Wedding Venue General Manager

Job Description

Job Description

General Manager in Training (GMIT)

Location: La Jolla, CA Base Pay: $75,000 – $83,430 Quarterly Bonus: $2,500 ($10,000 annually) Training Completion Bonus: $5,000 First-Year Total Earning Potential: $90,000 – $98,430 Plus full benefits, 401(k) match, paid time off — and, once you're a GM, eligibility for our Employee Ownership Program. Details below.

You're not applying for a training program. You're applying to run a venue.

Most hospitality companies promise growth and hope you stop asking. We publish the number instead: more than 80% of our General Managers and Regional Managers were promoted from within.

The General Manager in Training program is how you get on that list.

This isn't an entry-level course. It's a 6–12 month development track built for experienced hospitality leaders who already know how to run a floor, hit a number, and hold a team accountable — and who now want to run the whole operation.

About Wedgewood Weddings & Events

For over 40 years, we've helped couples celebrate life's biggest moments while making the planning process simple and enjoyable. Today we're one of the nation's largest venue and event companies, with more than 90 locations across the country — and we're still growing.

Our all-inclusive approach frees our teams to focus on what actually matters: exceptional hospitality and unforgettable experiences for every client and guest. Weddings, corporate events, social celebrations — we believe great events start with great people.

That growth is the whole point of this role. Every new market means new venues, and every new venue needs a General Manager who already runs the Wedgewood way.

So we built a way in. GMIT takes proven hospitality leaders from outside the company and teaches the model from the ground up — deliberately, thoroughly, and a lot faster than working your way up would take. You come in with the leadership. We compress the learning curve.

Why Our GMs Stay

They run their venues like owners. You won't be executing someone else's checklist. Wedgewood General Managers own their P&L, build their teams, set the tone for their property, and are measured on results — not activity. If you've spent years running someone else's playbook and wanted the keys, this is that.

Ownership doesn't mean isolation. Our centralized HR, marketing, and accounting teams handle the back office so you can focus on your venue and your people. And our network of General Managers is a real bench — people who've already solved the problem you're facing and will pick up the phone.

And ownership isn't just a mindset here. It's a payout.

Employee Ownership Program

At Wedgewood, the people driving our success share in it. As a General Manager, you're invited into our Employee Ownership Program - a compensation opportunity tied directly to the company's financial performance and growth.

If Wedgewood hits its long-term financial targets, you earn a significant payout on top of your standard bonus, putting you in the same seat as the investors backing this company's growth. Payouts are tied to tenure and other performance factors, and can range from 4 to 18+ months of salary.

We built it to attract and keep operators who think like owners - because here, you are one.

What the Program Actually Looks Like

You'll train side by side with one of our top-performing General Managers at a Wedgewood Weddings venue — not shadowing from a distance, but working the business.

Over 6–12 months, you'll master:

• Full venue operations — culinary, sales, event planning, and banquet execution, and how they depend on each other

• Leading sales — our General Managers are sales leaders. You'll coach and develop your sales team, drive booking performance, and own the revenue that follows 

• Building a team — recruiting, training, coaching, and developing people who stay

• Owning the numbers — revenue, labor, cost control, and reading a P&L like a decision-making tool

• High-volume event execution — delivering the day flawlessly, at scale, under pressure

• Setting the culture — we like to have fun, we work as one team, and we trust people to own their piece of the day. Your job is to protect that. 

Where You'll Land

We place GMITs based on your parameters and where our openings are. With 90+ locations nationwide, that can mean staying local in Southern California, moving elsewhere in the region, or taking a venue in another state.

Candidates open to relocation have the widest range of opportunities and typically move into a GM role fastest. Tell us where you stand either way - flexibility opens more doors, staying local is workable, and we just need to know what we're planning around.

You Are

• An experienced hospitality leader with 3+ years managing teams in venues, restaurants, hotels, catering, events, retail or a sales-driven service environment

• Confident leading sales — you've coached sellers, managed a pipeline, or carried a booking target, and you know how to lift a team's numbers rather than just your own 

• Comfortable owning a number — you've carried revenue, labor, or cost responsibility and know what it feels like when it's on you

• Energized rather than rattled by high-volume, fast-paced operations

• A real coach — you develop people through accountability and encouragement, not one or the other

• Organized and detail-driven, because weddings don't offer do-overs

• Fluent in the business tools of the job — P&L reporting, CRM, event management systems, and the Microsoft Office suite

On the schedule: weddings happen on weekends, so our GMs work most of them. What you won't be doing is closing down a bar after midnight or working every holiday.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Competitive pay and performance-based bonus opportunities

• Medical, dental, vision, life, accident, and supplemental benefits, plus a company-funded Health Reimbursement Account