So you’re going to get married! Congratulations! This is a special time in your life, planning your celebration and yes, dealing with some stress that goes along with it. It’s a big monetary investment!
When you begin your quest to plan your awesome day to share with family and friends, you’ll begin the process of interviewing your potential wedding vendors. Here are some tips that may help you along the way, as to what to expect.
tips on what to expect from your wedding vendor consultations
1. vendors will give you lots of free advice, about other vendors.
When you meet with your potential wedding venue, photographer, videographer, DJ, etc. you may ask or they may give you advice on other wedding vendors they know that is good. Wedding venues like to refer (in general) vendors that they have worked with before and enjoy having at their venue. This does not necessarily mean that they won’t work with others, it’s based on their experiences. Every vendor has an opinion, which they are entitled to have. However, when a wedding planner gives you advice on a vendor, they will take into account your overall budget and your personality. This makes for a great match and ultimately a wedding dream team. Planners have a wider breadth of vendors to suggest to you for your wedding day. Consider it a more ariel perspective, as we work with all the vendors, in every aspect of the day. We know their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, a fabulous caterer that performs better for a small gathering would not be necessarily someone to recommend for a 450-guest wedding at a private residence.
2. don’t pump wedding planners for lots of free referrals.
While we don’t necessarily charge for vendor referrals (some planners do, and that’s fine). It is our business to know wedding vendors that may be a great fit for you (see above). By contracting a wedding planner, they will then start with building the proper wedding team. Asking a planner on floor plans, venues to recommend, where we get the products we order and more puts us in a problematic situation. We need to prove to you that we know what we are knowledgeable and experienced, but we can’t give away all our secrets before you actually become our paying clients. Or, we won’t stay in business. We hope you understand.
3. do not expect them to lower their prices for you.
Everyone has a story. And while we appreciate that, we also have a story. For instance, making a living that will sustain our businesses and families. Negotiation is fine, it’s part of doing business. But we are not able to give away “free services” or “free products” to every client that we meet. Think of it this way, what if your boss came to you and said, “(Your Name), next week you need to work your usual 40 hours and perform your very best, but I am going to pay you 20% less. Thanks, see you next week”. That wouldn’t fly, right? And if you DO negotiate, remember it needs to be a win-win situation for both parties.
final thoughts: please be sure you’re on the same page before you meet with a vendor. You cannot believe how incredibly awkward it is to smile, while a couple argues in front of you. We’re not judging, we ALL argue with our S.O.’s. But we don’t want to listen to it at our first meeting. Think about the child who says, “I cry when Mommy and Daddy fight”. Yeah. That’s us. Awkward.
and remember: every wedding vendor wants to help you. We want to make money, we want to stay in business, and we want to work like crazy to make sure YOUR day, is a celebration that everyone will remember.
Have any questions? Post them and we would love to answer!
featured photo credit: jesse and gena weddings
plan on!
Hi Sandra
I read your post and felt so connected to it. I am also a wedding planner and most of clients here in India i find have a totally different concept about wedding planners . They have a concept that a wedding planners have all in house services like catering , decoration or anything you talk about. They should understand that we as a wedding planners have a vendors contact and the money these vendors are charging are not going in our pocket . I think everyone should read this blog before hiring a planner.I definitely want to share you post with everyone. You have in a way very explained the job of a wedding planner
Thanks for reading Monisha, I’m glad you liked it! After thirteen years doing this crazy, but fabulous job .. I do have a way of explaining things. Straight up #realtalk ! Have a great day.
Hi Saundra!
I found this article very interesting. What made you choose to be in the event business? What is your biggest challenge about being in this business?
Great post! This is extremely helpful. If you want another goldmine of information, check out this event planning post http://www.krsevents.com/single-post/2017/05/15/4-Tips-Every-Professional-Event-Planner-Follows
Great post..
I found post is very interesting
Thanks for sharing.
Nice Post. Thank You
Congratulations on celebrating ten years of the Planning Forever Events blog! We appreciate the insightful content shared over the years, and it’s inspiring to see such dedication to the event planning industry.