Booking the room for a family party

01 Start with the number you can defend

A family party works or fails on four questions, and all four are settled before you sign: how many people are actually coming, when the room is yours from and until, how sound will carry, and how the food arrives. Get those four in writing and the evening looks after itself. Leave any of them vague and you will spend the night solving problems instead of sitting down.

The order matters. Numbers first, because everything else is priced and planned around them. Timing second, because a room that is yours at six is a different room from one that is yours at four. Sound and food last, because both depend on the first two.

Ask for a realistic count, not a hopeful one. The figure to give a venue is the number of people who have said yes, plus a small margin, and no more. A guest list built on politeness produces a room that is half empty at the back and crowded at the front.

Then ask what the room does at that number. A hall that seats 120 comfortably may seat 150 only if the dance floor is given up, and giving up the dance floor changes the evening. Ask to see the floor plan at your number, not at the room's maximum. A plan drawn at 200 tells you nothing about your 90.

Ask about the shape of the space as well as the size. Two smaller rooms can suit a party where the older guests want to talk and the younger ones want music. One large room with a raised stage and a wooden dance floor suits a night that builds towards dancing. Neither is better; they are different evenings.

Ask where the bar sits in relation to the tables, and where the entrance sits in relation to both. A door that opens onto the dance floor lets in cold air all night. A bar placed beside the top table makes conversation impossible there.

If you are comparing venues across the West Side, it helps to know what a traditional banquet hall actually contains, from the stage to the service arrangements, before you walk in. The older halls were built for exactly this kind of evening, and a page such as this one on banquet hall layouts describes the standard pieces: the raised stage, the dance floor, the separate rooms. Knowing the standard means you can spot what is missing.

02 When is the room actually yours?

The contract time is not the party time. A hall booked from six to eleven gives you five hours, and the first of those is spent arriving. Ask for the access time separately from the start time, and ask when the room must be empty, not when the music stops.

Ask these four things in this order:

Then work backwards. If the bar closes at eleven and the room must be empty at midnight, you have an hour to move 90 people out and pack a car. That is tight. If the room must be empty at half past eleven, it is impossible without help.

Ask who clears the tables and who takes the rubbish away. Some halls include it; some charge for it; some leave it to you at midnight. Ask whether decorations can go up earlier in the day, and whether anything can be left overnight. A hall that lets you set the tables in the afternoon removes an hour of stress from the evening itself.

Ask about the day of the week, too. A Saturday evening in June is priced and timed differently from a Friday in February, and a Friday party often gets a longer access window for the same money.

03 How will sound carry in the room?

Sound is the question people forget, and it is the one guests notice. A hard-floored, high-ceilinged hall with a wooden dance floor carries music well and conversation badly. Ask what the room has for sound: a house system, a stage, a limit on volume, a curfew on music.

Ask whether the venue has a noise restriction and what time it starts. Many halls must reduce music at a fixed hour because of the neighbourhood. Knowing that hour in advance lets you plan the speeches before it, not after.

Ask where the speakers go and whether a microphone is included. Speeches without a microphone work in a room of 40 and fail in a room of 120. If the venue has a raised stage, ask whether the speeches happen there or at the top table; the two give very different results.

Ask whether you may bring your own DJ or band, and whether the venue has a preferred supplier. Some halls allow either; some require their own. Ask about the setup time the sound engineer needs, and whether that time comes out of your access window.

Finally, ask what happens to the sound of 90 people talking. A room with soft furnishings, tablecloths and carpet absorbs it. A bare hall bounces it. If the room is bare, ask whether the venue can provide cloths and whether the tables will be laid before guests arrive.

04 Food, bar and the rules that apply

Food decides the shape of the evening more than any other choice. A buffet lets people eat when they want and keeps the room moving. A served meal gives everyone a shared hour at the table and needs more staff, more time and a firmer schedule.

Ask how many guests the kitchen can serve at once, and how long the service takes. A buffet for 90 can clear in 40 minutes or in an hour and a half, depending on the number of serving points. Ask how many there will be.

Ask what is included in the price per head and what is not: linen, crockery, serving staff, clearing, cake cutting, coffee. The extras are where a budget quietly grows. Ask for the figure per guest with everything you have chosen, in writing.

Ask about the bar. In Ohio, alcohol rules are set by the state, and a venue will have its own licence conditions. Ask who holds the licence, who serves, whether you may bring your own drink, and whether a bartender is included or charged by the hour. Ask what happens if the bar runs dry, and whether you may add a bottle later.

Ask about deposits and cancellation. A deposit holds a date; ask what happens to it if plans change, and by what date. Ask when the balance is due and how it is paid. Get the total, the deposit and the final date in one document.

05 The questions to take with you

Write them down and take them to every hall you visit. How many does the room seat at our number, and what does the floor plan look like? What time can we get in, and what time must we be out? What sound is allowed, until when, and is a microphone included? What is the price per guest with everything we have chosen, and what is not included? Who holds the licence, and who serves? What is the deposit, and when is the balance due?

Six questions, one page. The answers tell you more about an evening than any photograph of the room. A hall that answers all six clearly, in writing, is a hall that has done this many times before. A hall that answers vaguely is telling you something too.

Book the room on the answers, not on the look of it. The look lasts an hour; the answers last the whole evening.