If turning your home into a wedding venue seems like an intriguing idea to you, you might be onto a lucrative and fulfilling way to monetize your property.

Even if your current home may be lacking in terms of lot size or amenities, keep reading so you know what to look for when purchasing your next home.

There are many benefits to be gained from a venture of this kind, if thoughtfully planned out in advance. Since intimate, well-appointed gathering spots continue to be in high demand across the country, especially for weddings, your intuition is spot on in terms of substantial future earnings.

However, a venture of this undertaking requires careful consideration and a disciplined business-like approach in order for it to be successful. Before making a final decision to invest in this type of business, be sure to consider the following guidelines.

Table of Contents

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Is Your Situation a Good Fit?

Transforming a private estate into a wedding venue can be an expensive, albeit creative pursuit. You first need to assess your finances and ensure that you can undertake the necessary steps to transform the property into something as grand as a wedding venue. This can include costs for renovations, repairs, decorations, and on-going operating expenses.

Private wedding venue in the south, outdoor seating

Benefits

While this type of venture can be costly upfront, it can certainly become financially rewarding and emotionally fulfilling for years to come.

Some of the many varied benefits you can enjoy by owning a private wedding venue include:

  • Increasing the value of your property
  • Being able to spend more time at home
  • Adding financial security due to high demand for innovative wedding spaces
  • Experiencing creative freedom to transform your home into an entertainment venue
  • Earning passive income year-round or seasonally
  • Enjoying personal fulfillment by providing an important societal service

 

Assessing Your Property

Assessing your property is the most important step if you want to turn your home into a wedding venue. Regardless of potential upfront costs and requisite time and resources to make necessary changes and upgrades, you will need to understand current competitive offerings in your local market.

Traditional private estate wedding venue back lawn

A hypothetical example of a “no-go” scenario would be discovering that having a large parking facility for the types of events you wish to host were essential to capture bookings. Subsequently, if sufficient parking were an impossibility — no matter the budget and no matter the construction capabilities — then you would know upfront you would need to make a strategic change to your business plan.

In this case, you would either need to forego your business idea altogether, or make necessary adjustments to attract a different category of events that would be a better fit for your property.

VIP Table at a private wedding venue

Regardless, you should plan to hire a professional with relevant experience to help assess your private estate. They can help you identify usable areas and suggest where renovations can be made. In particular, you will need to consider the following aspects of your home to discern whether it is suitable to be an event venue:

 

Location

Where your venue is located can help determine its popularity. If your property is located near a popular tourist destination, such as Disneyland in Southern California (SoCal), demand will likely be strong year-round. The many versatile venues in SoCal are an example of what a thriving wedding venue market looks like that can suit all budget tiers, aesthetic tastes, and venue styles.

Creative seating area in private wedding venue

Owning a private venue situated near other tourist attractions can be used as a competitive advantage, as a desirable area will help a wedding planner generate a higher percentage of attendance confirmations.

 

Indoor and Outdoor Spaces

Both indoor and outdoor spaces play a crucial role in turning your private estate into an all-encompassing wedding venue. For instance, arranging separate spaces for indoor and outdoor events can make your venue attractive to people with different needs and preferences.

Indoor event dining room

Adequately designed indoor spaces can also enable you to host events year round, with significantly less risk of being impacted by inclement weather conditions.

 

Lighting

Proper lighting is crucial for the photographic aspect of weddings and other types of events. Spaces bathed in natural light are almost always preferable to artificial lighting. So, you may either have to renovate your property to let in more natural light, or use areas that get natural light strategically.

Private lakefront wedding venue

 

Landscaping

Picturesque locations are always a drawcard for event hosts.

Private wedding venue, bride walking on landscaped walkway

Emphasis on unique landscaping efforts is typically an effective marketing tactic. For instance, focus on arranging the landscaping in an aesthetically pleasing manner that emphasizes local, native plants, trees and flowers that underscore what is special and unique about the local geography.

Given the importance of landscaping, you will want to strike a balance between beauty and affordable maintenance. Hiring a professional landscaper or gardener who specializes in local native plants to plan and manage your outdoor spaces is highly recommended. If you have a large outdoor space to be used for wedding ceremonies, expect this to be a mandatory expense.

Wedding couple with view of natural skyline

Venues that have exceptional views and natural backdrops are especially desirable for creating a memorable ambience, as well as for making unforgettable life-long photography.

 

Outdoor Entertainment Areas

In addition to having an event space for the outside of the estate, having entertainment areas that can be used during the event can also be appealing to potential clients.

Private wedding venue with photobooth

Specifying an outdoor space for setting up a stage, DJ, photo booth, and seats, with options for customizing the area, can be a great way to differentiate your venue from other competing sites.

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Creating a Business Plan

Once you’re ready to invest in making considerable changes to your private estate, you will need to come up with a detailed business plan.

