Most of the decisions in a wedding are made once and cannot be undone cheaply. The venue is the first of them, and everything else — catering, guest logistics, timings — follows from it.
This is the checklist we would want a family to work through, whether or not they end up with us.
1. Capacity, honestly stated
Ask for two numbers: seated and floating. They are very different, and a venue quoting only the floating figure is quoting its best case.
Then ask what that number assumes. Round tables take far more floor than theatre seating. A stage, a buffet line and a dance floor all come out of the same square footage as your guests.
Our own banquet hall and garden together take 500 to 600 guests. We will tell you what that looks like for your specific layout rather than leaving you to find out.
2. Indoor, outdoor, or both
An outdoor garden function in Banswara is lovely from October to February. It is not lovely in May, and it is a gamble in July.
The question to ask is: what happens if the weather turns? A venue with only a garden has no answer. A venue with a hall and a garden has one.
Our marriage garden page has a month-by-month breakdown of what to expect from Banswara’s weather for an outdoor function.
3. Catering — in-house or brought in
Ask whether the kitchen is on site or whether caterers come in. In-house is generally steadier: the same people, the same equipment, every week.
Also settle vegetarian and non-vegetarian at the first conversation, not the third. Our kitchen is pure vegetarian and has been since 2003 — that suits many families here and is a dealbreaker for others. Better to know immediately.
4. Rooms for guests who travel
This is the item most often forgotten. If relatives are coming from Udaipur, Ahmedabad or further, they need somewhere to sleep, and moving between a venue and a hotel across town at midnight is nobody’s idea of a good evening.
A venue attached to a hotel solves this. We have 49 rooms, and wedding families typically take a block of them with the Royal Suite for the immediate family.
Ask: how many rooms, what categories, and what happens if you need more than you booked.
5. Parking
Ask for a number, not a reassurance. “There is plenty” means nothing on a night with four hundred guests.
6. Power
Ask directly what the backup arrangement is and whether it covers lighting, sound and kitchen or only lighting. This is a question people only think of when the power goes, which in this district it occasionally does.
7. What you are allowed to bring in
Decorators, DJ, photographer, priest — some venues have exclusive arrangements and some do not. Neither is wrong, but you need to know before you have booked a decorator.
Ask about noise cut-off times too. There is usually one.
8. Timings and access
- When can the decorator start setting up? The day before, or the morning of?
- When must everything be cleared?
- Is there a separate entrance for service and catering, or does everything come through the front?
9. What is actually included
Get this in writing: tables, chairs, linen, basic lighting, sound, staff, cleaning. The gap between the quoted price and the final bill is almost always made of items each side assumed the other was providing.
10. Go and see it set up
Photographs flatter every hall ever built. Ask to visit during or just after an actual function, not on an empty Tuesday morning. An empty hall tells you the dimensions; a hall with four hundred people in it tells you how it works.
Our event photos show real functions, but come and see the space in person before you decide.
Asking us
If you already have a date and a rough headcount, the fastest route is a phone call. We will tell you straight away whether the date is free and roughly what it costs — there is no enquiry form to wait on.
Full capacity and layout details are on the banquet page.