How to Prepare to Secure Funding For Your Wedding Venue

The fast-paced and highly-detailed wedding venue industry is an exciting undertaking. Maybe you’re here because you need to spruce up your current venue to attract higher-ticket events or maybe you’re looking to break into the market for the first time and want to secure funding for your wedding venue.

Whatever stage of the process you’re in, you’ve come to the right place. A dream can only become a reality with the right plan, the right people, and the right funding. Assuming you have the first two in place, let’s dive into all things related to bankrolling your wedding venue project. 

So You Want To Be A Venue Owner: The Payoff

This is a business built on romance, lifelong dreams, and core-memory creation for brides, grooms, partners, and their friends and families. It’s the realization of a once-in-a-lifetime event that couples remember forever.

Being part of that story is invaluable.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that you must always be ready to adapt and pivot. The wedding industry faced unprecedented challenges, and not everyone was able to keep their heads above water. 

Pre-pandemic, the wedding industry was valued at only $160.5 billion dollars, but by 2030, it’s projected to reach $414.2 billion dollars.^[1] If you’re set up for success from the foundational stages of your business, that is the kind of growth you can expect to take part in over the next eight years.

A properly funded and operated wedding venue can be extremely profitable. It has the potential to replace or double your income while you build equity in your land and property asset. It can truly be the retirement-ready investment of a lifetime. 

Wedding Venue Funding Myths 

So many people with a dream and a vision board lose hope because they believe funding just isn’t possible. My friend, this simply isn’t true. And neither are some of these common myths.

You Can’t Google Your Way To Wedding Venue Funding (I Tried That)

I had a client a few years ago who was desperately trying to make this wedding venue thing work. She had been denied by several banks, was working with city planners who wouldn’t play ball, and had architects and contractors banging down the door, asking for payments from her already dwindling bank account. Google was no help in our search for answers. 

The bank tells you they need more accurate numbers, the architect requires a down payment, and the contractor is hogtied by the engineer’s recommendations. Before you know it, you’re paying out more money than you have just to secure the funding you need.

We had to quickly get creative to solve her very real revenue problems so her operation could be a success. Now, she’s 100% booked for 18 months with an enviable waitlist, all willing to pay her big-ticket price tag. 

You Don’t Have To Be “From Money” To Make This Work

Listen, I don’t have a rich uncle, and you probably don’t either. The good news is that it’s not necessary to have access to large amounts of cash to make your wedding venue a reality. Though it may seem impossible, other options will work – have worked – for regular folks like you. 

How To Prepare For Funding

In order for banks and investors to take you seriously, you must invest time and energy into developing a solid and actionable business plan. I take my clients through the following 3-step framework to prepare them for collecting the necessary funds.

Funding Preparation

Securing funding is truly a numbers game. How you get your numbers and what numbers you have can make or break your attempts. 

Marketing Reports

This step consists of collecting large amounts of data from local, regional, and national sources to analyze your pricing. What you can charge (and what you will be charged) in a small town, rural USA, is far removed from how it will look in NYC. 

Estimates for Pro forma

A pro forma is a standard financial document that breaks down costs and expenses and compares them to the funding needed. Essentially, this is what the bank will review in order to determine how long it will take before they see a return on their investment.

Now is the time to start running your numbers and getting estimates for everything you need, from construction and landscaping to light fixtures, digital assets, and advertising. These numbers will inform your official business plan. Grab my Pro Forma and Profit Planner here!

Develop Your Business Plan

Based on all the detailed research and number crunching you’ve just completed, you can now create a detailed business plan. This document is what you will use to educate banks and investors on the viability and profitability of your wedding venue. 

It’s time to pull out all of those heavy-hitter facts, statistics, data, and competitor analysis. Show them this industry is so much more than an expensive party. It’s a highly profitable niche that will never go out of style. 

With my experience in the industry and my business plan templates, I’ve helped my clients secure over $13 million dollars in funding from financial institutions. The investment in a solid plan cannot be overstated. 

The Top 3 Sources For Wedding Venue Funding

• Financial institutions such as banks and credit unions
• Private investors
• Crowdfunding

Official banks are typically the first stop for every business funding venture, but they are the most sterile and can present a lot of additional hoops to jump through. 

Private investors are the best option for those who have been denied bank funding. While generally easier to work with, they will cost more or require higher interest rates. 

Crowdfunding has risen in popularity over the last few years and is a viable solution. However, crowdfunding can be unreliable and is, therefore, my least favorite option. For more on funding your wedding venue, check out Funding 101 here.

Developing Your Action Plan

Your action plan will outline every step of the process from preparation to launch. 

Evaluate

Take stock of where you’re at now in the process of bringing your wedding venue to life and compare that to where you want to be. Brain dump every phase from day one documentation and installations to grand opening festivities and advertising.

Prioritize

Now that you know what you need to do, organize that data into the most appropriate order. You know you must have funding before you can hire contractors, and you must have a business plan before you can get funding. 

Take Action

However you choose to organize the data, you must remember this one vitally important principle: take action. Even baby steps still make forward progress. A well-organized and data-infused list means nothing if you don’t actually make it work. Keep moving, don’t lose your momentum. 

Putting The 5 Business Pillars In Place

By ensuring all of these elements are in place, you will be laying the foundation for all of your future successes. There’s no point in getting funding if what you’re building isn’t built to last.

Legal

You’re bringing a dream to life. It’s something you value and something you want others to share. You must ensure that your dream and your investment are fully protected. Developing a rock-solid contract before your first booking is the first step to protecting everything you’re about to build.

Profit Margins

It’s important to begin tracking all of your expenses and compare them to your initial cost analysis. Go back to your marketing reports and evaluate the competition. Begin outlining your rental rates to match the profit margins you need to run your business and live your life. 

Build Your Business Backbone

A Client Relationship Management (CRM) software will be your saving grace. This piece of technology will enable you to handle and automate everything from workflows and contracts to onboarding and invoicing. 

Running an efficient operation may not be mission-critical today, but the ability to book more and scale your business depends on your ability to be efficient. An efficient operation promises less stress, more organization, and happier clients. 

Online Presence

In today’s wedding industry landscape, you cannot be truly successful without a cohesive and optimized online presence. Your online gallery or storefront will be your meet-cute with most brides and families who are looking for their fairytale venue. 

Your branding should be at the core of the content, copy, and visuals presented online. From your own website and social media to digital advertising, internet media, and other platforms like The Knot, the image you present must communicate who you are and reflect the happy ending your target customer envisions. 

While this can be done DIY style, it’s highly recommended that you invest in professional consultations and services to ensure you’re putting your best digital foot forward. 

Client Experience

Exceptional client experience is a science more than an art. The client should feel they are your number one priority from the initial inquiry to the honeymoon drive-off. 

Implementing seamless communications, developing a follow-up process, offering additional event resources, and so many other tweaks will elevate the client experience and take their stress off the table. 

Prepare For Your Next Big Venture

I’m so excited for you to follow this framework and make your wedding venue investment a reality. To learn more about launching or running your wedding venue, take the Venue Quiz now and get personalized resources that meet you right where you are in your journey.

Sources

[1]https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/wedding-services-market-A15864