Booking a venue

You can definitely ask to look over a contract before putting money down or signing. If they don’t let you, RUN!

You'll review the contract and sign first. You should never pay money until there's something in writing. The contract will detail deposit, when remaining is due, etc.

I agree with the others. Never give a vendor money before you see a contract.

Yes, you ALWAYS review the contract before putting down a deposit.

Contract first. Once you sign it, then you pay your deposit.

No don’t give them any money before you read the contract.

I would definitely request and read the contract before signing and paying the deposit. However it’s not fully booked or reserved until you do both.

We read through and signed the contract before giving any kind of payment. I work in a law office that deals with drafting contracts and I highly suggest you don’t give any money before reviewing the contract and having it signed by both you and your fiancé (or one or the other...we both signed ours) and the venue.

You usually look through the contract before putting down the deposit so that you know what you are getting into. In fact, make sure you are shown the contract before putting any money down.

Look at the contract first

Always read the contract first. Usually, the deposit is due several days after. You get the contract and then take time to go over it before signing. When you sign, or shortly after, is when you pay the deposit. Deposit amounts, payment amounts, and payment timelines should all be in the contract along with all other important information. You should also be asking a lot of specific questions before you even ask them to draw up a contract for you. Find out about the costs, policies, what's included in those costs, setup/teardown information, required or preferred vendors, etc, all while you are meeting with the person.

Look at the contract as soon as you can! Ask them all the questions you have, make sure you understand every bit of it, and then have someone else you trust look at it. You can never have too many eyes on it to make sure everything checks out. Then you'd return a signed contract and the deposit.