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 - you'll both get a lot further a lot faster if you're honest about your budget so that they know realistically what they can and can't make happen!
Communicate- this is THE most important part of building any relationship and that holds true with your wedding vendors. They are the bread and butter of your big day and in order for them to effectively and efficiently do their job, you need to make sure the lines of communications are open through the entire process. When you make major changes - make sure they know!
Be realistic in your expectations + 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 forty 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- I recommend getting a notebook or a binder to keep all important documents, contracts, and notes in one place so that you can easily refer back to them when needed. Another pro tip: create a new email account s p e c i f i c a l l y for wedding communication so that it doesn't get lost in the hundreds of other emails you might receive. If you do create this account, don't forget to check it! This is the email account that your vendors will be using to ask questions, communicate, and request meetings so its super important to keep a close eye on!
Be on time for appointments - this goes back to respecting your vendors time. They are going to give you 100% when you're with them, but they have lots of clients and probably have back to back appointments so make sure you're on time for your appointments or reschedule in advance if you know you're not going to be able to make it!
TRUST THEM - they are the experts in their field and you hired them because you like their work so let them work their magic!
Let them know if there is a problem - communicate with them and give them the opportunity to fix it. We are all human and we try to give each couple our all but as imperfect people, we too make mistakes.
If you're lucky (and you hire a wedding coordinator), you'll be able to create a freaking rockstar team of wedding vendors to help you flawlessly execute your dream wedding experience. I cannot wait to help make the magic happen and hopefully you'll be friends with all of your vendors by the time the venue lights go out at the end of your wedding day.
Happy Planning, Lovers!
-Eventfully, Jacqueline