Why price of wedding venues in Melbourne is ridiculous

HIDDEN minimum spends and overpriced onsite wedding night accom — these are just some of the sneaky ways wedding venues are ripping us off, and it needs to stop, writes Kara Irving.

Why we need to say no to money-hungry wedding venues. Picture: iStock.

ORGANISING a wedding. Surely those three words are enough to send anyone bonkers.

But what I’ve found challenging is organising our dream day within a realistic price range.

This newly-engaged couple is scouting for wedding venues — and the money-hungry event co-ordinators keep trying to take us for a ride.

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Money-hungry event co-ordinators keep trying to take us for a ride. Picture: iStock

We started looking for a venue early this year, sending off countless emails to some of our favourite venues in Melbourne, Victoria and abroad. All of the responses came back with the same undertone:

“Congratulations on your engagement! We’re going to guilt trip you into having your wedding here and then take every penny you have because that’s how we’d like you to begin the rest of your life.”

One day we received a quote which was outrageously expensive.

To our shock it listed a $65,000 minimum spend to host a wedding on a Friday in peak wedding season next year.

No joke. That is a real price some people are prepared to pay to hold their reception in Melbourne.

Two years ago couples spent an average of $13,225 on there wedding venue, an Easy Weddings Survey found.

In 2018, another survey by Wedded Wonderland found $21,250 was the average cost of a venue. And that’s just one part of the big day.

The survey also found the cost of an Australian wedding reached $51,245 — a jump from $48,624 last year.

In 2018, the average price couples spent on a wedding venue was $21,250, a survey found. Picture: File.

I don’t want to sound like a tight-arse, but when did venues start charging the equivalent of an suburban Melbourne house deposit to host a function on one day of the weekend?

We’ve been on the hunt for months, we’ve looked everywhere and heard it all.

Aside from the whole minimum guests/spend debate, one place charged a set up fee between $1000-6000.

One place wouldn’t even tell me their minimum spend because the poor girl wasn’t authorised to give quotes over the phone.

The only job she was ‘authorised’ to do was walk me through a scripted ten questions so the venue could understand how to “tailor our dream wedding.” The last question was ‘what is your budget?’

This was extremely cringy — all we wanted to know is how long we’ll need to go without and eat cereal for dinner.

Another cheeky venue also offered a wedding package inclusive of two nights’ accommodation at the property. But when we did the math, we worked out the venue was charging an extra $1000 per night per cottage because it was our wedding, despite advertising a much cheaper price on Airbnb for the same period.

I also understand buck stops at the venue, they can charge whatever they like, and if I were in the industry I'd do the same.

One wedding venue refused to tell me their minimum spend because the poor girl wasn’t authorised to give quotes over the phone.

All I want is an honest conversation with a wedding co-ordinator. Shouldn’t they be working to get our business?

Because in my experience, good customer service will always prevail and lead me opening my pockets. No tricks, no fine print, no smoke and mirrors, no BS.

We may be bridezillas but we not fools.

Luckily we’ve encountered a few good places along the way, where the customer service was exceptional. This is what ultimately won us over in the end.

Now to choose the dress …

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