Lighting and AV: what to ask the venue before quoting

Most lighting and AV jobs that go wrong were quoted before anyone asked about power. The fixtures were right, the design was right, and then the venue had two circuits behind the head table, a freight elevator booked by the caterer, and a hard curfew at eleven.

TL;DR: Ask about power, rigging, access and curfew in writing before you quote. Price fixtures and technicians as separate lines. Collect the client's cues (entrance, first dance, send-off) with their colors, and put load-in, sound check and load-out on the same timeline the planner and the band use.

What should you ask the venue before quoting?

Five things, every time:

• Power: how many circuits, where, and what else is on them (the band, the caterer's warmers).
• Rigging: whether you can hang anything, from what, and who signs it off.
• Access: dock or front door, stairs or lift, and the window you have it.
• Curfew: when the music stops and when the room must be empty, which are rarely the same time.
• House rules: haze, open flame, tape on walls, and anything the venue's own AV team insists on doing.

Ask the venue directly. A couple relaying the answer is a couple guessing.

Why price fixtures and technicians separately?

Because a client can see a fixture and cannot see a technician. Uplighting, pin spots on the tables, a dance floor wash and a screen are line items a planner can compare. A technician on site for the whole evening is a different cost from a drop-off and pickup, and the quote should show which one the client is getting. When the venue adds a requirement, like a technician on site for any haze, the line is already there to change.

Why do cues need to be in writing?

Because the moment you need the cue list is the moment you cannot ask for it. Entrance, first dance, cake, the last song and the send-off, each with the color or effect the couple chose, written down weeks before. The DJ or band needs the same list, so it belongs on the shared timeline, not in your notes.

What does a good load-in plan include?

The time you arrive, where you park, the route to the room, the time you must be finished and sound-checked, and who from the venue lets you in. Load-out is the same list in reverse with one addition: what happens if the event runs late. Put both on the run-of-show so the planner knows when your crew is in the room.

How do you stop leaving things behind?

Keep your kit as a labeled list and pack against it for every job. Cases, cables, clamps, spare lamps and the gaff tape. A checklist you tick when packing and again when loading the van is dull; arriving without the DMX splitter is worse.

How Booksui handles this

Booksui's lighting and AV pipeline runs from inquiry and site visit through proposal, plot and programming, final plan, event day and load-out. A venue, power and load-in questionnaire keeps the venue's answers on the job; a lighting cues questionnaire collects the couple's moments; wedding, uplighting and corporate AV proposals and a lighting and AV agreement with an equipment addendum are there to start from. Label your kit once and tick it packed and loaded on the event day with packing checklists. More on the page for lighting and AV companies; plans and limits are on the pricing page.