Your plan should list the steps that are necessary to succeed as a wedding venue in a competitive market.

Here are key components of your business plan to help you get started on your journey:

 

Research

First and foremost, you need to learn all about the industry, be aware of the competitors, and prepare a comprehensive branding plan to market your services. This can only be done through thorough research and analysis of the market.

Private wedding venue with lush lawn

Keep eye out for underserved event types, event groups, event services, and key missing amenities. A key part of your research should be talking to as many wedding planners as possible to understand what they need on behalf of their customers, as well as to learn about changing consumer preferences.

 

Finances

Gaining insights about capital can help you understand your options for funding this endeavor. Once you’ve evaluated how much you can and are willing to spend on the project, you may want to look into self-funding, loans, trusts, and crowdfunding. Choosing one, or a mixture, of these options will help you prepare financially for any surprises that may come your way throughout the execution of your venture.

Keep in mind that frugal creativity is a vital skill all successful entrepreneurs possess. When planning upgrades always get multiple bids that encompass multiple ways of addressing your needs. You will likely be surprised by the ingenuity of others that want to earn your business.

 

Pricing

After you’ve calculated the cost of investment and found viable ways to fund it, you’ll need to decide the pricing for your services. You may want to consider factors such as how much the property itself will be rented out for, the included amenities, and guest house costs.

Learning about the market prices can also help you to create suitable packages for couples with different preferences, and will avoid mishaps such as pricing your property too low or too high.

Always plan to include special upgrade options that can enhance any event and make it even more memorable.

 

Permits and Licenses

Getting permits and licenses for your business can take a long time, so it’s important to begin this step as early as possible. After applying, proactively check in on the progress of all licenses and permits you require to prevent any unnecessary delays or holdups.

Legal requirements typically involve: noise permits; consent from neighbors; building codes; and food and alcohol permits. Making sure that everything is in order can help you focus on arranging other important aspects to make your business successful.

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Create Contracts

Draw up a contract for tenants to sign. This will help protect both parties in the event of cancellation, or unforeseen issues that involve the property or planned event.

You can have a single generic contract for every event or create a few different contracts based on the type of event and packages that you offer. Covering important aspects of safety and security can help you avoid any issues down the road. You may also want to look into creating a damages and compensation section to keep the look of the wedding venue intact without incurring losses.

 

Making Changes That Will Make Your Property Special

Naturally, you will have to do some work on the property that will make it suitable for the event and guests that will be attending.

Here are ways you can make your private estate special for hosting a wedding:

 

Lavatory/Ablution Facilities

Depending on the capacity of people that the venue can hold, you will need a suitable amount of lavatories and ablution facilities. If you’ve got a large space — e.g. it can hold more than 300 people —  you may want to consider adding some portable toilets for easier guest management.

 

Parking

A private estate most likely won’t have a large enough parking space to cater to the needs of hundreds of people. This is one area where you may have to work a little harder to address effectively.

To avoid haphazardness in the parking situation, create sufficient space for the vehicles of the guests so that they can park safely within the property. You could designate an outdoor area for parking and segment it to ensure easier access to the vehicles.

Another effective parking option to consider, when adequate parking is not feasible, look to partner with a nearby parking facility. A conveniently located lot can then be served by one or both of these two methods:

  1. Offer valet parking services
  2. Offer a shuttle bus to and from the annex parking lot

This approach to parking might help future private estate buyers find a “diamond in the rough”, when a property has “everything they need” with the exception of adequate parking!

 

Green Rooms/Guest Housing

Providing living accommodations for the hosts to stay while leading up to the event can be a distinguishing factor for your wedding venue business.

Private estate wedding venue

Offering guest housing either within the property or nearby before the ceremony can help the hosts prepare for the event in a coordinated manner. Alternatively, you can also include designated rooms to the side of the venue for the hosts to prepare ahead, a few hours before the event.

 

Entertainment Facilities

If your property has no entertainment facilities, you can create areas for informal social gatherings, suitable spaces for photography, or an open space for hired-out entertainment to utilize.

Outdoor wedding with DJ stand

Having designated areas for activities can make it easier for clients to customize their events and plan for the entertainment in advance.

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Catering Facilities

Having a designated space on-site for catering companies to prepare meals for the event is an essential factor that you should consider. With most large gatherings, a catering service will be hired that will need a designated area to operate.

Wedding caterer setup in covered patio area

Make sure to keep the food preparation area away from the center of the ceremony area and offer enough indoor and outdoor space to facilitate their needs.

 

Closing Comments

Turning a private estate into a wedding event venue is an exciting idea. Not only are you making functional use of your space, but you are also creating passive income.

Before you start leasing out your home to event hosts, you want to ensure that you are well-organized and well-prepared. This includes creating a business plan, making changes to the setup of your property, and securing capital before starting on this journey. Best wishes!

 

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