Wedding Planning: Hidden Wedding Venue Costs

4. A sound system for your ceremony.

As you exchange your vows, you want your voice to carry to the crowd—not away with the wind in the great outdoors or up to the ceiling in a room with poor acoustic qualities. "Do not assume that your venue supplies sound for your ceremony, whether indoors or outdoors," warns Samuels. While you may have the option to add a line item to what you already owe your venue, you could also have to hand over more cash to your DJ or even a lighting company to provide you with the sound system you'll need.

5. Overtime hours.

You don't want your wedding to end—and who could blame you? Your venue won't likely kick you out when the clock strikes midnight, but if you dance the night away inside its walls, be prepared to pay beaucoup bucks. "A wedding that runs later than the set venue hours can mean high overtime fees—and these fees are often even more expensive than the normal rental rate," warns Nichols. "The venue has to charge this fee to pay staff—including security and janitorial workers—at overtime rates."

6. Service charges and tax.

Your contract should spell out just what your venue will charge in service fees and taxes—but unless it's bolded in large font, you might skip over this added expense and be surprised to see it adds up on your final bill. So do the math before you sign on the dotted line, Samuels encourages. "A service charge is a set percentage of the total food and beverage costs—that's an easy one to calculate," she says. Taxes are calculated based on food and beverage costs combined with room rental rates, with some venues even taxing their service fees—and that's an important difference to note. "When you are talking about a large food and beverage bill," Samuels says, "this seemingly minor difference can amount to quite a bit of money for which you had not accounted."

7. Use of the venue's chairs.

Don't assume your rental rate comes complete with a place to keep up those peep-toe pumps. "A wedding venue may charge to use their existing chairs," says Nichols, who explains this additional cost is used to cover the labor of the venue's staff, who must move the chairs into place and put them away at the end of the evening.

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