An inquiry form for event venues and caterers
An event inquiry is qualified once you know whether the date is open, whether the group fits, and which package the budget points to. Guest count and date are the two answers that most often arrive too loose to act on, so they are the two to follow up on.
What should event venues and caterers ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What is the event? | A wedding, a company dinner and a birthday need different rooms, staff and timelines. |
| Which date, and how flexible is it? | A fixed Saturday and “any Friday in spring” are different conversations about availability and price. |
| How many guests, at most? | Capacity is a hard limit, and per-guest pricing is usually how the quote is built. |
| What time does it start, and how long does it run? | Setup, overtime and staffing all follow from the hours. |
| What kind of food service: a seated meal, a buffet, passed appetizers, or drinks only? | Service style changes staffing and the per-guest cost more than the menu does. |
| Any dietary needs you already know about? | A kitchen needs to know before it quotes, not the week before the event. |
| Which per-guest budget range are you working with? | Venues and caterers sell packages, so a range picks the package. Offer your own ranges as a choice. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “Around 100 people, maybe more.” | Is 100 the invite list or the number you expect to come, and what is the most it could be? |
| “Sometime in June.” | Does it have to be a Friday or Saturday, or would a weekday work? |
| “Just some food.” | A seated meal, a buffet, or appetizers passed around while people mingle? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
Most event clients want to see the space or taste the food before they sign, and some, like couples planning a wedding, want to meet the person who will run the day. The written inquiry does not replace that. It turns the tour into a decision about one package on one date instead of a first conversation about whether the date is even open.
How do you set this up from the Quote request template?
Acquainto has a Quote request template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Quote request, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
The template asks what the quote is for, a rough budget, a date, whether there is a competing quote, and where to send yours. For events, make the first question the event type, change “How many people would be using this?” to the guest count, keep the date and add how flexible it is, and change the budget question to a choice of per-guest ranges that match your packages.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.