WHAT DOES “INCLUSIVE” ACTUALLY MEAN FOR YOUR WEDDING?
Less vendor hunting, fewer moving pieces, and more support. Here’s what inclusive really means when you’re planning a wedding.
“Inclusive” sounds great.
But when you’re comparing wedding and other event venues, what does that actually mean?
Does someone plan the entire wedding for you? Are all your vendors included? Do you still get to choose what everything looks like? And perhaps most importantly, what exactly are you no longer responsible for?
The answer can look a little different from venue to venue, but the basic idea is pretty simple: instead of starting with an empty space and building your wedding one vendor, rental, and decision at a time, a inclusive experience brings more of those pieces together for you.
And when you're already making approximately one million wedding decisions, having a few big ones handled can feel pretty good.
So let's break down what that can actually look like.
It Starts With the Venue, But It Doesn't End There
With a traditional venue rental, you're primarily booking the space.
Depending on the venue, some essentials may come with it, but you'll generally be responsible for assembling the rest of your wedding team yourself.
Caterer. Bar. Planner or coordinator. DJ. Rentals. Parking. Décor. And then all the smaller details hiding underneath those much bigger categories.
A more inclusive wedding experience starts connecting some of those dots for you.
Instead of asking “Who do we need to hire?” At every turn, you're working from a foundation where many of the essential pieces have already been considered, and that's really where the value starts.
Food & Beverage
Food and beverage are two of the biggest pieces of a wedding, both in terms of the guest experience and the logistics happening behind the scenes.
Choosing a more inclusive wedding option can mean having an established catering and bar experience already built into your celebration.
That doesn't necessarily mean everybody gets the exact same menu.
It means you have a starting point, trusted professionals, and a team that already understands how service works within the venue.
And that's one less very large Google search waiting for you.
Hayley & Jan - Catering: Good Gracious Events - Photo: Tess Gearheart
Planning & Coordination
This is probably where the word “inclusive” matters most.
There is a big difference between having access to a venue and having someone actively helping all the moving pieces of your wedding work together.
Depending on the experience you choose, that support might begin closer to the wedding through coordination, or much earlier with inclusive planning.
Timelines. Vendor communication. Setup. Guest flow. Ceremony transitions. Making sure everyone knows where they're supposed to be and when they're supposed to be there.
A good planning team is thinking about the things you shouldn't have to be thinking about while you're getting married.
Gloria & Mark - Planning & Coordination: Willow & Bloom Events - Photo: Erich Chen Photography
Rentals & All Those Little Things You Forgot Were Things
Chairs seem obvious.
Until you start planning a wedding and realize you also need to think about tables, linens, tabletop pieces, glassware, lighting, lounge furniture, dance floors and approximately 47 other objects you have never previously had a strong opinion about.
This is another place where a full-service venue can simplify things considerably.
At The Oviatt, many of the foundational pieces needed for a celebration are already part of the venue experience, and our more inclusive options can build from there with additional rentals and upgrades.
You still get to care about the chairs.
You just don't necessarily have to start your journey from scratch.
Alex & John - Wedding - Photo: Anastasia Tamarina
Music & Entertainment
Here, the advantage isn't simply checking DJ off the list again. It's having fewer people who need to learn how everything works for the first time on your wedding day.
Some inclusive experiences include entertainment from professionals who already know the venue and have worked alongside the rest of the team.
Having someone who is not only experienced at what they do, but also familiar with the space, the setup, and the people they'll be working alongside means they can spend less time figuring out logistics and more time focusing on what will actually make your celebration a great one.
Shaping the pace of the reception. Making announcements. Reading the room. Figuring out whether everyone needs another slow song or if it's officially time to get them back on the dance floor.
That's the part you actually hired them for.
Ana & Michael - DJ: Second Song - Photo: Vanessa Blair Photography
Preferred Vendors Really Matter?
There are incredibly talented wedding professionals everywhere, but there's an extra advantage when the people working your wedding already know the space and each other.
They know where things go. They understand setup and load-in. They know the timing. They've seen how guests naturally move through the venue. They know what works well in each space and what requires a little extra planning.
And, importantly, they've already been vetted.
Choosing an inclusive experience can save you hours of researching, comparing, interviewing and coordinating separate vendors before you've even gotten to the fun decisions.
At The Oviatt, our preferred partners aren't simply names on a list. They're professionals we trust and have experience working with in our space.
But Wait... Do We Still Get to Make It Ours?
Absolutely.
And this might be one of the biggest misconceptions about choosing a more inclusive wedding experience.
Inclusive doesn't mean your wedding comes pre-designed.
Your flowers can still look like your flowers. Your cake can still be weird and wonderful. Your music, stationery, fashion, colors, ceremony, traditions and tiny personal details can still say everything you want them to say.
What you're giving up isn't necessarily creative control.
You're giving up some of the logistics, and those are two very different things.
So, Is Inclusive Right for You?
There isn't one correct way to plan a wedding.
Some couples genuinely enjoy researching every vendor, comparing every option and assembling their wedding piece by piece. If that's you, a venue rental option with more freedom may make perfect sense.
But a more inclusive experience might be worth considering if you:
Don't want to source every major vendor independently
Feel overwhelmed by the number of decisions involved
Want more support with planning and coordination
Like knowing that your primary vendors already know the venue
Would rather spend your planning time personalizing the celebration than figuring out its basic infrastructure
Want fewer separate contracts, conversations and moving pieces to manage
And there are options between the two extremes.
At The Oviatt, we offer different levels of wedding support because not every couple needs the same thing. Some want the freedom to build from the venue up, while others want essential vendors already accounted for, and some want a much more fully supported experience.
The important part is figuring out how involved you actually want to be.
Start With the Space
Before deciding exactly how you want to plan your wedding, there's an even bigger question:
Can you see yourselves getting married here?
Come walk through The Oviatt, step onto the rooftop, take in the Downtown Los Angeles views and imagine what the space could feel like filled with your favorite people.
Tell us what you're imagining, how many people you're inviting, how involved you want to be in planning, and what parts matter most to you. We can check availability for your preferred date and help you understand which of our current wedding options makes the most sense for what you have in mind.
If you're still in inspiration mode, spend some time exploring our real wedding gallery to see how other couples have made The Oviatt their own, or head to our FAQ for answers to some of the questions that tend to come up along the way.
