Houston Venue Guide › Twenty questions to ask before you sign

Twenty questions to ask before you sign

Almost every unhappy venue story traces back to a question nobody asked. Print this and take it with you.

Published 30 August 2026

Money

1. What exactly does the quoted figure include, and what is billed separately?
2. Is there a food and beverage minimum, and does it count before or after service charge and tax?
3. What is the service charge percentage, and is any part of it gratuity?
4. What does overtime cost per hour, and at what point does it start?
5. Is parking included for guests, and if not, what is the per-car rate?

The contract

6. What is your severe weather clause, in writing? This matters between June and November.
7. What is the cancellation schedule, and what is refundable at each stage?
8. What happens if you sell or close the venue before our date?
9. What insurance are we required to carry, and what do you carry?
10. Can we see the full contract now rather than after the deposit?

The day

11. What time can our vendors access the space, and is there a fee for earlier access?
12. What is the hard end time, and who enforces it?
13. Will another event be running in the building on our date, and where?
14. Who is our contact on the day, and will that person be present?
15. What is the rain plan, specifically, and does it cost extra to invoke?

Vendors and rules

16. Do we have to use your caterer or bar, or is there an approved list?
17. If there is a list, what does it cost to bring someone from outside it?
18. Are there restrictions on open flame, confetti, amplified music or noise curfews?
19. Is there a house audiovisual supplier we are obliged to use?
20. What are the loading arrangements — is there a dock, or only a passenger lift?

The four you should also ask

Twenty questions cover the ground for most events. Four more are worth adding depending on what you are planning.

Walk the accessible route rather than asking whether the venue is accessible — car park to door, room to room, and to the restroom. How to assess that properly takes ten minutes on foot and is the only way to get an honest answer.

Ask what liability cover the contract requires you to carry and by when the certificate must be filed, because some venues will not release keys without it. The insurance page covers that requirement and the separate, more valuable product nobody mentions.

Ask whether licensed security is required, on what trigger, and who pays. Security and staffing explains why the answer is usually imposed rather than chosen, and what server and bar ratios to ask for alongside it.

And ask for every attachment — vendor policy, house rules, floor plans — before you sign. They are as binding as the contract and are where most of the restrictions actually live. The clause-by-clause guide sets out what to look for in each.

How to read the answers

The content of the answers matters less than the manner. A venue that answers precisely and in writing is telling you how it will behave in March when something goes wrong. A venue that says we'll sort that out closer to the time is telling you the same thing, differently.

Ask for the answers by email after the tour. What a venue is willing to put in writing is the only version that counts.

Turning answers into a decision

Twenty answers from four venues is eighty pieces of information, and the point is not to remember them but to compare them.

Build one sheet with the same twenty rows for every venue and fill it during or immediately after each tour. Two venues recalled a week later blur into an impression; two columns of written answers do not, and the differences that decide the booking almost always sit in the answers rather than in the buildings.

Three answers carry more weight than the rest. The all-in total, because it is the only number that means anything. The end time and the overtime rate, because they determine how the evening actually finishes. And the wet-weather arrangement, because it is the one that is tested on the day.

The answers that should make you pause

A vague answer is not usually dishonesty. It generally means nobody has asked before, which means you will be the one finding out.

We've never had a problem with that is a statement about the past and tells you nothing about your date, your numbers or your suppliers. We'll sort that out closer to the time moves a decision to a moment when you have less leverage and fewer options. That's usually included is not the same as that is included, and the difference is worth a follow-up email.

The venues worth booking answer specifically, and they put it in writing without being pushed. That willingness is itself one of the more reliable signals available to you.