Colleagues:

As we all continue to attempt to increase and improve revenue streams to our departments and organizations, I'm wondering how you all deal with hosting weddings/receptions in your facilities on campus.  If any of you have policies (pricing structures, reservation policies, services provided, food options/collaborative practices with dining services, package options, etc.), procedures, or marketing materials that you could share with me (or post in the document exchange), I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Paul

--

Z Paul Reynolds, M.S. Ed.
Associate Director
Bone Student Center & Braden Auditorium

Illinois State University
100 North University Street
Normal, Illinois 61761
Voice:  309.438.2233
Fax:  309.438.3544
Web:  http://www.bsc.ilstu.edu

Paul, We created a wedding price structure that was and all inclusive (except for catering). It has been well receive by people who have looked at our facility. It included our facility usage fees, set up, take down and clean up, equipment, AV tech and staffing. There were three preset packages and prices. The packages were broken down by number of people, 50-100, 100-150, 150 -200 people. If the event was larger than 200 people we had to meet with them individually to give them an estimate. The flyer with the pricing is attached. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

John Pratt

Assistant Director, Event Management

Joe Crowley Student Union, MS056

University of Nevada, Reno

Reno, NV 89557-0056

Phone: 775.784.6505

jlpratt@unr.edu

 Paul,

We've been doing wedding for quite a while.  We are blessed with beautiful ballrooms that are in high demand for weddings.  Here is a link to our web page that contains our wedding packages (which are food & bev) and lots of other wedding info. http://catering.umich.edu/wedding.html

We do have F & B sales minimums for our Ballrooms for Saturday nights which range from $2500 to $10,000 based on the room and the time of year.

In terms of marketing, note our "Best of Weddings" with the Knot and the youtube video linked our web page.  Our "preferred vendors" also help to promote us as we do them.  We have hosted some bridal shows in past years but did not feel like that netted us any great returns as most attendees already had their venue locked down.  We do a mass "wedding tasting" once a year and invite all the clients we have on our books for upcoming weddings.  We showcase tablescapes and give them the opportunity to sample all the entrees on our wedding packages to assist them in making their food selections.

Feel free to give me a call if you want to discuss in greater depth.

Regards,

Barb

Barbara Niemi

Event Services Director

University Unions

University of Michigan

530 S. State St. Rm. 1310

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1308

734-763-6595