Welcome to the Matthews House. Nestled in a cozy corner of downtown Cary, NC, this historic events venue offers a Greek Revival mansion, manicured grounds, and a grand ballroom for gatherings large and small. Matthews House owner, Sarah Chung shares a peak inside her life as a wedding venue owner for the past three and half years.
How did you come to be a wedding venue owner? “I had a lot of experience working in hospitality and catering in my 20’s. After about 10 years working in the legal field I decided it would be wonderful to get back into hospitality. My mother-in-law and I found our venue for sale. She was looking for some real estate to invest in, and I was looking for a business opportunity, so it worked out really well!”
Please share your experience about how much effort & cost goes into running a venue. Things that couples and start up venues may not be aware of. (heating, cooling, adv, landscaping, staff, insurance, etc…) “There is so much! Our property is a 105 year old house, a 3,000 sq ft ballroom with commercial kitchen, and gardens. We were astounded when we first started out, how much the general overhead is! The utilities and the landscaping alone are astronomical costs. Being that the house on the property is also older, there are always small repairs to be made, and a laundry list of larger projects to be done.”
What do you like best about being a venue owner?
“I love being able to provide our guests with a beautiful and relatively stress free event!”
How many acres do you have and what is it like to maintain that much property?
“About 2 acres. Our landscaping costs can be pretty high, and the property is right in a small downtown area, so we need to keep the appearance up. As I mentioned there is always something that needs to be fixed, so having a handy husband/partner has been key!”
How many weddings do you host each year? “On average about 35-40”
Do you host wedding shows, open houses? “Yes we usually do at least one in January and sometimes again in August.”
“Can you share some tips on providing great venue tours for potential clients?”
“I like to carry about an iPad loaded with pictures of the venue all set up. That helps the couples to visualize, when they are coming in on a Monday and things are not wedding ready. I try to ask questions as we go along, and sometimes you can really figure out what is important to them, and highlight how we are their best choice.”
What do you think your couples love most about your venue? Which venue assets/features help you book clients? “We are really close to a downtown area, but we have a beautiful brick fence around the property, which leads to a secret garden kind of feel. The house is also very beautiful and unique.”
Do you do your own advertising & marketing? If so please share any tips on best practices that help you get your business in front of more potential clients, get more leads, etc… “We do run a good amount of Facebook & Instagram ads, especially around specific events or during engagement season. I notice the more active I am posting on these platforms, the more leads I get. We advertise in two local print wedding magazines. Mostly because they each have great websites and social media to help get us more exposure.”
Please share any costly errors or regrets you may have learned from.
“When we first purchased, we had no limit on who could cater and provide alcohol. We have since partnered with an on-site caterer, who does all sales and service of alcohol. I almost never worry about guests being over served, since the caterer is operating under their permit, and very careful. We do allow couples to use outside catering, but we have to meet with and approve them first. This has prevented a lot of headaches!”
Do you have a great website? Tips on website design or features that help you attract & book clients? “We are creating our second website now. We learned from the first iteration, that we need to streamline the information a bit more. Not make potential clients dig for information.”
Any hard challenges you would like to share with venue owners and how you overcame that challenge? (permits, legal issues, neighbors, vendors, bridezilla/momzilla, bad reviews)? “Our first year, we decided to add a large porch onto the side of the house. The project got held up in permitting and was not finished in time for our busy wedding season. We made sure to dress it up and make it look as nice as possible, and explained the situation to our couples, who were luckily very understanding. I was ready to provide some extras or credit, if not.”
Do you have any tips you would like to share with other venue owners?
“Be clear with your policies and procedures, but only put them in place if they are definitely necessary. I think sometimes it is easy to try to control every situation possible, and then we can become too restrictive. Plus when you have fewer rules, and they are more clear, they are more likely to be followed.”
Do you have any thoughts or solutions to share regarding Covid19? How has the Corono Virus impacted your business? “We’ve tried to be as communicative and accommodating as possible with our couples. Allowing rescheduled and lots of flexible options. We still have no idea when we are going to be able to have full weddings again, but we are currently hosting a lot of ceremonies, micro weddings and elopements.”
Can you share some advise with new venues or those thinking of starting a venue?
“Decide what your main ethos would be as a venue owner. Ours are that we try to provide a flexible yet full service venue, so that guests can have the event they really want, while still being a laid back process. Once you know what you want to provide, it becomes a lot easier to make hard decisions.”
Thank you so much Sarah Chung for taking the time to share your wedding story with our wedding venue owners community and to all the vendors and engaged couples who enjoy reading these stories! READERS PLEASE POST COMMENTS BELOW in the comment section, the comments help us increase engagement.
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To contact The Matthews House you can visit their site: www.matthewshousecary.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMatthewsHouseCary/?ref=page_internal
If you would like to feature your wedding venue in an upcoming blog please contact didi@weddingvenueowners.com. Thank you all so much for stopping by to check out the blog and for your support of our wedding venue owners community.
