I doubt you will find this information freely given to you when you visit a venue as a potential client. Not a poorly considered, generic, waste of your time list, here’s the info that is actually useful on wedding venue questions.
1. Does the venue have a sound limiter?
Wedding venues are businesses and they want your custom.
The big problem I have is that you only get one crack at a wedding and they cost a lot of money. That being the case, it is vital that all information is freely available, good and bad, so you, as the customer, can make an informed choice.
Sound limiters always catch people out.
What is it?
It’s an installed device that monitors the sound levels in the venue, if it goes above the set limit, all the sound system shuts off and you are left in silence until it’s restarted.
This disrupts the party momentum and often guests and the client are left stood looking at the band and saying ‘wow this band are rubbish, they blew up the speakers’, which of course, isn’t true.
Before you book, one of the wedding venue questions you should be asking is if there is a sound limiter.
If there is and it’s not an issue for you, great. If it is an issue because you want to rave, then you may need to find another venue. Better to find out before than mid way through a real headbanger.
2. Can pictures be taken during the church service?
This is important for obvious reasons and I have written about it previously, but the more coverage it gets, the more likely it is someone will see it!
Not all vicars/priests/ministers/celebrants etc. let us wedding photographers take pictures during the ceremony.
When it’s in their domain, its their rules.
If you would be devastated by this, find out before booking. This is vitally important as there is genuinely nothing we can do about it. I have had experiences where even on the day the celebrant has changed their mind, which creates a whole new set of issues, but if you have it in writing from the venue/church then at least we have that to fall back on.
The ceremony is often the most emotional part of the day, to watch those moments play out in front of me without being able to capture them is heartbreaking.