At the B&B Team, we work with many aspiring, current, and past innkeepers and people looking for Innkeeping jobs. But more than just Inns, Bed and Breakfasts, and Boutique Hotels, we’re also an excellent resource for anyone looking for event venues or wedding venues for sale.
Buying a wedding venue is a lot like purchasing an Inn or boutique lodging property—often, you’re buying both, which provides a diversity of income streams from day one! Whether you already own an Inn and are looking to upgrade your facility into a leading wedding venue or are looking for existing wedding venues for sale, partnering with the knowledgeable brokers and consultants at The B&B Team is the #1 place to start.
We’ve been working in the hospitality industry for over 40 years and offer a wealth of experience in finding the right property for you, assessing and valuing properties, securing financing, establishing a successful business plan, and so much more. We also have a comprehensive list of properties for sale, including a range of high-end Bed and Breakfasts, Inns, Boutique Hotels, and Wedding Venues. Get started on your path towards your dream of owning a wedding venue, and contact our team today!
Tips & Tricks: How to Start or Buy a Wedding Venue
It’s no secret that the wedding industry can be highly lucrative, and profit margins can exceed even the most operationally sound pure lodging business. The key to profitability is, as always, developing a sound acquisition model and defensible projections for growth.
If you’re looking for wedding venues for sale and are considering jumping into this new venture, there are some things you should know and do first. Like financing a bed and breakfast, buying a wedding venue outright can be tricky – and expensive. It’s important to partner with an expert, like The B&B Team, to guide you through the process.
Draft Your Business Plan
Weddings are a timeless tradition, so there’s always a demand for wedding venues. The style and scope of wedding services and features have changed dramatically over the years, and there are important considerations to make before you buy a wedding venue. Understanding your market, industry-related trends, and the various demands of owning an event venue is essential to drafting a business plan—a vital first step in securing the wedding venue of your dreams!
Preparing a solid business plan is a necessary first step to establish before you look for wedding venues for sale and secure financing. This plan will also help ensure your long-term success and articulate your vision in a concise and defensible framework. As you draft your business plan, it’s important to consider things like the strength of your location (in a destination location or as the destination), amenities, and services you plan to offer, and this will determine your overall pricing structure and the types of wedding packages and services you plan to offer.
You may also want to consider adding more services to control the complete guest experience, such as catering (a wedding is the only place you can charge upwards of $100 for a half chicken!), event planning, decorations, and more, to increase your revenue streams and overall profitability.
Buying a wedding venue attached to a Bed and Breakfast or Boutique Hotel can also support your revenue, particularly in the off-season when the wedding business slows down. It is also worth discussing the many ways in which our current and former clients have created a demand for weddings in the “off-season” around unique, subjective experiences outside of typical summer wedding fare!
Finance Your Venue
Once you have a solid understanding of your finances and a target property in mind, it’s time to explore various financing options. Traditional commercial real estate loans from banks are a common route, but they can be challenging for small, prospective businesses to obtain. The upfront money required for these loans typically ranges from 20 – 30%, and the process can take 45 – 60 days.
An attractive alternative, especially for those who want to start a wedding venue with no money, is a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan. These often have favorable repayment terms and lower down payment requirements. The application process for an SBA Loan can be daunting and time-consuming, but overall, it is an excellent option worth considering. Most SBA loans take an average of 30 – 90 days to be funded.
Wedding Industry Trends
Though weddings continue to be lucrative businesses, with couples on average spending $29,000 on their weddings in 2023, there are some industry trends to be aware of, especially before investing in a wedding venue.
The number one thing to know about weddings in 2024 is that they are all about celebrating love. That means that personalizing the wedding ceremony is essential in today’s weddings. Another emerging trend is weddings that go beyond a single-day celebration and become weekend-long celebrations of love, friendship, and family—both new and old.
With a similar increase in the popularity of destination weddings, it’s more important than ever to consider how your wedding venue can accommodate out-of-town guests and offer plenty of experiences for a related wedding weekend. This can include things like providing a space for rehearsal dinners or post-wedding brunches, having ready-made ideas for bachelor and bachelorette parties, and just being on hand to help couples gather with their loved ones and bask in the glow of celebration.
Intimate weddings, including small and more intimate celebrations that allow for genuine connection between guests, are also on the rise. This growing trend is not surprising, as savvy couples often look for ways to save, especially with increasing rates of inflation and expenses across the board, for ideological reasons or simply to divert funds towards experience-driven travel, a home purchase, or beyond. Offering inclusive packages that are mindful of different price points can help your wedding venue succeed.
The Best Wedding Venues for Sale
As you start looking for wedding venues for sale to bring your dreams to fruition, you need to consider location. The old mantra “location, location, location” has never held so much weight and can genuinely make or break the success of your event venue. Before you open a venue, consider its accessibility, scenic value, capacity, and potential for expansion.
If you’re looking to buy wedding venues in historic mansions or rural farms, understanding the commercial value of different wedding venues for sale is essential. Whether you have a property in mind or not, working closely with the experts at The B&B Team will ensure you find the right property for your goals.
Once you’re ready to find the perfect wedding venue, we’re here to serve as your partner! We offer various consulting services and look forward to helping you navigate through a successful purchase. Get started by browsing our current Bed and Breakfast and other wedding venues for sale or contact us today to start the conversation!
