It’s been two months since my last wedding update, and since my fiancé, Ryan, and I have started planning our big day – and I’m so excited to share with you some of the most important lessons we’ve learned along the way. I quickly realized that the first thing any wedding planning book or website told me to do was to look at my bridal timeline. You know, the intimidating one that’s broken up into daunting tasks of, “8-10 months out, 6 months out, etc.”? Though I was already months behind, first up on that checklist after selecting a date and venue was to select what I’m now referring to as my second family: our wedding vendors!
The thought of having to sort through and hand-pick the perfect team of people to help me make wedding vision a reality instantly overwhelmed me. With so many styles and options available, how does one ever narrow it down to just one vendor? With a bit of luck and following the tips below, we’ve now gotten through the bulk of our booking as quickly and pain-free as possible – keep reading below if you’re in need of some vendor-vetting advice!
Know Your Weaknesses & Outsource Help
Determine which part of the vendor selection process is the most intimidating to you. For me, it was having to research hundreds of local vendors and make inquiry phone calls to all of them. It was a process I didn’t see myself having the time or the organizational skills to handle. Because of this, one of my best bridal decisions yet has been to hire our wedding planner – Lauren Watson of Lion House. She has become my wedding fairy godmother, and knows the best in the biz, so I passed off the tedious parts of tracking down vendors to her and let Lauren work her magic. She eases my stress by sending me two or three of her favorites within my style and budget, and just like that, half of our wedding is already planned! Whether it be negotiating contracts or sending out emails, delegate a family member, friend or a hired hand to help with the task!
Set Top Priorities
One exercise our wedding planner had us do was to highlight our top three priorities for vendors. For Ryan and I, those were photographer, videographer, and overall vibe/aesthetic. This gave us a good idea of not only where to dedicate a significant portion of our budget, but also a starting place of who to contact first. Sit with your fiancé and determine where your priorities lie. If it’s florals and food, save room in your budget to be able to book exactly the vendors you want! Getting those most important vendors nailed down first has been a huge stress relief!
Ask the Right Questions
While there are more basic questions you obviously need to ask (dates available, prices, etc.), I’ve also found that asking some less common questions is key to determining if a vendor is the right fit. During our initial meeting with our wedding photographer, Autumn Harrison, we spent the better part of our meeting chatting about Netflix shows, places we’ve traveled, jobs and more. She told us later in the meeting she always likes to ask non-wedding related questions to get a feel for the couple’s personalities. I thought this was genius! We followed up by asking what she looks for in clients – turns out we were a perfect match for each other. This is something we’ve carried over into other vendor meetings we’ve had and it makes such a difference.
Another of my favorite questions to ask is, “How can you make the most out of my budget?” I’ve found that most vendors are completely willing to work with what you have to spend – whether it be negotiating or swapping packages around. Lesson learned here: it never hurts to ask!
Create the Dream Team
After booking my dream photographer and wedding planner, it was just the cherry on top that they actually knew each other. I felt an immediate peace of mind knowing that my vendors would mesh well and have a good flow of communication. If there’s a vendor you haven’t had luck finding, ask your vendors you’ve already hired if they have any recommendations. Chances are they’ve probably worked with several in the area, and could provide some good insight. While this won’t always be possible, it makes us feel so confidence that such a strong group of vendors will have our back on our wedding day. We’re only a couple months in and I already feel like we’re all BFF’s!
I hope that these tips are helpful and inspire you to find your dream vendors for your wedding day. Head to The M.A. Times Bridal Edit HERE for even more wedding day inspiration!
Photos by Ryan Sides
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This pictures are so so pretty and these are such great tips! Also, where is that cake from? Asking for a friend/might need to pick some of that up today.
xo, Shelby