EP. 21 The Venue Playbook: Wedding Venue Tips You Need to Know

Discover the enchanting world of wedding venues with Donna Liston from Lambermont Events as your guide. With nearly four decades of experience, Donna imparts her wisdom on all things related to selecting the perfect venue for your special day. From the charm of a historic 1894 home to the practicalities of parking policies, Donna sheds light on what truly matters when choosing a wedding backdrop. She passionately describes the joy of building lasting relationships with her clients, offering invaluable advice on the key questions to ask to ensure your chosen venue aligns with your dreams. Prepare to learn how to make your wedding celebration not just an event, but a beautiful memory that lasts a lifetime.

In our chat, we also tackle the nitty-gritty of wedding logistics, focusing on personalizing spaces to reflect your unique style and understanding budget constraints. Donna shares her expert insights on vendor coordination, from the necessity of early setups to the importance of having a solid backup plan for outdoor ceremonies. Her stories of navigating vendor interactions offer a cautionary guide to spotting red flags, ensuring you're equipped to avoid potential pitfalls. Whether you're just starting your wedding planning journey or refining the final details, this episode is brimming with actionable tips to create a seamless and stress-free celebration. So, pour yourself a drink and let Donna's expertise guide you toward wedding success.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Tipsy Guest Podcast. I am your host, Marco Buenrostro, and every week I'm here with the top industry experts, amazing clients and all my vendor BFFs to bring you the best tips, advice and juicy behind-the-scenes stories to make wedding and event planning a breeze. So grab your favorite drink and let's get this party started. Hey guys, welcome back to the Tipsy Guest. I am Marco, your host, and today we're going to be talking about wedding venues. This is the most important part of a wedding and we have an expert to let us know everything we need to know about booking your venue. Donna Liston from Lambermont Events. Hello, hello, Hi. How?

Speaker 2 0:46

are you today? I'm doing wonderful.

Speaker 1 0:48

thank you, Happy to have you here. Yes, it's exciting. I mean it's been a minute. I, you know, I've been trying to get you in here and I know the holidays were, you know just busy. We were so busy. Oh my god, what a season. Thank god, it was incredible, it was so good. But today we're going to be talking about venues. I mean, you own a wedding venue, and what a wedding venue. Let our listeners know what you do, what your venue is, where it is. Tell us everything.

Speaker 2 1:17

Sure, well, lambermont Event is a historic home built in 1894 that we purchased 16 years ago, spent three years restoring for a wedding venue, so everything we did was about our couples. So it has overnight guest rooms, it has a honeymoon suite, it has a hair and makeup room, our glam room. So the whole idea is we make our home your home for the weekend of your wedding and you get to come stay the whole weekend as kind of our specialty, and so it's really really cool. Close to downtown. We're half a mile from the Pearl, we're on Grayson, so right there in the middle of the action, without downtown hassles.

Speaker 1 2:01

Yeah, right, the parking situation downtown is chaotic. I love that. Yes, the location is perfect. I was just talking to Lana Donna earlier. You know, before we started recording, I used to live down the street from from the venue. I mean, I love the area. The Pearl is just, I mean, and it keeps growing and growing and growing, absolutely. I mean you think there's no more space to build anything else, but every, yes, every time I drive down there, there's always a new building popping up. So and I feel like your, your location is, like you said, it's right there, but it's not in the middle where it's hard to find parking right, like it's just so incredible. I was just, I remember we were doing were doing the photo shoot for the what was it for? The Antonia Awards, oh, yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 2:49

So I mean, the vibe of the venue is so I don't know, like I don't even know how to describe it. How would you describe the vibe of the venue?

Speaker 2 2:58

Well, because you know it's that vintage but it's not, but it's still indoor modern a little bit, but it's got these beautiful architectural features and just the house speaks for itself Inside, you know from nine fireplaces in the house.

Speaker 1 3:13

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 3:13

You know those things and this beautiful staircase that has carved wood that nobody can do these days anymore. It's just that, and so that has just given it's a feeling, and when couples walk in to tour, I will never take anybody's money if they have not walked through the home, because it's either for you or it's not for you.

