For couples
From your first request to the day itself.
Every phase in plain language: what you write, what venues send back, what stays sealed while you compare, what a binding offer holds them to, and when money moves. Bidwell never charges couples.
Free for couples · No card · Bidwell House included
In short
The whole thing, in three lines.
- Post your request without your name on it. Verified venues answer with binding prices.
- Bidwell House reads every offer with you — value, market rate, what's missing — and coaches your counter.
- Pay the venue through Stripe on a set schedule. You never pay Bidwell.
- Create your account
- 2 minutes
- Describe the wedding
- 5 minutes
- First offers arrive
- 24–48 hours
- Book your venue
- Your pace
Phase 1
Create your account
About two minutes. No card, now or later.
Names, an email, and a password are all that’s required. Anything else you add — location, guest count, the number you have in mind, the settings you like — simply gets you matched sooner.
What we ask for
- Partner names · required
- Email address · required
- Password · required
- Wedding city and state · optional
- Guest count estimate · optional
- Budget range · optional
- Settings you're drawn to · optional
- Date or season · optional
We send a verification link. Follow it, and you can write your first request.
Phase 2
Describe the wedding
A guided form in four parts. About five minutes.
Your request is what venues answer. It goes out anonymously: they read the wedding, never your name or contact details.
The event
- A main date, or a range if you're flexible
- Up to five backup dates
- Guest count estimate
- City and state — plus up to four other markets
- Multi-day plans, such as a rehearsal the night before
The setting
- The kinds of space you're drawn to — barn, garden, ballroom, estate
- A short description of the day in your own words
What matters
- Must-haves, as a checklist
- Nice-to-haves kept separate, so venues know where they can flex
The number
- A range for the whole thing — space, food and beverage, service, tax
- All-in or rental only, so every offer answers the same question
- How much your dates can move
- Anything else worth knowing, down to the dog in the ceremony
Your privacy. The request goes up without your name. Venues see the facts of the wedding and nothing else — no email, no phone. You decide who sees you, by shortlisting them.
Requests run for 30 days. If you haven’t booked, renew it or adjust it and post again.
Want to see real offers on your date?
Get your venue offersPhase 3
Read the offers
First offers typically arrive within 24–48 hours.
Verified venues in your market decide whether to answer. Each one that does sends a binding offer — the rates and inclusions lock the moment you accept, and the venue cannot add a fee or withdraw an inclusion afterwards.
Offer 01
Garden & outdoor · name sealed
$12,500
94% fit
- Capacity
- 200
- Catering
- In-house
- Bar
- Full service
- Must-haves met
- 8 of 10
Bidwell House · roughly 12% under market for your date, with the outdoor ceremony site included.
What every offer shows
- Total price, or the per-guest rate
- Line-item charges
- Whether the food and beverage minimum sits inside the total
- The full list of inclusions
- Setting and capacity
- Catering, bar, and vendor rules
- Which of your dates the venue can hold
- A Bidwell House fit score and value read
What stays sealed until you shortlist
- Venue name and brand
- Gallery and reviews
- Street address
- Direct messaging
Why names stay sealed. Without a logo attached, you weigh the price, the package, and the fit on their own — the way a blind audition works.
- Offer validity:
- 14 days from the day it’s sent.
- Revisions:
- A venue may revise up to 2 times (3 versions in all).
- How many:
- There is no cap. You receive every offer venues choose to send.
Phase 4
Shortlist, compare, and counter
Take the time you need. Nothing here has a deadline.
Shortlisting
Shortlist an offer and the venue’s name, gallery, reviews, address, and messaging open up at once. You can shortlist up to 5 per request.
Venue A
$12,500
94% fit
8 of 10 must-haves
Venue B
$14,200
91% fit
10 of 10 must-haves
Venue C
$11,800
87% fit
7 of 10 must-haves
Stack up to three shortlisted offers on one screen — price, capacity, inclusions, and trust signals on identical rows.
Counter-offers
Close but not quite? Send a counter. Bidwell House suggests an amount that balances what you want against what the venue is likely to accept, and tells you the odds first.
You propose a number with a short note, if there's something worth saying.
The venue has 72 hours to accept it, decline it, or counter back.
Bidwell House estimates the odds and suggests amounts before you commit to one.
Tours and messaging
Once you’ve shortlisted, messaging opens and you can schedule tours from your dashboard. Ask anything before you commit to anything.
Ready to put your date in front of venues?
Get your venue offersPhase 5
Accept an offer and book
A booking fee holds the date. Four steps at checkout.
Review the summary
Venue, dates, guest count, total, and every inclusion line by line.
Accept the terms
Terms, Privacy, and the cancellation schedule — read them, then agree.
Sign
Type your legal name on the contract.
Pay the booking fee
25% of the total, minimum $500, through Stripe.
The venue countersigns. It has 48 hours to do it. If the window passes, the booking is cancelled and you are refunded in full.
Once it’s confirmed you receive a reference number, the venue contact, a copy of the signed contract, and your payment schedule.
Phase 6
The payment schedule
Spread across installments, all of it collected before the event.
Which schedule applies depends on how far out the wedding is when you book. Everything runs through Stripe, and you pay the venue — Bidwell never bills you.
Standard schedule
Booking 90 or more days before the wedding
- 25%
Booking fee
At booking
- 35%
Second installment
90 days before
- 40%
Final balance
30 days before
Compressed schedule
Wedding 30 to 89 days out at booking
- 50% at booking
- 50% fourteen days before
Under thirty days
Wedding less than 30 days out at booking
- The full amount at booking
Every due date opens 14 days early and carries a 3-day grace period after it.
Phase 7
Plan with your venue
Tastings, walkthroughs, vendors, and the order of the day.
Talk to the venue directly
Message inside Bidwell, or use the venue contact you receive at booking.
Amendments only go up
Add a brunch or upgrade the bar and the total rises. The signed amount is a floor — it never moves down without agreement, and never up without yours.
Guest count adjustments
On a per-guest offer the rate stays fixed and the total follows the final headcount. Nothing is quietly re-priced.
Phase 8
The day itself
Everything you were promised, delivered.
By the wedding you are paid up, and the venue delivers what its offer set out — the same rates, the same inclusions, the same package.
Locked rates and inclusions. Flat totals and per-guest rates hold. A venue that adds a fee or drops a promised inclusion is removed from Bidwell.
If plans change
Cancellation
What comes back depends on how far out you cancel.
- 90+ days before event
- 75% refunded
- 60-89 days before event
- 50% refunded
- 30-59 days before event
- 25% refunded
- Less than 30 days
- Non-refundable
Couple-initiated cancellations carry a $250 administration fee. If the venue cancels, you are refunded in full — always.
Questions
Honest answers.
Nothing. Couples never pay Bidwell. Venues pay a commission, and only after you book and pay through the platform.
Begin
Your venue is out there. Let it find you.
A few minutes to describe the day. Verified venues take it from there, in writing.
Free for couples, always · No card