Good Planning & A Little Homework Goes A Long Way When Booking Your Reception Hall !

Choosing a venue for your wedding is probably one of the biggest decisions that a newly engaged couple has to make. There are so many factors you need to take into account – quality of food, service, parking, location and so much more! It can truly be a mind-boggling experience but one thing that you must keep in mind is that picking a venue because it offers the lowest price is very risky.


Here’s why….

Let's start with price .... let me give you an analogy…

Can you go to the local car lot and buy a Mercedes 550sl for the price of a Buick LeSabre ....no...it’s not going to happen. If you were to go to every Mercedes dealer and price compare, then now you are on a more level playing field. All the Mercedes 550sl’s come from the same plant in Germany...so they are all identical. The only determining factors now are issues like which dealer will give you better service, which salesman do I like better, which dealership will give me better payment rates and options?

Why Banquet Halls are different:

In the wedding reception business, its very difficult to compare apples to apples because every location is different, every menu item is different, the chef and staff are all different, so how does a savvy bride and groom differentiate between one and the other? The reception hall's purpose is to provide you with the following in order of importance:

1. Great Food

2. Great Service

3. Ambiance



1. GREAT FOOD:

One of the greatest concerns you should have is that your guests have been well fed and have only compliments to give about your meal. We’ve all heard stories of guests going to the local fast food joint to eat because they were still hungry, or the food was cold or they hardly ate anything because there wasn't enough that went around. Food is everything at the reception hall, so make sure that you don't compromise on the food quality!









Food Quality – questions you need to ask....

1. Is the food truly homemade and made from scratch or is it ordered in from large frozen food suppliers?

2. Are you getting triple AAA, double AA or single A beef ? Is the reception hall advertising prime cut of beef which is making you think you are getting prime rib of beef but in actuality you are getting plain roast beef but paying the price for prime rib?



3. Is the meat or poultry fresh or frozen when they buy it?



4. Is your food being bought from a local supplier or are the chefs making it from scratch? These days there are many pasta, meat and dessert suppliers that make a complete product which many reception halls purchase to save costs on heavy labour, thereby compromising on quality. You know what they say – “nothing beats homemade cooking”!



5. Quantity - The meal should have decent portion sizes with more than enough to go around. And, servers should be close by to offer seconds and more as they see platters being consumed.

ONE CLIENT’S EXAMPLE OF THIS:

A recent caller told me a story that they had went to a wedding and were seated 15 to a large round table. The server brought out a platter of pasta that barely filled 3 guests’ plates. The rest of the guests were left waiting for a second platter to come out for 10 minutes and then even that wasn’t enough to go around the remaining guests. Then, to boot, the caller told me that they waited 20 - 25 minutes between each course. Apparently, the staff would disappear for periods of time (apparently serving in other halls) and left the tables unattended until the next course presented. The dinner finally ended at 10:45 p.m. Obviously, this is a case of overbooking at the venue. And, to keep costs down, the same staff was used in all events, hence not being dedicated to their same 2 or 3 tables.



2. GREAT SERVICE:

This is vital to every event! If the service is not satisfactory, it can ruin the guests’ whole experience at your wedding.



Service Quality – questions you need to ask....



1. Are there enough servers for the entire event? There should be at least one server to every 2 to 3 tables.

2. Are the servers dedicated to your event alone, seeing to your guests’ every need?

3. Has the venue given you a “finish time” for the meal? We tell our guests a finish time based on number of courses and all our staff are aware of that time. When the meal drags on, there is obviously less time for dancing and mingling, so be cognizant of that.



DEPOSITS:

Every banquet hall has some sort of deposit schedule for payments. The main things to look out for here are:



1. Initial deposit should be no more than $1,500 or 5-10% of your wedding cost. Under no circumstances should you give 25-30% of your initial deposit to the banquet hall. Our standard deposit is $1,000.

2. Deposits are usually given at the 3 month and 1 month interval mark before the event. So many guests can still cancel due to unforeseen circumstances in the 30 days prior to the wedding, so it only makes sense that 1 week prior all final numbers are given. This gives them ample time to order all the fresh food for your reception. If they tell you that they require 30 days for food ordering, beware!

3. Always ask what their cancellation policy is. If the event were cancelled, would you still be liable for a part or the whole reception cost?



BEWARE OF THE “ONE-STOP-SHOPPING” VENUE!

You choose a banquet hall since they have experience and expertise in providing you with food and service for your wedding. That’s what they specialize in. However, some banquet halls also provide some or all of these services in their package: the D.J., the limo for your complete day, the photographer, the videographer, the flowers, etc.

Why is this dangerous? What the bride and groom have to keep in mind about these services is that they have no choice in the service provider and you truly don’t know what the actual cost is to the banquet hall. You the consumer has to understand that the Banquet hall will contract out these services to companies that will either do it for a low price or give them a large booking fee for using them. They may even use their own equipment and have students playing at their wedding that are not experienced or professional. Let's face it, if a banquet hall wants to include these in your package they WILL NOT be contracting out the professionals who charge $500.00 to $1000.00 for their services. They want to pay the minimum cost !

The limo is very much the same as the D.J. but in this situation again you don't have any choice in the limo that is offered - it is probably the standard 8 - 10 passenger limo for a minimum amount of hours. The whole point with including a limo service is to make it appear as if you are also receiving a great deal from the banquet hall, but the truth is the limo service is only getting $400.00 to 500.00 or so from the banquet hall and that works out to a small percentage of your total bill. The hidden reality is that the limo company will try to upsell you to a larger limo or service for a higher price. Too many times I have heard stories from customers whose friends booked at one of these “one-stop-shopping” venues to only be very disappointed. Horror stories emerge such as the limo showed up late or the A/C not working on the hottest day in July. You always have to look at it from the Contractors point of view. This contract is a standard low price commitment with the banquet hall.

Let's use this example.... If I am a paying customer off the street and request the 3 largest and newest limos that the company has to offer for the rate he's asking, who will get preference on the new limos and which customer will get the older limo for the cheaper contracted price ? Makes sense right? The point I am trying to make here is that the banquet halls specialize in the food and location. We are not the D.J. professionals nor are we the limo companies so book the professionals on their professional merit and do your math ! You will be pleasantly surprised how some negotiation and due diligence with your contractors with give you the final choice of who you prefer for your professional contracted services.

Finally to sum everything up, brides & grooms as well as the general public ought to recognize a business for their long standing reputation in business and for the many years of service they have provided in the community. Are they upstanding business owners with good reputations in the business community and with suppliers? This may have a crucial and negative impact on your event if a contractor refuses to deliver goods due to outstanding bills. This does happen. A long history of problems can be easily camouflaged with cheap packages. Look behind the scenes ....ask questions....who is the owner, how long has he been in business etc.? Wedding couples want to trust their most important day with a most reputable firm. Bottom line ...do your homework, be informed and don't be afraid to ask your banquet hall questions as well as all your friends, relatives and yes, your hairdresser!



A famous quote that we should all live by:

The Lowest Bidder

It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little.

When you pay too much, you lose a little money,

That is all.

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything

because the thing you bought was incapable of doing

the thing it was bought to do.



The Common law of business balance prohibits paying a little

and getting a lot...It cannot be done.

If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add for the risk you run.

And, if you do that, you have enough to pay for something better.



John Ruskin( 1819 - 1900 )



You Only Get One Chance To Make a First Impression !  

Domenic DeAngelis
Owner/Special Events Director
Renaissance Catering & Special Events Centre Inc.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada  


     
 








 
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