Speaker 1 3:35

Exactly.

Speaker 2 3:36

And I want to make sure in their heart it's the right place for them, and you can see on their face when they walk through if it is or it isn't. Like they, you either love this historic home that has so much history and you want to be part of that history.

Speaker 1 3:54

I love that. And so you said you bought it about 16 years ago. How long have you been in the in the business in general, just in the wedding or events? I mean you, you've been in the business telling my age when I start doing that, but yeah, I've been in the business in general, just in the wedding or events. I mean you've been in the business, I'm going to be telling my age when I start doing that.

Speaker 2 4:07

But yeah, I've been in the business almost 40 years. I did children's birthday parties as how I started my business and then started doing weddings and I had a retail store that sold all the products for weddings and birthday parties and invitations and I fell in love with the wedding planning part of it and I just loved the weddings and loved my couples and so, like I even had done weddings for the couples, I did their birthday parties when they were five, six, seven years old and now I have done their wedding.

Speaker 1 4:41

Oh, my God, here cheers to that, Cheers Absolutely Yum, oh my goodness. I mean you can tell right away when somebody is passionate about what they do, and, honestly, you are one that I mean every time I have a conversation with you, I mean I can tell that you love what you do, you absolutely enjoy it and that is the best part about hiring a vendor that has a passion for this.

Speaker 2 5:11

Absolutely. It's not just a job, it is a passion. My daughter is my business partner, and so she and I are running this venue and it's a family, and our couples become part of our family. Yes, it's definitely a passion for us. I wouldn't be doing it for this long if I didn't love doing it.

Speaker 1 5:31

I love it. So what would you say are some of the top questions that a couple should ask a venue when they're looking for their dream venue? What is something that they normally ask you, or what is it something that you recommend to them they should ask?

Speaker 2 5:49

So, first off, I'm going to go on to that one is I am going to ask couples and this is when I was a wedding planner and a venue owner now and there's three questions that couples need to really answer to themselves first. But I trigger these questions and it's like first, what is that dream wedding? What's the budget? And then, what are their priorities? What's important to them On a scale of one to 10? How important is the food to you? How important then, on a scale of one to 10?

Speaker 2 6:20

How important is the photography for you, for every vendor? Where is it? That's where you're going to put your money. If it's not important to you, either don't do it at all or don't spend a lot of money on it and put your budget that way. And so where, as a venue owner, if that's what's important to them is? You know, we want to make sure people walk out of our wedding going oh my God, I've never been to this place. This is so amazing I can't believe. Or when I was here last, it didn't even look like this, because every couple makes it look like their own.

Speaker 1 6:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:55

Because no two weddings look alike at Lambermont. That's kind of our specialty too.

Speaker 1 6:59

Love that.

Speaker 2 7:00

So I want people to walk away from a wedding going oh my God, this was so them, them being the couple.

Speaker 1 7:08

I absolutely love that.

Speaker 2 7:09

So those are the questions I really try to get the couples to think about on themselves. Know those answers before you talk to any vendor. Know what those are. Then, when you're at questions that you would be asking a venue, well, first off capacity, you know, don't even bother going if you have 800 people and it will only sit 100. Yeah, don't waste your time on those. Is it the right vibe? The parking, is there convenient parking, a parking for cost money? You know all of those things. Or is it valet? Or whatever those answers are, you need to ask those questions Many times and this is certainly on. One of our frequently asked questions is do I have to use your vendors and as a venue? When I first opened up the venue, we didn't. Oh, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, and we learned very quickly that it does matter.

Speaker 1 8:10

It does, it does matter.

Speaker 2 8:12

And so we have what we call a vendors we love list. It's huge. It doesn't cost the vendors to be on this list, like some places do. So that's one question to ask is how did these vendors get on your list? For us, they've earned their spots Insurance. You know we don't allow anybody to step foot on our property if they don't have business insurance, because that tells me they're not running their. If they don't care about their own business, why would they care about mine to protect it? So they must have insurance, and that protects both the couple and us. And so those are. One of those things is asking make sure those vendors are covered with insurance. So, yes, we have a vendors we love list. It's very large.

