A venue viewing is a sales meeting dressed as a nice afternoon. Someone walks you through a beautiful room, tells you where everyone will stand, and by the time you reach the car you are already imagining it. That is fine. It is also why you should turn up with a written list of questions and work through it, because the things that cause problems later are rarely visible on the tour.
Here is that list, with the reason each question matters. Take notes, and get the answers you care about confirmed in writing before money moves.
Exclusivity and what else is happening that day
"Is our wedding the only one on site that day? Are there other events, guests or functions in the building?"
Plenty of venues run two weddings at once, or a wedding alongside a hotel still open to the public. Not automatically bad, but you need to know, because it decides whether you share a car park, a bar, a lawn, a set of loos and a getting-ready room, and whether the other party's music carries into your ceremony. Ask what "exclusive use" covers here: it can mean the whole site, one wing, or simply that no second wedding is booked while hotel guests come and go as usual. If there is another wedding, ask where it goes and when it finishes.
What happens if it rains
"Show me exactly where the ceremony and the drinks reception happen in bad weather."
Do not accept a description. Walk into the room. In a British summer the wet-weather plan is not a contingency, it is a realistic outcome, and plenty of venues have a gorgeous outdoor option and a much worse indoor fallback.
Then ask the question people miss: "Who makes the call, and when?" If the venue decides at 8am and you would rather wait until 11am, know that now. Ask whether a wet-weather set-up costs extra, whether turning the room around between ceremony and wedding breakfast is charged, and how long guests stand in that same space while it happens.
Noise limits and curfew
"Is there a sound limiter? What level is it set to, and who controls it?"
This is the question most couples forget, and it can quietly cancel your band. A limiter cuts the power when sound passes a set level, and a drum kit alone can trip a low one. Get the decibel level in writing, so your band or DJ can tell you honestly whether they can work with it.
Then: "What time must music stop? What time must guests be off site? Is there a separate limit for outdoor music?" Outdoor amplified sound often has to stop far earlier than indoor, sometimes in the early evening. Ask whether the curfew is the venue's own rule or a licensing condition: the first is occasionally negotiable and the second never is.
Drinks, corkage and minimum spend
"Can we supply our own drinks, and what is the corkage?"
Answers range from a flat no, to corkage per bottle, to corkage on wine and fizz only. Where it is allowed, ask whether corkage is charged per bottle supplied or per bottle opened, and who stores and chills it. Then compare properly, because corkage plus buying the wine yourself is not always cheaper than the venue's package.
"Is there a minimum spend, and does it change by season or day?" A minimum spend is the real price of the venue. Ask what counts towards it, since bar takings sometimes do and sometimes do not. Ask when the bar closes, whether it can be extended, and what that costs.
Supplier lists: recommended or mandatory
"Is this list a recommendation or a requirement?"
There is a large difference. A recommended list is helpful, because suppliers who know a venue work faster and make fewer mistakes. A mandatory list removes your ability to shop around on the largest cost in the wedding, and catering is usually what gets locked down.
If outside suppliers are allowed, ask what they must provide: public liability insurance, PAT certificates. If not, ask whether an external caterer can come in for a fee, and what that fee buys.
What the hire fee actually includes
"Tell me everything the fee covers, then tell me what is charged separately."
Ask about tables, chairs, linen, crockery, cutlery, glassware, cake stand and knife, a PA for speeches, heating, room turnaround, staffing, cleaning. Then the ones venues charge for and rarely volunteer: a cake cutting fee, service charge on catering and bar, supplier meals, ceremony room hire as a separate item, moving furniture, candles, confetti.
Get the VAT position in writing. Comparing a quote that includes VAT with one that does not is how people talk themselves into the wrong venue.
Access times for setting up and clearing down
"What time can we and our suppliers get in? What time must everything be out?"
If a florist cannot start until 9am for a 1pm ceremony, that shapes what is possible and what it costs in extra staff. Ask whether you can get in the day before, whether anything can be left overnight, and who clears down and when. Clear-down is the classic forgotten job: someone has to remove decorations, gifts, cards, leftover cake and empties, often at midnight, and if it is not the venue then it is a member of your family.
Accommodation, parking and getting home
"How many rooms are there, must we take them, and by when?" Some venues require you to book and pay for the whole house, which turns accommodation into a cost of your wedding rather than a cost for your guests. Ask what happens to rooms nobody fills.
"How many cars fit, and can they be left overnight?" If guests cannot leave a car safely, a lot of them need taxis in a rural area at midnight. Ask how far the nearest firm is, because in some places it is a long way.
Accessibility
"Walk me the route a guest with limited mobility takes, from the car park to their table."
Not "are you accessible", which everyone answers yes to. Walk it. Gravel, a cobbled courtyard, a step up into a marquee, a ceremony room at the top of a staircase, an accessible loo three buildings away or an unlit path back to the cars at 11pm are all better found now than the week before.
The business questions
"What happens to our money if you cease trading?"
Awkward, and completely fair. Ask whether deposits are held in a separate client account, and whether the venue is part of a larger group. Then take out wedding insurance early and check whether it covers supplier failure, because your protection usually comes from your own policy, not the venue.
"What is the deposit, and what are the cancellation terms?" Read the sliding scale carefully: how much is due at each stage, when you owe the full balance regardless, and whether you may move the date instead of cancelling. Ask what happens if guest numbers fall below the minimum, and what the contract says about circumstances outside anyone's control. That clause was rewritten at a lot of venues in recent years, and the wording varies enormously.
Before you leave
Ask who will actually run your day, and whether that person will still be your contact next year. Then ask for the answers that matter by email, and check the contract says the same thing. A venue happy to confirm things in writing is usually straightforward to work with. One that keeps saying it will be fine on the day is telling you something too.
Keep your notes from every viewing side by side, against the same questions, so you are comparing venues rather than comparing memories. That is a large part of why PlanHitch exists.