Tips for Creating Great Relationships with Your Wedding Vendors
Planning a wedding requires a whole village of wedding vendors - the caterer, florist, photographer, DJ, planner, and so many more. When you hire a wedding vendor you are placing your trust in the dream team you’ve curated that they will help bring your wedding vision to life. You’ll be working with these people A LOT so you want these relationships to be good ones… here are a few tips on connecting and working with your wedding vendors:
Be honest about your budget - do both of you a favor and be realistic about your budget, If you know you have a hard line and no wiggle room for flowers, let the florist know so that they know the constraints they have to work with. That makes it easier for them to honestly present options that meet your needs!
Communicate from the beginning- Don’t ghost your vendors. As you start the vetting process you’ll probably reach out to several companies for the same service. Once your decision is made, make sure to talk to the vendors that you didn’t contract with. Thank them for their time and the proposal they put together but that you went in a different direction.
Respect their time - just because you’re thinking about your wedding at all hours of the day doesn’t mean that you should text them at midnight. Your BFF might text you back within 30 seconds, but your venue coordinator probably won’t. Yes, you want to make sure that your wedding vendors get back to you in a timely fashion, but they may not be able to respond to your calls or emails for a few hours - and that’s fine. Ask what their preferred method of communication is (and expected response times) so that you know exactly what you’re in for from the get-go. Also, keep in mind that this is a two-way street, you need to respond to their queries in a timely fashion, too.
Stay Organized- Now, this is probably a no-brainer but staying organized will be vital as you plan your wedding! Keeping all of your important documents and notes in one place is a great way to keep track of things and creating a separate email account specifically for wedding vendor communication will also help a ton. You’ll want things organized so that you can easily reference them as your plans evolve and as you get closer to your big day. Make sure that if you create a new email account that you remember to actually check it too. ;)
Be on time for appointments - This goes back to respecting their time. Everyone has a busy schedule these days and just like you, they’re going from one thing to the next. If you know you’re going to be a few minutes late, let them know. If you aren’t going to be able to make it - just reschedule after letting them know in advance that you won’t be there.
TRUST THEM - they are the experts in their field and you hired them because you like their work.This is probably the first time you’ve ever planned a wedding which means that you most likely don’t know a whole lot about catering or wedding-day logistics so lean on their expertise because they know what they’re doing.
Let them know if there is a problem - vendors are people too and that is so important to remember. They want to do everything they can to make your wedding vision come to life so if at any point you become frustrated with their service or product, TALK TO THEM! Communicating with your vendors is a must and letting them know your frustrations gives them the opportunity to correct the situation.
Your wedding vendors are the bread and butter of your big day and creating awesome relationships with them is the best way to ensure your wedding dreams come true. What other tips do you have on connecting with vendors?