Speaker 1 9:01

That was part of my questions here.

Speaker 2 9:02

It's very large and it's from our budget to our high end and everything in between, and that's why it's important to know what is your budget. You know, as a couple, what is your budget and what are your priorities, because then I can help direct them which vendors are best for them. So they're not. You know, I think I have 20 caterers on my list. Well, there's no reason to go call 20 caterers if not all those caterers are going to help you.

Speaker 1 9:31

So we help with that too, and that's part of my wedding planning brain and heart still speaking that I help the couples with. So are you still doing wedding planning or are you strictly just managing your venue?

Speaker 2 9:44

So we're really just really managing the venue, but with our expertise as being a planner, we help with scheduling, we help with, you know, helping the 30 days out, working with the schedules and things like that. I don't go to appointments with the couples, you know I'm not going to go to sit down and do their tastings with them, that's not so. I'm not a full coordinator, but we certainly bring in our expertise of having that knowledge to our clients.

Speaker 1 10:13

And I like that because you, I mean you know every vendor in town. I mean you have been around for a while, you have created so many connections with so many different vendors. I mean, right now that you mentioned, you know that your vendor list is pretty wide.

Speaker 1 10:28

I mean I think that is so good, because people don't know what they don't know, you know, they just follow vendors on social media, you know, and they sometimes, like you said, it might not go with their budget. So you, knowing the vendors and knowing more or less how much they charge or what level of services they provide, I think this is where I think this will make you very different from other venues, Right, because you know the industry, you know the vendors, you've worked with many of them, right, so it is great. I think it's a great thing when a couple comes to, in this case, you, for example, and you give them advice. You're not just trying to sell them your venue, you're giving them advice in general when it comes to the wedding. I think that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 11:16

You know one advice I give to my couples. It's probably against every sales 101 pitch for venues and it's like go look at other venues, go, I am not going to tell you, this price is only for today, right, I'm going to tell you, go look at other venues. Go, make sure in your heart this is the right place. If it is, we'd love to have you. But I will also tell them if there's a couple or if there's a vendor that is give me your money now, give me your money now, give me your money now. This special is only good if you're sitting here right now.

Speaker 2 11:50

Red flag, Red flag Walk away. There's just been. If they're that desperate to get your deposit, they're paying yesterday's bills.

Speaker 1 12:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:03

Not the future's. Will they be around in the future when your wedding comes around? And we all know that this has happened. This is from intentional and unintentional. This is the industry we live in and not everybody can will survive.

Speaker 1 12:18

Yeah, I think I like me personally. I don't like to be pushy, right? You know, sometimes I feel like you know, sometimes the people ask me, you know, because I talked to other vendors and I talked to other photo booth owners and they're always asking me like hey, how often do you follow up with? You know, with couples, when they reach out to you for, you know, just an inquiry, and I'm like you know what? I don't really follow up a lot and they're like why? And I'm like, well, because I feel like if they want me, they want me. They reach out through their website or Instagram or anything, asking for prices or send me an inquiry form. Yes, of course, I'm going to send them pricing, I'm going to send them a quote. Know, whatever they want, I'm gonna send it to them. But I am not gonna be that vendor that's gonna email you every two days or every.

Speaker 2 13:02

I don't know, have you decided?

Speaker 1 13:03

have you decided? Yeah, no, no, no, like I want to give them their space and their time because, more than likely, if they message me to inquire about a photo booth for their wedding, they probably probably messaged three other vendors and I think that they're going to notice if I'm the pushy one, they're going to scratch me off right away. They're going to be like no, no, no, he's too annoying, he's too pushy. But if they you know, I feel like, if they really like you, they like you and they're going to come back to you without the need of you like pressuring them into booking. Right, right, yeah, what is, I guess, like? What are some of the requirements to book the venue? I mean a retainer, I'm assuming to save the date and then payment options. How does that work?

