Are you starting a new wedding venue but wondering how to start a wedding venue business without wasting time, energy, and money on things that don’t work?
If you’re starting a new wedding venue business, you need to follow a strategic plan to set up your wedding venue and your marketing plan.
Wedding Venue Start-Up Costs
One of the first things to consider when setting up your new business is the venue start-up costs.
The costs associated with starting a wedding venue will be the state of the property, the readiness of the grounds, and the experience you have with building a business.
If you’ve never owned or managed a business or a wedding-related company before, you could find it stressful and overwhelming if you try to start your wedding venue business without any outside help.
You will also need to have experience with sales and marketing. Especially if you want to start promoting and getting new bookings for your wedding venue from day one.
The startup costs that you will need to have a budget for, include venue renovations and upgrades, catering equipment, payroll, advertising media, printing, marketing, and useful business tools.
When you just start out with your wedding business, you will want to keep your costs as low as possible. You will not want to hire expensive staff members or jump straight into the world of online ads if you don’t have the budget.
Luckily there are plenty of affordable and free things you can do to help you promote your new wedding venue before you even open the doors. I’ll explain this in more detail later in this article.
How to Start a Wedding Venue on Your Property
Are you starting your new wedding venue on your own property? Running a wedding business on a property you own can come with several pros and cons.
Pros would be based on the amount of money you could save. Another advantage is that any investment you make on your property upgrades would work in your favor as the value of your property will most likely improve as you develop your new venue.
Cons for starting a wedding venue on your property would be the stress that you and your family may incur as you will not be able to leave your business.
Some of the other struggles I’ve witnessed with wedding pros that have decided to start their own wedding venue on their property have been personal relationships and financial issues.
If you live on the property that you run as a wedding venue, you may never get to leave the business at work. There will be little space for escape.
You could also feel stressed and overwhelmed by the costs involved with starting a wedding venue on your property.
My advice if you want to start a wedding venue on your property is to ensure that it’s always a family affair and that everybody who lives on the property is involved in decision-making and financial decisions.
Wedding Venue Business Ideas
Here are some wedding venue business ideas to help you create a wedding venue that bridal couples will love and appreciate:
- Garden weddings are very popular so you could include a romantic garden gazebo if you have enough room in your garden area.
- Chapels are always a big hit with bridal couples, so it’s always a great idea to build an on-site chapel if you have the room, and the budget to do so.
- Does your wedding venue have a rain plan option? Having a dedicated space in the event of rain and storms is very sensible and can often make or break a sale.
- Honeymoon Suites are also highly popular additions to wedding venues and will improve your chances of a booking, especially if you include it in your venue packages.
- Bridal Preparation Suites are always seen as a bonus for bridal couples and should be considered if you want happy brides on their wedding day.
- On-site accommodation is a great plus, especially if you’re planning to host weekend weddings.
- Picnic Baskets – I thought I’d add this one as a bonus tip as I’ve seen how excited bridal couples get when they have a special picnic basket made up for them as they go off for their after-wedding photography session.
Running a Wedding Venue Business
A big part of starting a wedding venue business will be the management. Running a wedding business from scratch will be exciting but also challenging, even if you have past experience with weddings.
If you are new to the wedding industry or the business landscape, it might be a good idea to get help from experts in your field or a business coach.
Wedding business coaches can be very beneficial for startup companies as they can help you with important decisions and plans, plus provide you with added support as you navigate your way through the wedding business growth stages.
I offer wedding coaching for people who want to start a wedding venue business. If you’d like to learn more about my coaching packages, I have the details on my wedding business coaching services page.
You’re also welcome to reach out to me if you have any curious questions. Here’s my direct email address.
Other Wedding Venues Near You
I would also like to encourage you to do ample research before you start your wedding venue business by searching and taking notice of every other wedding venue near you.
You do not need to see other wedding venues near you as your competition.
In fact, in my experience, those wedding venues that take the time to meet their neighbor venues and create personal relationships have managed to go on to create valuable connections and collaborations.
For instance, when one venue is booked on a particular date – they encourage the bridal couples to take a look at their neighbor wedding venues, and vice versa.
Wedding Venue Marketing
As a wedding venue marketing specialist, I would like to end this article with some wedding venue marketing tips.
As a new venue, you need to use an aggressive marketing plan to ensure your business shows up in wedding venue searches.
You will also want to get your social media accounts off the ground quickly. My advice is to get started on this today. (Even if you’re still in the startup/planning stage).
Your Wedding Venue Marketing Plan
I have a 12 Step Marketing Plan for Wedding Venues that you should definitely consider using as you start your wedding venue company.
The 12-Step Marketing Plan involves the following crucial steps:
- Getting your pricing and packages in order.
- Designing your brand and voice to align with the price of your venue.
- Your social media posts, including Pinterest pins, Instagram stories and reels, and more.
- Website copy and design to attract and allure your dream clients into scheduling a venue tour with you.
- Blog post creation to drive traffic from Google to your website.
- Google ranking factors to keep your wedding venue on page one of Google for wedding venues in your area.
- Email sequence design (including automation) to keep your target brides engaged.
- Ensure your wedding venue is top of mind with a strategic online directories plan. For example, you will want to add your venue to The Knot and WeddingWire if your venue is in the US.
- Grow more awareness by networking and working on your word-of-mouth strategy.
- Develop an in-person meetings and events strategy to help you sell your wedding venue to bridal couples during any face-to-face interactions.
- Follow a strategic PR and advertising campaign to get your wedding venue featured in printed and online wedding-related platforms, magazines, and blogs.
- Learn the value of Facebook ads for wedding venues that are specifically designed to attract brides and bridal couples to your new wedding venue.
Conclusion
When you start a wedding venue business, whether it’s on your property or not, you will need to follow a specific wedding industry-related marketing strategy.
Bridal couples have a unique psychology level that you will need to take into consideration if you want to really capture their attention and get them to take notice of your new wedding venue.
But, if you get it right, your venue could be the next best wedding destination on a bridal couple’s radar. I wish you the best of luck.
Related Article – Marketing for Wedding Venues
Until the next time,
