4 Reasons to Join Carats & Cake’s Venue Directory

Promoting your venue is paramount to accessing prospective clients, and Carats & Cake provides all of the resources you need to connect with the right audience. Just imagine waving a magic wand and gaining access to the attention of more than half a million event planners and couples to spread the word about your venue even further—all for free.

Carats & Cake’s venue directory is that magic wand (metaphorically speaking, of course!). Our venue marketplace allows property groups and venues to benefit from our marketing, editorial, and social media efforts to improve your space’s visibility to newly engaged couples, wedding & event planners, and more. All you need to do is create or claim a profile in our venue directory to list your venue for free.

Curious about how to get started or want more information on how our venue directory works (including all of its benefits)? Here’s a crash course.

What is a venue directory?

A venue directory (sometimes referred to as an event directory, venue marketplace, or a venue listing site) is an online collection of spaces and properties that host events. Every venue directory is a bit different—some may solely focus on booking a conference room for a business event, for instance, while others may only concentrate on hotels—but the gist is that they can help you narrow down the ideal space for your event amid a sea of options. 

Several event venue directories also include helpful filters and toggles that help consumers whittle down spaces by selecting the features that they’re looking for, from location to venue type. Users may also be able to browse the top spots in each city, in addition to seeing examples of real-life events that have taken place at the property. 

In addition to sourcing venues, Carats & Cake’s venue directory also allows our consumers to browse top wedding and event vendors from all over the world (think planners, caterers, florists, photographers, and more), making for a holistic, streamlined venue solution for both consumers and event professionals. All of this leads couples and planners to find the ideal space to say “I do” with our wedding venue directory. 

Benefits of our venue directory

Nearly 40,000 event professionals and more than 3,000 active venues already enjoy being part of our growing venue marketplace, and it’s easy to see why. Carats & Cake’s wedding venue directory allows your event space to increase its visibility and brand awareness with the help of our highly engaged community. From venue shout-outs in our curated editorial content to authentic social media exposure that spotlights your property, there are tons of benefits when you list your venue in our event directory. Here are the top advantages to consider: 

1. Make Our Marketing Machine Yours

When you create or claim your profile in Carats & Cake’s wedding venue directory, you gain access to our subscribed audience of 500,000 highly engaged planners and couples. That’s a serious amount of interested eyeballs looking at your venue each month, whether it’s a couple on the hunt for a just-right place to get married or an event planner looking for a property that fits a specific vision.

Here’s how it works: When you create or claim a profile in our venue marketplace, our team keeps the profile curated and up-to-date with content that not only increases your brand awareness, but drives referrals back to your own website. (Plus, every Carats & Cake portfolio features a link encouraging users to visit the venue or vendor’s website, which translates to extra traffic and backlinks for you.) 

On your wedding venue directory profile, consumers can browse real-life events that have taken place at your venue, helping them envision their own special day at your property. To make this happen, our team sources and vets those real-life features that send prospective customers back to your venue directory profile. That means you get the benefit of showcasing weddings and events at your space to couples and planners—without needing to worry about getting rights to images or other content. (We call that a win-win.) Oh, and all at no cost to you. (Win-win-win.)

In short, a Carats & Cake profile in our venue directory exposes your venue (and all of the beautiful events held there) to a rapidly growing, omnichannel audience of consumers and vendors, in addition to sending traffic back to your own site. (And by the way, your venue may already have a venue marketplace profile set up if a member of our community tagged you at an event—more on that later!)

2. Enjoy a Constantly Updated Vendor Profile

Once your property has a profile in our vendor directory, you can enjoy all the benefits of a routinely refreshed profile. Our team of experts sources weddings held at your venue (with no work required by you!), carefully reviewing and vetting all of the imagery and credits involved.

When an event happens at your venue (meaning a couple gets married or holds an event at your space) and their celebration is featured on our site, that celebration (plus the beautiful videos, photos, and details that come with it!) get linked to your wedding venue directory profile. As couples browse these weddings and events for inspiration of their own, your brand receives increased engagement and referrals back to your site. And our team works to make sure that your venue appears in its best possible light in every real-life wedding.

What’s more, when couples search Carats & Cake for venues like yours in our venue marketplace, your profile shows up in the results. That means if you’re a winery in Napa, your property will appear as an option when newlyweds-to-be search for vineyards in California. If you manage a resort in Miami, it’ll show up when couples or event planners are looking for hotels in Florida.

If it helps to see an example of what your venue directory profile will look like, you can explore existing profiles on our site. For instance, check out the latest weddings and venue description at Four Seasons Resort Lanai, or recent celebrations and image portfolio at the Rainbow Room in New York City. 

Finally, when you create or claim your profile in our venue marketplace, you can also navigate to our venue directory login on your page to make changes as you see fit, whether you want to switch up your profile description that we list on our site or add links to your social channels. Just click on “Update My Profile” on the bottom left of the page.

3. Benefit from Curated Editorial Coverage

In addition to constantly publishing new weddings, our team is always writing fresh content that makes your venue directory profile even richer. Whether we’re rounding up the most unique wedding venues, the top spots to get married in California, or sharing a behind-the-scenes look at a couple’s wedding, there are tons of opportunities for your venue to get featured in our heavily searched-for organic content. 

While we can’t necessarily guarantee editorial coverage, your free profile always includes any mentions of your venue across our site. What’s more, any time your property is featured in our editorial content, we’ll link to your profile in that article. That means if we include your space in a round-up, feature a celebration held in your space, interview an expert from your venue, or write anything else involving or mentioning your property, you’ll be credited with a link to your venue marketplace profile. (And vice-versa: The latest editorial coverage you’re featured in is linked on your venue directory profile, making it easy for couples and vendors to check out.)

