Free wedding venue comparison spreadsheet
Six venues, six differently-shaped quotes, one comparable number.
Venue quotes are almost designed to resist comparison. One charges a hire fee and lets you bring your own caterer. The next charges nothing for the room but sets a food and beverage minimum. A third quotes per head, then adds twenty percent service and tax at the bottom. Put those three side by side and the cheapest-looking one is very often the most expensive.
Download the comparison sheet
.xlsx — works in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice.
⬇ Download free — no email
What it actually works out
- A true total cost per venue — hire fee, catering, other required costs, then service charge on the subtotal and tax on top of that, in the order venues genuinely bill.
- Catering the way you'll be charged it: the greater of the food and beverage minimum or your per-head total. A minimum is a floor, not an estimate.
- Cost per guest, so a 90-person venue and a 140-person venue can be compared honestly.
- A capacity check — any venue that can't seat your guest count turns red.
- The cheapest true total turns green automatically.
- Cost per point — total divided by your own score out of ten, so you can see value rather than only price.
- Plus the practical rows you'll otherwise forget to ask about: hours included, bar arrangement, ceremony on site, wet-weather plan, accommodation, availability.
The trap this exists to catch. A venue with a $12,000 food and beverage minimum and 100 guests at $95 a head looks like a $9,500 catering bill. It isn't — you'll be billed $12,000, because the minimum is a floor. Add 20% service and 8% tax on a $19,200 subtotal and the real number is $24,883, not the $19,200 that appears on the quote. That gap is roughly the entire photography budget.
The questions to ask before you fill it in
- Is there a food and beverage minimum, and does it change by day or season? Friday and Sunday minimums are often far lower.
- Is service charge a gratuity or an administrative fee? If it's administrative, you may still be expected to tip on top.
- What exactly is in the hire fee? Tables, chairs, linen and setup are sometimes extra, and they add up quickly.
- How many hours, and what does overtime cost? Receptions overrun far more often than they finish early.
- What has to be brought in? Every outside supplier is another cost and sometimes another fee.
How to use it in Google Sheets
Download the file, then in Google Sheets choose File → Import → Upload. Formulas and conditional formatting carry across. In Excel or Numbers, just open it.
Common questions
Why is the cheapest venue not always the best value?
That's exactly what the cost per point row is for. Score each venue out of ten on how much you actually want it, and the sheet divides the true total by that score. A venue that's 15% dearer but two points better is usually the better buy.
Can I compare more than six venues?
Six is deliberate — beyond that people stop comparing and start guessing. If you genuinely need more, copy a column across; the formulas are relative and will follow.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. It's a file on your computer.
Once you've picked one, the rest of the free set: the budget spreadsheet, the guest list template, the vendor payment tracker for the deposit you're about to pay, and all of them together.