Tag: wedding venue contract

Many people think that choosing a venue is the hard part and that once you and your spouse have battled over this decision and finally landed on a reasonable compromise, it will then be smooth sailing from there. But this is hardly ever the case. Even once you’ve booked a date and made a verbal agreement with your venue’s owner, the deal won’t be secured by a simple handshake. You’ll be required to sign a binding legal contract.

Venue contracts can be quite a complicated part of the overall wedding planning process, that is if you don’t simply throw the contract at your personal lawyer and get them to do all the dirty work. The contract that you sign could have serious implications and ramifications for your life if voided. As such, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve read through the fine print, and that all the provisions and additional details (such as your choice of caterer or your ability to invite children to your wedding) are not impeded by the contract that your venue has required you to sign.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through everything that you’ll need to know when it comes to venue contracts, and how you can jump this particular hurdle within your wedding preparations and land safely and securely on the other side.

What will the contract typically require?

Before you’ve even received your venue’s specific contract and reviewed it, there are quite a few things that are commonly seen in these types of legal agreements. These are things that you can expect to see in your venue contract, and that you should be prepared for before the time to sign the contract arrives. They include:

• Both you and your spouse’s full names, as well as the date that you’d like to rent the venue for.
• Your total payment for the venue, as well as the initial deposit (and in some cases, your deposit due date, if your venue hasn’t required you to pay the deposit before the contracts can be signed).
• A scheduled payment plan for all outstanding amounts after the deposit.
• Venue cancellation and refund policies
• Specified venue rules (e.g. no animals, guest parking specification, etc.)
• Insurance and liability details

What to sort out with your venue before signing the contract

Since the contract that you sign will be a legally binding agreement, it’s important that you square away any other wayward details with your venue’s owner (or their representatives) before signing on the dotted line. It won’t be possible to make defined choices about every single wedding aspect before signing the venue contract. However, if you negotiate some wiggle room for your planning period into the contract, this won’t be a problem for you. These include details such as your autonomy with your itinerary, the time frame when you’ll get access to the reception rooms, the specific limitations that your venue will impose on you… and so much more. Fitting these details into your contract beforehand will certainly be worthwhile. Trust us… your future self will thank you!

If you’re looking for some great venues in Sydney that will the perfect locations to set the stage for your dream wedding, reach out to us. Here at Clarence House, we’d love nothing more than to help you turn your big day into a wedding for the ages.