For instance, on Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyard’s wedding venue directory profile, you’ll find not only the weddings featured on the property, but all of the editorial content associated with it. For example, on their profile, you’ll find our spotlight article on the venue, “One Venue, Three Ways: Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards.” You can read through Sofia and Connor’s journey of planning their cottagecore wedding at the property, and even Pippin Hill’s expert tent wedding advice in our roundup of pro tips on the subject by clicking on the story. The editorial options are endless—as are all the links back to your venue directory profile and, ultimately, your own site.

4. Get a Boost from Our Social Media Channels

When you list your venue in our event directory, not only will your space benefit from real-life wedding features, a consistently updated profile, search result appearances, and curated editorial coverage, you’ll have the chance to take advantage of our multi-platform social media promotions, a marketing vertical that grows increasingly crucial to promoting venue spaces. Our team creates authentic, timely features showcasing venues every day, which are then shared with our growing social audience across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter. That coverage is no joke: Our platforms generate 40 million social impressions each month, courtesy of our nearly 600,000 follower-strong audience across channels.

Again, we can’t guarantee social media coverage, but we routinely highlight a range of weddings, venues, and vendors on our channels. For instance, check out this Instagram post highlighting a jaw-dropping celebration at the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort in Puerto Rico, filled with photos showcasing everything from the lush outdoor ceremony to the jaw-dropping reception set-up. Or, feast your eyes on this Instagram post featuring a boho wedding in the Utah desert at The Red Earth Venue, which spotlights the scenic views and how the couple made this unique space their own.

Or, hop over to our TikTok to watch a video marveling at Villa Balbiano in Lake Como, or check out one couple’s memorable restaurant celebration at Eleven Madison Park in New York City. On YouTube, watch an exclusive tour of Pippin Hill Farms & Vineyards in our new Site-Seeing series. And see an array of gorgeous imagery at various venues, article links, viral videos, and beyond on our Facebook page, like this stunning destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. You’ll also find timeless venue inspiration on Pinterest and venue features, plus story links and more, on Twitter.

No matter the channel, once your profile is set up in our venue directory, you have the opportunity to enjoy a social spotlight on your space and referrals back to your page. (Yes, please!)

How to join our wedding venue directory (for free!)

It’s easy (and completely free) to list your venue and join our venue marketplace of nearly 40,000 other venues and event professionals. You may even have a profile already created for your space, in which case, all you need to do is claim it (which we’ll go over below). Either way, here’s how to join our venue directory with a profile, or claim an existing page.

How to Claim an Existing Venue Directory Profile (and Check to See if You Have One)

As we mentioned before, you might already have a venue directory profile if a member of our community tagged you at an event. (For instance, if a couple submitted their wedding to our site that was held at your property, our team already made a profile for your space.) 

To see if that’s you, search your venue name on our site. If you have a profile, your venue will pop up on the results page. Next step: Claiming your wedding venue directory profile, which gives you more control of your page and allows you to make changes as needed. All you need to do is click on the “Claim My Profile” link in the upper right of your venue directory profile, and follow the steps provided!

Once you’ve claimed your profile, you can make any changes you’d like (such as the address or property description) as needed. To update your venue directory profile, go to your page, scroll down to the “Meet the Venue” section. Under the “Visit Their Website” button, you’ll find an “Update My Profile” link in light gray, which acts as a gateway to your venue directory login. Click that and follow the instructions from there, and you’re all set!

How to Create a Venue Directory Profile

If you don’t have a venue directory profile on our site yet, fear not: It’s super easy to set one up. All you need to do is fill out the form at the bottom of our Create, Claim, or Update Your Profile page, and a member of our team will send you an email with the next steps. Et voilà!

Of course, if you run into any questions or just want more information, one of our experts can help.

Joining Carats & Cake’s venue directory is free, easy, and endlessly beneficial. When you create or claim your profile in our venue marketplace, you join the fastest growing community of wedding and event professionals (as a reminder, that includes 40,000 vendors and more than 3,000 active venues). 

Becoming part of our wedding venue directory also allows your brand to benefit from our marketing efforts. Not only will couples be able to browse weddings hosted at your venue (entirely by our team), but they’ll be able to easily read more about your venue description and check out your brand’s own site directly.

On top of a consistently refreshed profile, your brand has the opportunity to enjoy sought-after editorial coverage when you join our wedding venue directory. That includes placements in stories rounding up the best venues around the globe, behind-the-scenes interviews with couples who’ve gotten married at your property, and much more. Meanwhile, your brand can receive even more love from features on our social media channels, from an engaging Instagram carousel to a unique TikTok that goes viral with more than a million views. Our marketing, editorial, and social efforts become yours, too, which extends your brand’s visibility, engagement, and traffic.

Long story short? Joining Carats & Cake’s venue directory allows your venue to benefit from the unique exposure that our audience and promotional efforts provide. And by the way, what we offer brands doesn’t stop at marketing: We offer an invoicing and payments operating system for events that streamlines invoicing, contracts, and payment processing, all while extending your brand’s presence. To learn more, check out our Event Sales Reinvented page and request a demo from a member of our team.

More about Carats & Cake

Carats & Cake delivers the revenue optimization platform for property groups, transforming the $100 billion annual events industry. As a rapidly evolving proptech platform, Carats & Cakes drives greater value for properties across events, small group sales, and other areas of business that have lacked purpose-built digital solutions. Built by industry leaders, Carats & Cake has cultivated nearly a decade of trust with best-in-class businesses. Founded in 2013 and backed by 1Sharpe Ventures, Founders Fund, Acrew Capital, Moore Specialty Credit, Correlation Ventures, SilverCircle, GMO VenturePartners, and others, Carats & Cake enables forward-thinking businesses in the hospitality industry to provide a modern customer experience while optimizing sales operations and increasing revenue.