Speaker 2 13:48

Absolutely so. We don't even call it a retainer. Our first payment on most packages are like $1,000. Okay, you put your $1,000 down, and then we break the balance into monthly payments, with the last payment due 30 days before the wedding, and we email an invoice.

Speaker 1 14:07

We love, I love square.

Speaker 2 14:07

I invoice every month. So you see, and, and we don't even have, oh, it's due on a particular day of the month. I'm gonna send it on to you on the first and as long as the payment's made that month, we're good. I love that.

Speaker 1 14:18

You're not like so corporate Like, you're pretty flexible.

Speaker 2 14:21

You know we have to be In this world. Every couple is different and, you know, not everybody gets a paycheck every Friday Not everybody, you know. So we're really trying to be flexible. At the very beginning I thought I was doing it just as a favor for the couples and then realized, oh my gosh, this is also a great cash flow for you, for me, because my slower months I'm still sending invoices out, I'm still getting money in instead of huge chunks at a time, and so it's worked out for all of us.

Speaker 1 14:54

Yeah, I think that is the best way to do it because I mean, they have so many vendors that they have to work with and everybody. I'm sure, like you know, it's a different payment plan. It's a different. You know, everyone is different. In this case, you know, I love, I do payment plans as well. Like you know, we just get the X amount of money to save the date and then I tell my couples I'm like you can pay me however you want, as long as everything is paid 30 days before. Absolutely, you can do whatever you want. You can send me $100 a month. You can send me $300. You can pay half whatever you want. Just, you know we need to make sure that it's covered 30 days before.

Speaker 2 15:28

Right.

Speaker 1 15:28

And I mean there's been exceptions, you know where you know like two weeks before or whatever, but you know that's a case by case, of course. Absolutely, when um, when it comes to the um, to the facility you know you mentioned earlier, you know people can stay, you know, rented for the for the weekend, for the week or whatever, do you also do just like airbnb experiences for the for the house, or is it specifically for events and weddings? How do you handle that?

Speaker 2 16:01

Yeah, so we are listed on Airbnb. So if I don't have a wedding, or summertime when it's slower, we are on Airbnb. So a lot of times, just on our Facebook page, we'll go. We just opened it up for the next three weeks, in the next three weeks or whatever it up for the next three weeks, in the next three weeks or whatever. So it's not on a regular basis because obviously I want my weddings first, of course. But we did, yeah, I mean we have a lot of couples that just find us on Airbnb and come stay, and so there might be three different couples in different rooms.

Speaker 1 16:34

Wow.

Speaker 2 16:34

And it's just a great opportunity.

Speaker 1 16:45

And they sit on the porches and have wine, and I like that. See to our listeners. There's a, there's a tipsy pro tip. Today maybe you can book an airbnb experience with with the lambert mont before you even pick that as your venue, because that way you get to experience it absolutely. I, I like that. And then so the venue is a non-traditional venue, I'm going to say, because there's not an actual ballroom. That's correct. So how can you walk me through a wedding Like what happens where in the venue?

Speaker 2 17:05

Sure so, and you know, like I say, no two weddings are exactly alike, but most couples will have a ceremony outside, out in the yard. We have lots of different locations, so it's not even, oh, it's in only in that one location. They get to choose, because the chairs are set up the way they want them set up, and then cocktail party inside and then back outside for dinner and dancing. So we're on an acre of land, so there's so much grass area out there. If they want a tent, they can tent. If they want it open air, they open air. We've got brick patios that they can use as dance floors, so that's just really how they want it. You know, where do you want your bar set up? Where do you want? Do you want past hors d'oeuvres, or do you want a buffet? And so how they want to do it is how they want to do it.

Speaker 1 17:52

I love it. And then for, I guess, for just the vendors as well, because I always you know me as a wedding vendor I always ask about the loading situation for vendors. How easy is it for the vendors to access the different areas of the venue?

Speaker 2 18:13

So we are on a corner so we have two different entrances, from a side street and a back street.

