Getting the most out of your wedding vendors

Rabidos and Rabidon'ts for making your wedding vendors go the distance for you.

The vendors you choose for your wedding are at the core to making your wedding dreams come true.  And the thing to remember is that your wedding vendors aren’t necessarily working “for” you, but rather “with” you.

So here are a few tips to make your wedding vendors work with you, which in turn will make them want to go a little further for you thus making your wedding fabulous and a little less stressful.

Rabido – When searching for vendors, let them know you’re shopping. This does two things, first they know you might just be getting started and feeling things out.  Second, they’ll be willing to offer up even more information so that you can be educated when narrowing down your selections.

Rabidon’t – Don’t ignore your vendors.  Whether it’s a potential vendor or one you’ve hired, responding to an email or voicemail within 24 hours isn’t just nice, it’s good business.  The idea that you’re too busy for your own wedding really doesn’t sit well with planners, photographers, DJ’s and venues.  Not responding signals that you don’t care about the efforts they’ve put into helping your wedding dreams come true.

Rabido – When you receive a proposal from a prospective wedding vendor, let them know you’ve received it, will review it and will get back to them in a timely manner.  That acknowledges that you’re keeping them top of mind.

Rabidon’t – Don’t be afraid to ask your prospective wedding vendors if they have any specials or discounts.  Wedding vendors will make concessions to work with you; after all they want the business.

Rabido – Do plan to tip your wedding vendors.  Of course tipping is up to you, but it’s always a nice thing to do.

Rabidon’t – Don’t forget to feed your wedding vendors on the day of your wedding.  Now this doesn’t mean you should set up a table at your reception, but you should arrange with your wedding venue or caterer a place behind the scene to feed them a hot meal.  And NO it’s not okay for the band, photographer, planner or any other vendor to drink at your wedding, but that’s another blog post for another day.

Rabido – And finally do trust your wedding vendors when they dole out advice.  They’ve been doing this a lot longer than you and know what will work and won’t work.

Until next time...

Cheers! 

Don't forget vendor meals. Your vendors need to eat too!

I've worked with more vendors that I can count and it always amazes me when I tell them that I negotiated with the client to have a hot meal on their behalf.  They are so excited and happy!

It also amazes me, when I have clients that don't understand the importance of a vendor meal, period!

I once had a client that refused to pay for any vendor meals because they felt they were paying premium for each vendor to service their wedding.  Regardless of what I told them ie; "your vendors can't leave to get something to eat", "they'll be working eight hours or more", etc, they didn't care, they weren't budging.  In this situation I was lucky because the venue fed them on their dime.

This is one discussion I have up front with my clients when I start looking at venues or caterers for their event.  I always present the options of a hot meal or a cold meal for the vendors so they have an understanding of what the costs are.  I stress the importance that while a hot meal may be more expensive it goes a long way in keeping the vendors happy.  And if you have happy vendors, no matter how much they are getting paid, you get much more out of them!

In most cases you don't have to worry because vendors like entertainment or photographer already have it in their contracts, but if they don't you'll want to find out how many people they will need to feed the night of your wedding.  And don't forget any tech people that may need to stay and run the sound and lighting boards.  They need to be fed too!

While we are the topic of feeding vendors, let's discuss a few of my pet peeves.

Don't give them "hot" leftover food from the cocktail hour.  A) that's demeaning, saying they aren't worth their work and B) often the vendors (photographers and band) are just getting started.  By the time they get to the food, it's cold or just scraps.  So don't allow your venue to talk you into this!

Don't allow your venue to set up a table in an area where guests can see them.  This goes for a table in the dining room with your guests, the entrance to the venue, etc.  Anywhere a guest can see your vendors sitting and eating, is a bad location.  Choose an area that's well lighted and private.  This allows you to keep a sense of elegance to your event and your vendors have an area where they let down their hair and be themselves.

Discuss the timing of the vendor meals with your Captain before your wedding. Many like to wait until all guests are served to feed the vendors.  This can backfire especially if you need the photographer and band / DJ present for any special songs / dances.  A well thought out timeline should have the vendors eating at the same time nothing is going on.  Like when the guests are eating.

I hope find these little tid bits helpful and stay tuned for my next blog...tipping vendors.

Until next time…

Cheers!