Peak summer Saturdays tend to sell themselves. The difference between a good year and a great one is usually the Fridays, Sundays, midweek and winter dates. These are the dates most venues find hardest to fill, and the ones where marketing makes the biggest difference.
Sell the experience, not the discount
“Off-peak” sounds like second best. Couples choosing a winter or weekday wedding are often choosing it for good reasons: a smaller guest list, more budget for the things they care about, candlelight and log fires, or simply the date that means something to them. Give those dates their own pages, with their own photography and their own name: a “winter wedding collection”, an “intimate weekday wedding”.
Package it clearly
Couples compare venues side by side. A clear package with a price, a guest number and what’s included is far easier to say yes to than “contact us for off-peak rates”. Keep a premium on your Saturdays and make the value of other days obvious.
Show it on your website, prominently
Many venues have good midweek offers hidden in a PDF brochure. Put them where couples look: on your homepage, your prices page and a dedicated page that can rank for searches such as “midweek wedding packages” and “winter wedding venue offers”.
Use Google Ads to target the gaps
Google Ads lets you advertise specific dates and packages to couples searching for them right now. Separate campaigns for winter, midweek and late availability, each pointing to its own page, mean your budget works on the dates you need to sell rather than the ones that will book anyway. Read more about Google Ads for wedding venues.
Time it to when couples plan
Many couples get engaged over Christmas and New Year and start looking at venues soon after. That makes winter one of the most important times to be visible, including for dates a year or more ahead.
Make late availability easy to find
Couples with a short engagement are searching for availability within the next year. A simple, up-to-date “available dates” page with prices can catch them, and it can be shared on social media and with your suppliers.
Know what each date is worth
It helps to put a number on the gap. Our unsold dates calculator lets you put in your own figures to see the revenue still available in your diary.
If you’d like help working out which dates are realistic to fill and how, request a free venue audit.
