and make changes that will negatively affect the venue or their role in servicing the client. There is a fine line between helping the client and also making the final planning stages more stressful. If the vendor team has to switch gears at the very end of the process, it makes many things overly complicated and difficult.
Katie Elder from Overlook Barn says to make sure that you send all social media and contact information for vendors prior to the wedding day. It’s important that the other vendors have the proper information to tag, credit, and share content from the wedding easily. It’s a nice touch leading up to wedding day to already have that information on hand.
Day of Event
The day of the wedding is make or break time for you as a wedding professional! It’s important to know that a thing or two may fall through cracks, but what really matters is how you handle those situations. Just doing the bare minimum is not memorable. Venue coordinators remember the extraordinary wedding planners.
One key tip for the wedding day is to ensure that the food portion of the event runs on schedule. Venues rely on meals being served at the scheduled time, and they run the risk of tarnishing their reputation by serving cold food if the schedule is off. Ensure your timeline is accurate in advance by asking for input from the venue and caterer prior to the event. It’s important that the timeline is built collaboratively and that you don’t surprise the venue with any details on the day of. For example, all vendor meals should be accounted for in advance, and dietary restrictions should be noted in advance too.
On the wedding day, the way you present yourself and respond to any negative things that happen is key. Ensure you come off cool, calm, and collected in front of the clients and the vendor team.
Additionally, show up not afraid to step in and help other vendors when needed. Don’t be afraid to help with tasks that aren’t your responsibility. For example, you could help fold napkins, move chairs, etc.
Don’t dress in a way that you can’t complete unexpected tasks. Be sure you’re able to comfortably mop up a spill, clean broken glass, or climb a ladder. Your outfit should ensure that you remain behind the scenes and that you are not the center of attention or mistaken as a wedding attendee.
Lastly, don’t leave the venue a disaster and ensure you understand the venue's expectations for the end of the event clean up. You or a representative for you should be there until the very end of the event to ensure that the venue is left in a good place.
After Event is Over
After the event, be sure to reach out to the venue and ask for feedback. If things didn’t go well, the venue may have decided they should write you off and not recommend you (or worse, tell potential clients to avoid hiring you). Asking for feedback gives the venue team the opportunity to share their feelings and allows you to grow from your shortcomings.
Be intentional about sending thank you notes. If you want to go above and beyond, send thank you notes to each vendor with personalized details from the event.
Be the liaison between the photographer and the rest of the vendor team. Send links to images, vendor credits, etc. and ensure that vendors understand how the images can be used.
No matter what vendor category you are a part of, I hope this post inspires you to take a look at how you are showing up as a wedding professional for your team. I hope this post helps you to secure venue referrals, and it’s my wish that this encourages you to make small but significant changes for the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
To hear more about venue referrals, be sure to listen to episode 126 of Weddings For Real. Members of The Planner’s Vault get resources and my top tips for venue referrals and venue partnerships. If you are a wedding planner looking to level up your business and partner with a venue, check out The Planner’s Vault today!
