What an Event Venue Website Needs

What the site is actually for

June is the middle of wedding season, and next year's couples, office managers and charity committees are already shortlisting venues, usually over an evening of comparing websites.

Nobody is ready to book at that stage. They are ruling places out, fastest where a site cannot answer the basic questions.

So the site's job is to survive the shortlist: to show, without a phone call, that the event will fit, the date might be free, and roughly what it will cost.

Then it has to make the next step easy: a visit, a quote, or a hold on the date.

What a planner checks first

• Capacity for their kind of event, in their layout.
• Whether the date is open, or close to it.
• What the price includes, and what costs extra.
• Food and alcohol rules, and whose caterer it must be.
• Parking, transit and access for older or disabled guests.
• Photographs of real events, not the empty room.
• A way to hold the date while they decide.

The last is the one most venue sites leave out. Planners rarely decide alone, and a date they cannot hold while they consult others is a date they may lose.

Capacity by room and layout

A single figure, such as up to 200 guests, answers almost nothing. Two hundred standing with drinks is a different room from two hundred seated at round tables with a dance floor.

List each room separately, with its capacity in each common layout: dinner at round tables, rows for a ceremony or presentation, classroom, and a standing reception.

Add a floor plan with dimensions, ceiling height and power outlets, marking where a band, head table or screen usually goes.

Dates, and how current they are

After capacity comes availability. A venue that shows nothing makes everyone ask, and many will ask the next venue instead.

A live calendar is not necessary. A list of open Saturdays for this season and next, updated every Monday and dated, answers most of it.

Mention weekday and off-season dates too, often at a lower price. Many company events and smaller weddings are looking for exactly those.

What the price includes

Planners compare total costs, not room fees. Say what comes with the room: tables, chairs, linens, setup and cleanup, staff, sound and a projector.

Then say what costs extra and what is not allowed, such as outside caterers, confetti, open flames or tape on the walls.

Give prices, or a starting price for each room and season with any minimum spend. A range is better than silence, which sends planners to venues that publish one.

Include access times, from setup to the last guest leaving, and if ceremonies can be held outdoors, where they move when it rains.

Catering and alcohol

Food and drink rules eliminate venues quickly, so state them plainly: an in-house caterer, a list of approved caterers, or the client's own choice.

For alcohol, say who supplies and serves it, whether the venue's licence covers the event or the client needs a permit of their own, and what time the bar closes.

If the client arranges the permit, explain in general terms what it involves and how far ahead to apply.

A worked example

A venue in a restored 1920s cannery building on a river, with a main hall seating 160 for dinner and a loft room for 40, hosts mostly weddings and company parties.

Its website had a slideshow of the empty hall in daylight, a paragraph of history and a contact form, so nearly every enquiry opened with the same four questions.

The coordinator answered each by hand, often days later in the busy season, by which time some planners had booked elsewhere.

The rebuilt site gives each room a page with capacities by layout, a floor plan, and photographs from real events: the hall set for dinner at night, the loft set for a ceremony.

A dates page lists open Saturdays through next summer, refreshed weekly, and a hold request reserves a date for seven days, confirmed by the coordinator.

First replies now start from the planner's date and numbers instead of the basics.

Photographs of real events

Empty rooms photographed in daylight show the building and hide the event. Planners need to picture their own night, and they do it from photographs of other people's.

Show each room in each main layout, at the hour events happen and with their lighting, plus the details that settle questions: the bar, the dance floor, the entrance.

Ask the photographers who work your events for permission to use a few images, credited, and refresh them each season.

Parking, access and the loading door

Say how many cars fit, where overflow parking is, and how guests arrive without a car: transit, taxis, a shuttle from a hotel.

State accessibility plainly: a step-free entrance, an accessible washroom, an elevator to the upper room, or honestly, the absence of one. A planner with a guest who uses a wheelchair needs to know before booking.

Suppliers need the loading door, how close a van can get, and when setup can begin. A page planners can forward to caterers and florists saves the coordinator many calls.

Holding a date

A hold keeps a date for a few days without a contract. It suits how events are actually decided, after a partner, a boss or a committee has had a say.

Say how long a hold lasts, whether it needs a deposit, and what happens if someone else asks for the same date meanwhile.

Put the hold request on the dates page and every room page, asking only for the date, the room, a rough guest count and a contact.

The counter-case

A venue booked mostly by the same corporate clients each year needs less persuasion and more practical detail: rates, rooms, equipment and the booking contact.

A small venue with one room can start with a single page on capacity, inclusions and rules, plus a clear enquiry form, and add the dates list later.

For most venues, though, bookings are won or lost on the planner's shortlist: answer the first questions on the site and offer a way to hold the date.

What to build first

1. List capacity for each room by layout.
2. Publish open dates and update them weekly.
3. State what the price includes.
4. Explain catering and alcohol rules plainly.
5. Show real events set up at night.
6. Describe parking, access and the loading door.
7. Add a hold request to every room page.

Step seven is the one that turns a shortlist into a conversation. A planner who can hold a date tonight stops comparing venues; one who cannot keeps looking.

Couples planning an outdoor ceremony ask the question covered in what happens if it rains.

Frequently asked questions

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