Access and Comfort: What to Ask, What to Tell the Venue

Some of your guests will need something from the room. A step-free way in, a seat where they can hear, somewhere quiet to sit down for ten minutes, a carer beside them.

Almost all of it is easy to arrange and almost none of it is easy to arrange late. This page is about doing it early, and about which half of it the plan does for you.

What your plan already tells the venue

You can flag seven needs against any guest: step-free access, hearing, vision, somewhere quiet, a carer with them, near the door, away from the bar.

Those flags are not just for you. The venue pack groups them by table and prints them on the sheet your venue and hire company work from, so "Table 4: two guests need step-free access" reaches the person laying out furniture the morning before.

Names are deliberately left off that sheet. The venue is setting out chairs, not greeting anybody. They need the place and the need. Your coordinator's brief keeps the names, because the coordinator is the one who says hello.

So the seating half is handled. What follows is the half only you can do.

What only you can find out from the venue

Your plan knows who needs a step-free route. It has no idea whether the venue has one. Ask, and ask about the whole journey rather than the room:

• Is there a step-free route from the car park to the ceremony, to the dining room, and to the toilets? A venue can be step-free at the entrance and have three stairs to the bar.
• Where is the accessible toilet, and is it locked? A key kept behind the bar is a problem worth knowing about in advance.
• Is there a lift, and does it stay staffed and switched on in the evening?
• Is there a hearing loop, and does it cover the ceremony room as well as the main room?
• How close can a car get for drop-off?
• Is there anywhere quiet to sit that is not a corridor or the toilets?

Ask by email so you have the answers in writing. Ask before you sign if you still can.

What to ask your guests, and how

Do not send anybody an accessibility form. It reads like paperwork, and the people most likely to need something are the most likely to say they are fine.

Ask once, in the open, in whatever you already send:

If there is anything that would make the day easier for you, tell us. Getting into the room, where you sit, anything at all. It is no trouble and we would rather know now.

Then ask directly, one to one, for anybody you already have a reason to think about. A phone call to an aunt with a new hip gets you an honest answer that no form will.

Write down what you are told the day you are told it. This is exactly what the seven flags are for.

Older guests

Age is not a disability and most of your older guests will not ask for anything. The details below still make the difference between staying to the end and leaving after the speeches.

• Temperature. Older guests feel a cold room sooner and a hot marquee harder. Ask where the draughts are.
• Distance to the toilet. Somebody who is going to make that trip six times should not be crossing the room each time.
• Hearing over music. The band is louder at the table nearest it than anybody sober realises at three in the afternoon. Away from the speakers is a real seating decision, not a fussy one.
• A chair with arms. Getting out of a low chair without arms is the hardest physical thing some guests will do all day. Ask the venue what the chairs are.
• Being able to leave. A seat near an exit lets somebody slip away at nine without an announcement.

Most of those turn into a seating flag: near the door, away from the bar, somewhere quiet.

On the day

Tell your coordinator who to look for by name. That is what the coordinator brief carries and the venue sheet does not, and it is the difference between a need being set up for and a need being noticed.

Then let it go. You have written it down, the room is laid out for it, and somebody else is holding the list.