Should I offer my land for weddings?
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been approached by landowners who want to make "easy money" from doing weddings and events. Particularly if they've hosted a successful wedding for a family member already.
However, the difference between offering land for a paying customer, as opposed to a family member, is vast. And requires way more than most owners realise. So here is a run-down of the reality of offering event space:
The Law
Temporary Use of Land
There is a 28-days-per-year rule for agricultural land before you have to apply for planning permission for Change of Use. (This is a good blog post on the subject.)
Consider that each marquee wedding generally requires 5 days on site: that's only 5-6 weddings per year. Which means you have to charge a helluva lot to make it replace other income.
Legal Ceremonies
Another consideration for DIY/marquee sites is that you wouldn't be able to apply for a civil ceremony license. It doesn't minimise the appeal of a marquee wedding, but it diminishes the pool of prospective couples.
Alcohol and Music
And finally, in order for alcohol to be sold on site, and amplified music played and hot food served after 11pm, a Temporary Events Notice is required for each event. Up to 10 TENs can be applied for per year (50 if you're a Personal License Holder).
The Event Site (the easy bit!)
But let's cover the easy bit first. To be practically feasible as a marquee site, your location needs to have the following:
A perfectly flat grass surface (no slopes/inclines/ridge-and-furrows/deep hoof marks) that's 40 x 30 meters, minimum requirement 27 x 12 m
Not be prone to flooding
3 meter wide access all the way up to the site
No overhead cables
No low-hanging tree branches within the 40 x 30 m space
No underground cables or water pipes
Easily accessible tap with safe drinking water within 20 meters of the site
Grass that is mown to be lawn-short
Space for guest parking, within easy walking distance of the main site
The Event Site (the less easy bit!)
While you can, in all likelihood, pull off the above, you also need to consider consumer behaviour. To be attractive to couples, the following is required. Not desired. Required:
A beautiful setting. While this is entirely subjective, think PRISTINE surroundings. No cracked concrete, chewed fencing panels, electric fencing, muck heaps, gravel surfaces, farm machinery - the list goes on - within sight. Trust me, if the location looks even remotely like a working yard or farm, couples are put off. Immediately.
A USP: stunning valley views, a lakeside setting, or mature woodland, a parterre garden, a lavender field... anything that gives this location something another site - or a purpose built venue - doesn't have.
The Wedding Market
You also need to take this thinking one step further: While the wedding market may appear easy on the surface - large amounts of money for little work appears to be a common misconception - the reality is far from it.
The Wedding Couple
Couples getting married are savvy. They have a limited budget, and AI to assist them in their searching and planning, and they are cut-throat. The expectations are high. Extremely high. If you don't rise to meet them, your new wedding venture will never get off the ground.
The Wedding Budget
Add in the fact that the marquee and the infrastructure required (loos, generator, floor, bar, dance floor, furniture, catering tent, catering equipment, etc) costs between £8'000-25'000, before you add catering, decor, photographer, the list goes on, and suddenly you're competing for those elusive higher-spend couples. So again, the service you provide has to match their higher expectations, and if you're charging a higher venue price (anything above £4000) the bar rises yet again.
Wedding Expectations
Even if you market yourself as a DIY venue, the couple will still expect:
Quick responses via email/whatsapp - expect hundreds of questions
Showrounds (numerous) available on evenings and weekends
Access 5 days straight, from early morning until late night
Expect push-back on all terms and conditions of use you've laid down
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Attracting couples for your wedding venue
But before you get to the stage of handling couples, you need to make sure they can actually find you. Beginner-level costs and requirements are:
A website
Social media
Visibility on larger platforms and directories (Hitched, Coco Wedding Venues, etc), budget around £300-£1000 per year.
Proof of experience and previous events
Time and inclination to launch, promote and sell the offer
Is it worth the investment?
...all of the above takes time and costs money, so it's worth calculating this carefully. Consider and balance the max 28 day rule; the number of events you can host; how much you'd need to charge per event to make it worthwhile; while still being competitive in the DIY/wedding venue market.
Return on investment
And be prepared for the lead-time on bookings: it's usually 12-18 months. So you're sat without a return on your investment (save for a small deposit) for almost 2 years.
While the allure of weddings is of course that it's such a beautiful and happy occasion, I would actually - from a landowners perspective - carefully consider if something more transient and less time-consuming would be a better investment. Setting up a partnership with a company like The Bushcamp, for example. Or car boot sales. Or laser clay shooting. No late nights required...!
I hope the above proves helpful. You know I love weddings, and have made it my entire personality, but I would urge anyone considering entering the market to do so with eyes wide open, with a clear understanding of expectations, and what is actually involved.
If you have any follow-up questions, or are considering redesigning existing buildings into a purpose-built venue - as this comes with its own set of considerations - please do feel free to ask away!
Karin
