The wedding industry is quite unique for a variety of reasons. It’s a tight-knit community of people who are essentially in the business of love. We work with couples on one of the most meaningful and monumental days of their lives which can be extremely rewarding but also downright stressful at times. There are rarely repeat clients so we work super hard on one big day for which there are no do-overs, and then chances are, we probably won’t work with that particular client again since weddings are a one-time deal (there are exceptions to this for certain types of vendors). But don’t get me wrong, we love our jobs! We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t love watching couples exchange life-long vows and then throw a huge party afterwards.
There is something to be said however for treating your wedding vendors with kindness and respect. We love to work with couples who love and admire our work and we’ll go above and beyond for those couples who we have a real bond with. I truly believe the more positivity you put into the wedding planning process, the more positivity you’ll get in return. It’s a wedding after-all, it’s supposed to be wonderful! This week I thought I’d give some tips on how to have the best possible relationship with your vendors during the planning process, on wedding day, and long after!
- Choose vendors that you love! Don’t just hire someone based on price alone or because a friend referred them. There are plenty of vendors out there in every price range, so find one who’s work you admire and who’s personality you click with! You will be interacting with this person (or team of people) for many months so be sure you like them!
- Keep the lines of communication open. Stay in touch with your vendors, sometimes you may hire someone 14 months before your wedding so check in every 4-6 months, ask how business is going, and provide any new details about your wedding that they might need to know about. Before your wedding day provide your vendors with a detailed timeline of the wedding day (I’ve heard horror stories of vendors not being able to get in touch with brides before the wedding day and all they have is the location and time to show up but no other information, that’s just not very helpful). On the flip side, please don’t stalk your vendors. They don’t need six emails from you every day. And when you do email give them a chance to respond, sometimes it may take a few hours (or a couple days) to give you the answer you need.
- Go easy on them. Things might get stressful, sometimes mistakes happen, and you may feel the need to vent your frustrations but stick to the issue at hand and keep it brief. Vendors are trying to do their best job possible. We really do want you to have the best day imaginable.
- Feed your vendors on wedding day! This is often overlooked! You can not expect them to work a 14 hour day with no breaks and no food. Make sure to coordinate vendor meals with your caterer (your wedding planner can help with this as well). If it’s a buffet style dinner, often the easiest thing is for vendors to go through the buffet line after all the guests have sat down to eat their meals. If it’s a plated dinner, you can arrange for your caterer to provide boxed meals or sandwiches in a separate room. You and your guests won’t want photos or video of you eating anyway.
- If possible, make sure your vendors have a safe area to put their belongings. Photographers and videographers bring quite a bit of equipment and they can’t carry it around all night long. I always bring a suitcase full of emergency items and need a place to stash it out of the way. If you don’t provide a separate room or area, most likely it will get piled up in the corner of your reception space and that’s just not pretty.
- Finally, once wedding day is over and gone, say thank you! (If your vendors did a good job of course). A nice thank you note (and tip if it’s appropriate) goes a long way. Take some time to write recommendations on websites such as The Knot and Wedding Wire. It means a lot to vendors and really helps them book future jobs. And refer your friends and family!
Happy vendors make for a happy and wonderful wedding!
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