Speaker 2 18:20

So it's actually we're kind of four on there because we've got an alley side street and a driveway with a handicap ramp in the back. So that's our load in if you're in the house, to be able to use this ramp to get in and out, we ask all vendors to park at a church parking lot next door, leaving the better parking for our clients. So we have a parking lot and then free street parking and then this parking lot next door. So it's probably not I mean it's not back up to a back door and unload immediately type thing. This is also why we schedule that 30 days out with all the vendors so we're not on top of each other and how things people come in and out. You know we have just had this situation where we've talked about like I want all vendors from even a photo booth. You may not be set open for another three hours, but you can't be unloading in the middle of the wedding exactly and so you know we've had.

Speaker 2 19:22

They had to tell people like no, like it may cost you a little bit extra, or but that's got to be set up then go change clothes. Yeah, before I want we what we call camera ready. Yeah, 30 minutes before the wedding starts, before guests get arrived, arrive there, because we we want make sure that, because if not, it makes it look like you're late.

Speaker 1 19:42

Oh my God, I was just going to say that is one of my pet peeves. Like I cannot when I see vendors showing up in the middle of the event, like it is.

Speaker 1 19:52

so I mean, everybody owns their own business and everybody's different but I just feel like it's so unprofessional to show up when the wedding is already happening, like, right, you know, people ask me like when? When they're booking my photo booth services, they're like, when do you set up? I'm like, girl, we set up early in the day and we leave right, go away. You know, yeah, we're always gonna set up before your first guest arrives, like we are gonna be there early on, we're, we are going to set up, we're going to leave and then we're going to come back probably like 30, 40 minutes before our start time. You are never going to see us setting up as people are having dinner or as you're getting married and we're going to be distracting. No, no, no, like that is a big no for me.

Speaker 2 20:34

I just can't Right. Right, yeah, it just looks bad and it looks like, oh, they're running late where. So you know, as couples need to, to make sure that they're telling like just because you're not opening your your photo booth up until seven o'clock. Yeah, no, no, your wedding starts at five.

Speaker 1 20:50

Yeah, and a lot of the times, people communication exactly communication is key and a lot of the times, you know, the couple knows, let's say, for example, they come to an agreement. We're like, yeah, that's fine, you can set up as we're having dinner, you know, but that's an agreement between you and the couple. But me, as a business owner, I, even though the couple agreed on that all the other people are gonna think that I'm arriving late, right, they're gonna be like, oh, my god, look at this photo booth showing up late. Yeah, like I just can't deal with that. So, yes, definitely. There's another tipsy pro tip. There we go Make sure couples out there, make sure that you, yes, communicate with your vendors and I would say, make arrangements for early setups. Like Donna said, it might cost you just a little bit more, but it is, at the end of the day, it's going to work for you, because you don't want distractions as you're doing your first dance or the toast, or as you're getting married, or you know, just, right there, just talk to them.

Speaker 2 21:48

Talk to them and do it.

Speaker 1 21:51

I promise you it's worth it. And, donna, so have you ever had to make last minute changes to where, let's say it's it's an outdoor celebration, but then I mean weather, absolutely Weather here is crazy. So what happens? I mean, do you are you able to facilitate where everything gets moved inside?

Speaker 2 22:11

So, as you know, my wedding planning planner hat comes on at the very beginning when I'm talking to a couple with plan A and plan B. And let's talk about that at the very beginning. If you have 150 people, I can't put 150 people inside the house, so you know you're going to need a tent. If we got a plan B, put it in a budget now, go figure out who's going to do it, what day you have the trigger for, and you put a deposit down on a tent that you. It's like your insurance. You may lose the money, but you know you are guaranteed to have it and be honest with your rental company from day one of this is my plan b. What do I need to do? Um, and so that's. That's basically what I'm telling. People is always know what plan a and plan b is couple I just met with the other day. They only have 80 people.

Speaker 2 23:09

She really wants it outdoor, but we can move 80 people indoor instead yeah and so she was very confident knowing, okay, if, if I had to move it indoor, I will, because she wants February of 2026.

Speaker 1 23:22

And you know, we just don't know, oh my goodness, we never know what the weather is going to be like?

