Perhaps the largest and most daunting task of planning a wedding is finding and selecting your team of wedding vendors. There are hundreds of wedding vendors in any particular region with a huge range of costs. It can be difficult to know where to begin in finding the right vendor who who can provide exactly what you are envisioning, and that you’ll mesh with personality-wise, and finally that is at the right price point. Not to mention making sure that you are hiring someone reputable who will deliver on their promises and not leave you with a terrible experience. So how do you start?
If you choose to hire a wedding planner they can be a HUGE asset when it comes to selecting vendors. Planners that have been in business for many years and planned hundreds of weddings know who’s who in their industry. They can par down the list of dozens of possible vendors into a select few that will be a great fit for both your style and budget and therefore save you tons of time. They also know which vendors don’t live up to the hype, which vendors are not very experienced, which vendors are not priced fairly, and which vendors you should downright AVOID like the plague.
Regardless of whether you choose to work with a planner or not, the steps to finding the right vendors for you will still be similar. The first step is to RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Begin perusing wedding planning guides, websites, blogs, and magazines to get good feel for what vendors are in your area. If you have already booked a venue or another vendor, ask them who they love to work with. If you keep seeing and hearing the same names over and over again, that is a good sign that the vendor is professional and reputable. Start a list of those vendors that stand out to you and whose work you really enjoy. Once you have a good list going, check out the vendor’s website and/or blog and really spend some time on it. You can get a really good feel for not only a vendor’s work but also their professionalism, style, and voice through their website and blog. Read any past reviews you can find from former couples and be sure that any vendors you are considering seem to be reputable businesses (i.e. are experienced, hold a business license, carry liability insurance, pay their taxes, and belong to industry groups and associations).
By now the list should be getting shorter and the next step will most likely cut out even more options. Get in touch with each vendor and make sure they are available for your wedding date AND in your budget! I’m going to assume that you’ve already created a realistic wedding budget and your vendor search may make you realize that your expectations aren’t exactly in-line with reality. If this is the case, it may be time to revise your budget a bit before continuing. But in any case, find out at least a rough idea of the cost of each of the vendors you are considering. Not all vendors give out their full pricing via email or phone but they should certainly at least give you their starting price and an idea of what clients typically spend when booking them. This is key, since the starting package for a vendor may look extremely affordable but if it doesn’t include much, it’s not going to help you. For example, say you have budgeted $5,000 for photography and are hoping for a package that includes 10 hours of coverage, 2 shooters, an engagement session, a bridal session, a disc of high-res images, and a 30 page album. Then you come across a great photographer who’s starting package is $3,500. You think, “yay! they are perfect and in my budget!”. You don’t want to find out after you’ve fallen in love with them at a meeting that actually their $3,500 package only includes 5 hours of coverage and a disc of images and everything you want is going to cost close to $7,000. You have then wasted both your time and theirs. So do the extra research to be sure each vendor is truly in your budget. If when contacting a vendor they refuse you give you any sort of pricing (even a starting price) via email or phone, I suggest moving on. I personally don’t like those who do business that way, it’s best when vendors are open and honest up front.
Finally, choose the vendors that you want to set appointments with. I usually suggest 2-3 vendors for each vendor category. If you meet with any more than that, first of all the meetings will take a TON of your time, and secondly it becomes very overwhelming and hard to make a decision after meeting with too many choices. So par your list down and choose your top two if you can. If after meeting those two choices you still aren’t wildly excited about either one of them, then cross those off the list and pick another two to meet with.
Hopefully after this process you find vendors that are a great fit for your style, personality, AND budget, and that also leave you with a lot of confidence that they will do a wonderful job on your wedding day!
Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner
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