You booked the venue first. Here is what that just cost you.

The venue is almost always the first booking, because it is the one that books out. It is also the decision that quietly sets the terms for everything that follows, and most people sign it before they know what those terms are.

This is not an argument for waiting. It is an argument for knowing four things before you sign.

What time does it end, and what does an extension cost?

Venues finish at 11pm, midnight or 1am, and the difference is enormous. An 11pm finish with a 7pm sit-down gives you roughly ninety minutes of dancing after speeches and formalities. That is not a late night, and no supplier can manufacture more of it.

Ask what an extension costs before you sign, not at 10:30pm on the night. Ask whether the venue can extend at all — many cannot, because of a council noise curfew that no amount of money moves.

What is genuinely included?

"All inclusive" varies wildly. Get specific:

• Tables, chairs, linen, glassware, crockery — which of these, and how many of each style?
• Is there a cake cutting fee? A cakeage or corkage charge?
• How many staff, for how many hours, and what does going past that cost?
• Is the bar a package, on consumption, or a minimum spend?

Two venues quoting the same per-head number can differ by twenty per cent once this list is answered.

Who else can you bring in?

Some venues have preferred supplier lists. Some have exclusive ones. If the venue will only allow its own caterer, its own AV, or a florist from a set list, your control over both cost and style just narrowed considerably.

There is usually a fee to bring in an outside supplier. Find out what it is. A venue that is cheaper on paper can be more expensive once you add the surcharge for the band you actually want.

Can it be dimmed, and can it be loud?

Two questions that sound trivial and are not. A room that cannot dim will not dance. A room with a hard decibel limiter — increasingly common in Melbourne where venues sit near housing — will cap what any band or DJ can do, and no one mentions it until load-in.

Both are answerable at the site visit, and both should be in writing.

The order that works better

Know your guest number within ten, your rough budget, and your must-have finish time before you look at venues at all. Those three numbers eliminate most options immediately and turn the search from browsing into a shortlist.

If you have already signed, none of this is a disaster. Read the contract now rather than in month eight, and plan around what you find.