17 questions to ask a Dorset wedding venue before you book

Venue viewings are lovely. Somebody walks you through a beautiful room, you imagine your people in it, and you leave slightly in love.

The trouble is that you rarely leave with the information that decides how your day actually runs. That comes from the dull questions — access times, corkage, sound limiters, who is genuinely in the building at 5pm.

These are the ones I ask on every viewing. Screenshot them, take them with you, and ask them out loud. Any venue worth booking will be pleased you did.

1. What is actually included in the price?
   Ask for it in writing, line by line. Tables, chairs, linen, crockery, glassware, staffing, cleaning, set-up and take-down are sometimes included and sometimes very much not. Two venues can look £3,000 apart on paper and end up costing the same once you've hired everything in.
2. What time can we get in, and what time do we have to be out?
   Access time is the single biggest thing that shapes your morning. If florists and stylists can only get in at 10am for a 1pm ceremony, that changes what's realistic. Ask about the night before too — even an hour of early access makes a huge difference.
3. Is there an exclusive-use option?
   Some Dorset venues run more than one wedding a day, or have hotel guests and day visitors around. Neither is a dealbreaker, but you want to know before you fall in love with it.
4. How many guests for the ceremony, the meal and the evening — separately?
   These are three different numbers and venues often quote the biggest one. Check the seated capacity with a dance floor and a band in the room, not the theoretical maximum.
5. What's the wet-weather plan, and where does it happen?
   In Dorset you plan for sunshine and pack for rain. Ask to stand in the wet-weather space. If it's a corridor or a room that needs turning around in twenty minutes, that's worth knowing.
6. What time do you have to make the weather call?
   Usually it's the morning of, and it's usually the venue or your planner making it. Knowing the cut-off means nobody is standing in a field at 11am arguing about clouds.
7. Can we use our own suppliers, or is there a required list?
   Recommended lists are fine and often genuinely good. Compulsory lists are a different thing. If catering is exclusive, that's one of the largest parts of your budget decided for you.
8. Can we bring our own alcohol, and is there corkage?
   Corkage can be anywhere from modest to eye-watering. Ask the per-bottle figure for wine, fizz and spirits, and whether it applies to welcome drinks and toasts too.
9. Is there a bar minimum spend?
   Common, and easy to miss in a contract. Find out what happens if you don't hit it.
10. What's the noise limit and what time does music have to stop?
    Ask whether there's a sound limiter, what level it's set at, and whether a live band has ever tripped it. A limiter isn't a problem if your band knows about it in advance — it's a problem if nobody mentioned it.
11. Where do guests park, and how do they get home?
    Rural Dorset venues are beautiful and often twenty minutes from the nearest taxi. Ask whether cars can be left overnight and whether the venue has minibus contacts.
12. What accommodation is on site or nearby?
    Even a handful of rooms for immediate family takes pressure off the morning. If there are none, ask what the nearest options are and how far they are by car.
13. Who will actually be here on the day?
    The person showing you round is not always the person running your wedding. Ask who your day-of contact will be, what time they arrive and what time they leave.
14. What does your coordinator look after — and what don't they?
    Venue coordinators look after the venue brilliantly. They usually aren't running your timeline, chasing your suppliers or steaming your dress. It's worth knowing exactly where the line sits.
15. Are candles, confetti, sparklers and fireworks allowed?
    Ask specifically: real flame or LED, dried petals or biodegradable, indoors or outdoors only. It's a small question that saves an awkward conversation on the day.
16. What are the payment stages and the cancellation terms?
    Deposit, instalments, final balance, damage deposit. And read the postponement clause — most of us learned the hard way that it matters.
17. What goes wrong here most often?
    My favourite question. A good venue will answer it honestly — the lane floods, the marquee needs generators, the light goes at 4pm in November. Somebody who says nothing ever goes wrong hasn't hosted enough weddings.

One last thing

Take photos of the corners nobody photographs — the loading access, the loos, the bit of the garden where the marquee would go. And walk the route your guests will walk, from the car park to the ceremony to the bar. If that route is easy, most of your day will be easy.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on a shortlist, I'm very happy to look at contracts and quotes with you before you sign anything.