Everything You Need to Know About Chicago Wedding Venues

Photo: AJ Abelman

We’ve spent the last 2 weeks setting you up to venue shop, so let’s talk about everything you need to know about shopping for a Chicago wedding venue! This is a big topic to cover, so we’re breaking it down by category below.

Rental Rates

This is the price point you’ll get in the initial inquiry or find on a venue’s website and is also the most straightforward part of this process. The rental rate is exactly that, the cost to rent the venue for your wedding date. In the Chicago wedding market, these rates will fluctuate based on time of year (peak season being April-October-ish and non-peak being November-March-ish), as well as day of the week. Saturdays being the busiest and most expensive day to get married, followed by Fridays, the Sundays, then week days.

Catering Policies

This will be the most impactful to your overall budget and is harder to estimate without working with a Planner. Some venues are owned by a catering company or restaurant group (example, the LM Catering properties or Lettuce Entertain You properties), some have an open catering policy that allow you to work with any caterer or restaraunt you want, so long as they are licensed and insured, and some require you to work off of a specific list that you may or may not be allowed to pay an additional fee to go off of. Before booking a venue with either in house catering or a specific list, it’s important to understand the average per person cost of those catering options to know if this venue is truly within your target spend.

Bar Policies

This is another big factor when it comes to your overall budget. Some venues are BYOB friendly, meaning that you can order your liquor straight from a liquor retailer (ie. Binny’s) and control your overall costs by creating a modified open bar. Others require your caterer to provide the liquor package, meaning you’ll pay a per person fee for a specific package with a set of included liquors, beers and wines; while other venues have their own liquor license and require you to purchase one of their bar packages. Usually the most expensive option of all of these is the venue liquor package, so make sure that you understand the package options available to you before booking a venue to know if the venue is still in budget.

Amenities

Sometimes the amenities a venue offers can offset the cost of the rental itself. For example, the properties owned by Style Matters include a host of amenities that easily run in the neighborhood of $5000+ in added value with their included DJ, photobooth, digital stationery services that are expenses you would otherwise incur at another venue. Dining and lounge furniture or security are amenities that may be included in your rental fee that other venues may not include. Understanding what is included in your rental fee and whether or not those same amenities are included in a similarly priced venue may be the tilt you in need in one direction or another to make a final booking decision.

Commissions

Whew! I could fill an entire burn book with my thoughts and feelings about venue commission practices, but one of the most important questions you need to ask during venue tours is what their VENDOR commission policies are. In very sneaky practices, many venues don’t openly disclose their vendor commission policies because technically (ICK) it’s not a fee they charge directly to the couple, however, if your venue charges every caterer on their list a 15% commission, your catering costs will be 15% higher because the caterer is not eating this cost, they’re just building it into the cost you’re paying. It’s also important to ask which vendors are charged this commission and if it’s on the subtotal or total of the invoice. One venue who shall remain nameless charges 18% on catering, rentals, and floral. And friends, that means your wedding overall will be 18% more expensive than it otherwise would be becaues those are you most expensive invoices. If the commission is on the subtotal, it won’t include labor fees and tax, but if the commission is charged on the total, that’s going to include what you’re being charged for labor and tax.

Park District Venues

I know Park District rental fees LOOK apealing and sometimes it really is the best option for a couple, but it’s important to know that Chicago Park District wedding venues charge a high commission rate (I think it’s in the neighborhood of 20%), don’t include rentals or if they do they’re not rentals you want (think church basement pleather chairs), often require you to contract security at your own expense, AND require you to get your bar package from your caterer, so that approachable rental fee quickly is offset by additional expenses that most couples don’t understand prior to signing their contract.

Getting Ready Rooms

The amenity of a getting ready room is often something couples are attracted to, but it’s important to understand WHEN you get access to that space and what the cost is to extend that time. If you can’t access the getting ready room until 3 hours before you ceremony starts, it’s not an amenity that saves you money in providing a getting ready space for hair and makeup, which often starts early in the morning.

Booking your venue will be the hardest part of planning. There are a lot of moving costs to keep track of and so many pros and cons to weigh. If you haven’t booked your wedding venue yet, the BEST thing you can do for your budget and sanity is to work with a Planner now. It doesn’t have to be us, but working with a Planner now will pay for itself in what they save you in mistakes. If you want a pal to spend the next year making wedding planning suck a little less, you can schedule a consultation here. And at a minimum, come back in two weeks for a guide on everything you need to know about catering trends and costs.