Speaker 2 23:25

We just don't. So just always know plan A, plan B. Have a backup have your backup, know what it is, what it's going to cost you.

Speaker 1 23:34

I love that. And okay, donna, so we are running out of time, but I guess the best question for we're going to save it for the very last few minutes here how much I mean? Is every wedding? Is every day of the week the same amount? You don't have to be specific with numbers, of course, but is it different if it's a Saturday versus a Friday versus a Tuesday? How is that?

Speaker 2 23:57

So our Monday, tuesday, wednesday is less money. Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday is the same, because I can only do one wedding a weekend usually, so it doesn't matter if you come in Thursday to Saturday or Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday on that. So on our weekend packages. But we also have got these intimate wedding packages. That is less than 50 people and you're only there for three hours, so it's just a ceremony, a glass of champagne, a cake for a toast, maybe a first dance, and you're done. So they can go anywhere from $3,500 to $30,000 for something that includes all the food and all of that.

Speaker 2 24:39

So, yeah, that $30,000 is a much, much larger one that, like I say, it has, from a cocktail party, the food for the cocktail party, the wedding brunch the day after, you know, your full weekend full of everything. But that average one, you know, is it right in that $13,000 range for a weekend, friday to Sunday. And again, we will customize some. But we have so many packages on our website that like and we just kind of redid some of them Because we were listening to couples, you know when all of a sudden they wanted well, we only have 50 people, but we still want to dance.

Speaker 1 25:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:22

And so we've adjusted that one. So, yeah, our pricing kind of varies on those we will be. We're doing open houses that people can come out and look at all of that, lots of different shows and things like that, so hopefully we'll get to see people. One other little tip that I'd like to tell couples that I do tell when they sit down is come up with an email address that you only use for weddings.

Speaker 1 25:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:52

Because you're going to get bombarded with emails Just talking about you know you don't email them and email them and email them, but they do. They're out there doing that, so that way, when the wedding is over with it's done, they never look at it again. They only look at that email when they're in wedding mode, and so that's one tip. Just come up with an email address that you only use for weddings.

Speaker 1 26:14

I love that. And just to add to Donna's point yeah, you don't ever have to look at it again, but I will suggest definitely look at it a week or two after the wedding. Oh, absolutely, just to make sure, because a lot of the times us as vendors, we send you an email asking for a review.

Speaker 2 26:31

Yes.

Speaker 1 26:31

Which reviews are very important to us as vendors, because that's how people know how we did Right. So, yeah, so, definitely create an email for your wedding specifically so that you don't have to hear from us ever again. But definitely check your email after the wedding, because we most of the time, us as vendors, we do not require but request. Yeah, we ask, um, you know, to kindly leave us a review if we did. Okay, you know, we want to make sure that other couples see, you know, that we did really good at your wedding, because that's how we um get our business as well, right, absolutely yeah, referrals are huge for us and those, those google reviews and all of that, they help a lot, they do yeah well, donna.

Speaker 1 27:10

Thank you so much. Absolutely, it's a pleasure, of course. How can our couples find you on social?

Speaker 2 27:16

media website phone number. So our lambremoneeventscom is our website and lots of things there. If they want to book an appointment, they can do that right on our website. We have an appointment app there. And then, of course, we're on Facebook and Instagram and all my daughter handles those because I'm the old one in the group Shout out to Erica yes. Erica, but we're on all of that with Andrew Lambermont events.

Speaker 1 27:42

Perfect, and we'll make sure to have your website and your social media links on the show notes as well. So make sure you guys follow them. Make sure you guys follow us and tell your Engage BFFs about the podcast. We're here every single week. If you guys have any questions, send us a DM, go to our website, send us an email. We would love to have your favorite vendor on the podcast, so make sure you let us know who you want us to have next. Thank you so much, dana. Thank you, let's cheers one more time salute bye guys.

Speaker 1 28:09

Thanks for listening to the Tipsy Guest Podcast. If you know someone who could benefit from these tips, spread the love and share it with them. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Next round's on us, same time, same place Cheers. This podcast is brought to you by MVP Photo Booth. No-transcript.