You CAN have food and beverage if you want. You are NOT the Venue's Vendor. You are in essence also a guest of the Client.
I never eat during an event anyway...so it is a non issue in my case. I eat before the event, and after. I do not want to risk soiling my clothing with food. Also, I eat a vegetarian diet, and it is VERY rare for a wedding to serve vegetarian friendly food.
The only reason to bring it up that specific point, is that it was repeated three times with slightly different working on the agreement. This leads me to question the venue's attention to detail. I strongly suspect that I am the first person (vendor or not) to really read the agreement with a critical eye.
As far as the cord covers, if you are not going to ever use it again, add it to your total fee and buy what is needed or get the Client involved if they want to reduce the cost.
My concern is only marginally the cost. I budget about $50 for consumables for each event. That more than covers specific music, office supplies, tape, batteries, etc. The expense would be lumped into that bucket, and absorbed easily enough.
My concern is really the venues aggressive attempt to shift liability. The mandate for cord covers is ostensibly to "secure" the cords. However, they mandate to use no tape of any kind does not allow that safety gear to be properly installed according to the manufacturer.
Cord covers just won't work on wood floors! The version I purchased is made from PVC, and will slide all over a wood floor. There is also no way that the cord covers will lay flat!
My plan is to use bungee cords to secure the speaker cables to the legs of the tripods near the floor. The cables will be held tightly in place, and should remain immediately next to the wall. If the venue insists on cord covers, I will fasten the cord cover to the cables with zip ties. I tried this at the house, and I am comfortable with this as a solution.
My thinking is that the venue is trying their best to discourage the use of other DJs so their's can be used.
As it turns out, the venue has a list of "approved" DJ's, but none are "in house." So, there can only be so much "discouragement" going on here.
I have been "assuming" (yes, I know how to conjugate that word) that the venue was "competent"...and therefore it was legitimate to attribute their actions to malice. After meeting them in person, the venue is new...and all the people I met are VERY new to the wedding industry, and are VERY inexperienced at event planning. The venue opened in August...and both planners I spoke with were not hired until September!
I met with the main & back up "wedding coordinators" for my clients. Here is a short list of concerns I had following my on site visit:
- There is no floor plan of the room available. Neither planner knew the basic dimensions of the room, or had any idea about capacity numbers. Apparently there is not even a basic printed brochure that can be given to potential clients showing the room layout.
- Neither planner had idea how long it would take to get 150 guests through a multi station buffet - something that has happened more than 80 times since the venue opened in August. The venue has allotted one hour for dinner. I asked if they could just go to their notes from the events last weekend and see how long it actually took. They said that they don't take notes during an event.
- The planners allowed 20 minutes after the B&G arrive (8pm) before the buffet opens (8:20pm)!!! Mingling time? At 8pm, cocktails and hors d'euvers or not, people want to EAT!
- The table spacing will not allow my dolly to pass without moving almost 40 chairs! Both coordinators seemed really shocked that I would be concerned with table spacing!
In addition, the load in/out path is over about 200 feet of twisting sidewalk from a parking lot to a side door. The sidewalks are new, even, and flat. This will be tedious during the load in, when it is still daylight. I have no idea how well lit the sidewalks will be when it comes time to load out. And, when the venue gets a couple years of age on it, and that sidewalk starts to twist and buckle...the load in/out will be a real challenge.
Why should you sign an agreement with the Venue? Did they hire you? Are they paying you?
These agreements are a condition of access. No sign, no access.
Every "wedding in a box" has an "outside vendor" agreement. Most involve showing proof of "additionally insured" (not an issue), and have certain "house rules." The house rules vary...but are generally on the theme of "behave like a professional." Most are pretty flexible....especially when there are concerns.
So, if I choose not to sign the client will need to find a new vendor, or a new venue (which will be keeping a HUGE portion of any down payments that have been made). Guess how most clients will choose to solve that problem?
