For venues
From setup to the day you host.
Real dates and real numbers, stated before you answer. Rates and inclusions that lock when the couple accepts. Payouts that reach you as they pay, rather than one payment long after the event.
No listing fee. Commission only when an event books.
In short
The whole thing, in three lines.
- Join at no cost. Every request shows the date, the guest count, and the number before you decide whether to answer.
- Answer with your rate card whole. You win by including more, not by cutting your published price.
- Get paid as the couple pays — within 3 business days of each installment, commission already taken.
- To join
- No fee
- Standard commission
- 10%
- Founding Partner
- 8%
- First payout
- 3 business days
Phase 1
Set up your venue
About fifteen minutes. No card, no listing fee.
Four guided steps: your account, the essentials, your story and photographs, then verification. Once you’re verified you can answer live requests straight away.
Your account
- Contact name
- Password
The essentials
- Name and setting — barn, ballroom, estate, garden
- Address
- Minimum and maximum capacity
- Your price band
- Website
Story and photographs
- 50 characters or more about the space
- 3 or more real photographs of the room
- Amenities — catering, bar, parking, lodging
- Vendor rules for food, bar, music, cake, and decor
Verification
- EIN or tax ID
- Liability insurance
- Signed Venue Platform Agreement
The Venue Platform Agreement. Your operating contract with Bidwell — locked rates and inclusions, commission, confirmation windows, and the anti-circumvention period. Signed through Dropbox Sign.
Phase 2
Read the requests
Couples come to you. No cold outreach on either side.
Your dashboard lists live requests in your market. Each one carries what you need to decide quickly — the date, the number, and how well the day suits your room — so nothing gets your time by accident.
Request 247
Posted two days ago
26 days left
- Date
- 18 October 2026
- Guests
- 150
- Budget
- $25K–$40K
- Setting
- Garden, estate
“Outdoor ceremony with an indoor plan B. Dog in the procession.”
What every request shows
- The date, and any alternates
- Guest count
- Budget band
- City and state
- The settings they're drawn to
- Must-haves
- Nice-to-haves
- Their description of the day
- Any extra notes
- Multi-day plans
- How far their dates can move
- Days remaining on the request
Privacy runs both ways. You see no name or contact details until a couple shortlists you — and they see no brand on your offer until the same moment.
Requests run for 30 days. Answer the ones where setting, capacity, and market genuinely line up.
Want requests like this in your dashboard?
Apply to the HousePhase 3
Send a structured offer
Your offer is real. That is the whole basis of the marketplace.
If a request fits, answer it. What you send is a binding offer: accept and you deliver the rates and the package you quoted. Fixed items stay fixed, and per-guest rates lock at the agreed headcount.
Flat-rate pricing
One total, whatever the headcount does
- Every charge itemised
- Service and tax inside the total
- Locks on acceptance
Per-person pricing
A rate per guest, with the total following the count
- Per-guest rate locked
- A minimum and maximum headcount
- Total is rate × final count
What your offer carries
- Package title
- Line-item prices
- Inclusions checklist
- Exclusions and limits
- Catering, bar, music, and decor rules
- Which of their dates you can hold
- Room block, if you have one
- Your terms
- Attachments — up to five files
- A note to the couple
Templates. Save an offer as a template and the next comparable request loads your lines, inclusions, and policies in one click. Adjust the totals and send.
- Offer validity:
- 14 days from the day you send it.
- Revisions:
- Up to 2 edits (3 versions in all).
Phase 4
Get shortlisted
Your identity opens up, and you can talk to the couple directly.
Once a couple shortlists you they see your name, gallery, reviews, and city. Messaging opens, and they may ask for a tour.
You’ve been shortlisted
Request 247 · 18 October 2026 · 150 guests
They can see your full profile, and messaging is open.
Counter-offers
A couple may come back with a different number and a note. You have three moves.
- Accept
- Take their number. The booking continues at the new price.
- Decline
- Turn down the counter. Your original offer stays on the table.
- Counter back
- Propose something between the two. The conversation continues.
A counter you don’t answer within 72 hours simply lapses.
Ready to put your room in front of these couples?
Apply to the HousePhase 5
Confirm the booking
You have 48 hours to review and countersign.
When a couple accepts your offer — or an agreed counter — you get a booking alert and the contract to review.
What the contract sets out
- Couple and venue names
- Dates, place, and guest count
- The total, itemised
- Every inclusion from your accepted offer
- Payment milestones
- Commission, as a rate and an amount
- Cancellation terms
- Additions may raise the total only
The 48-hour window. Countersign through Dropbox Sign inside 48 hours. Miss it and the booking voids, with the couple refunded in full.
Phase 6
Get paid as they pay
Not one settlement after the wedding — cash arrives on the way there.
Each couple payment releases your share, commission already deducted, so money is with you before most of your own supplier dates fall due.
- Booking fee and mid-term installmentsCommission taken from each
- Within 3 business days
- Final paymentHeld briefly before the event
- 7 days before the event
Payouts run on Stripe Connect, straight to your account.
Commission
You pay when an event books. Never before.
No listing fee, no monthly plan, no cost to set up. One rate, applied to confirmed bookings.
- 8%
Founding Partner
15 venues per market, held for the life of the account.
- 10%
Standard
Every other venue, charged per confirmed booking.
- 6%
High volume
Applied automatically past 25 weddings a year.
Founding Partner
8% held for the life of the account
15 venues in each market join as Founding Partners, chosen for fit rather than for signing first.
- 8% commission, held for as long as the account is open
- Priority placement on every matching request
- The Founding Partner badge, shown to couples on every offer
- A direct line to the Bidwell team for onboarding and product feedback
Full detail on tiers, timing, and cancellation lives in fees & policies.
Phase 7
Host the wedding
Exactly what you quoted. No more, no less.
By the morning of the event every installment has reached you except the last, which releases 7 days out. All that remains is to deliver the offer you wrote.
Locked rates and inclusions
Fixed items stay fixed. Per-guest and consumption rates stay where you set them. You deliver what you quoted.
Amendments during planning
A brunch, a bar upgrade, an extra hour — additions raise the total. The signed amount is a floor.
Guest count adjustments
On a per-guest offer the rate holds and the total follows the final headcount. On a flat offer the total doesn't move at all.
Tax reporting
A 1099 at year end once payouts pass $600.
The house rules
Short, and even-handed on both sides.
- Locked rates
- Every offer locks your rates and inclusions. If the couple accepts, you deliver what you quoted.
- 48-hour confirmation
- A booked couple needs your countersignature within 48 hours. Silence cancels the booking and refunds them in full.
- Anti-circumvention
- Couples introduced by Bidwell stay on the platform for 24 months. Going around it carries a 20% commission, twice the standard rate.
- No switching terms
- Leaving out a promised inclusion can close the account, and forfeits Founding Partner standing.
- Cancellation
- If you cancel a confirmed wedding, the couple is refunded in full. Repeat cancellations are reviewed.
Questions
Honest answers for venues.
Nothing to list, read requests, or answer them. Commission applies only when a booking is confirmed. If you don't win the event, you pay nothing.
Still deciding? See what setup actually involves.
Apply
Keep your rate card. Fill your calendar.
Couples arrive with a date, a guest count, and a real number. Answer the requests that suit your room and leave the rest.
No listing fee. Commission only when an event books.