Image Courtesy: Hayne Photographers
I think the easiest way to give pointers to our readers is to just bullet a few topics. Below are 5 tips to help ensure that you have the wedding day you have always envisioned:
1. Have a mutual rapport with your potential vendor before you sign a contract. Make sure that you feel you will trust them and will have an enjoyable working relationship because it doesn't matter how amazing you think a vendors work is if the rapport is not up to par. If there is tension between you and your booked vendor it will absolutely show in their work. You want them to create beautiful flowers for you out of love, or to take amazing pictures because they love working with you and want to see you happy. If there is animosity in the client/vendor relationship then the best foot might not be put forward on behalf of either party.
2. Trust your vendors. Understand that a respectable vendor is going to give honest feedback and will use their years of experience to give you the best service possible. If a makeup artist that has been in the wedding world for 20+ years tells you down to the minute the amount of time they need to service you and your bridal party...trust them. If you have valid questions by all means ask, but don't create your own schedule based on the amount of time you believe they need.
3. Respectable vendors recommend vendors to you based on their experience. This is a topic that always gets me. Personally, as a vendor I only recommend other vendors that I have had an amazing experience with and those that I would trust with my own event. (this doesn't mean we don't work with new vendors, it just means we can only educate our clients off of the feedback we receive from other vendors in the industry) While I can't speak for all planners or vendors I don't recommend other vendors based on some sort of kickback I might receive as a gift for a recommendation. With that said...We have to share the bad as well. If a former client is suing their photographer because they haven't received their wedding pictures over a year after their big day, we are going to tell you. This isn't to ruin your hopes and dreams for a wedding photographer, it's to save you the upset after the wedding.
4. Communication is key! Here is the fine line, it's important that all vendors treat you with respect and respond to you in a quick response time...but it is also important that clients understand that a Friday or Saturday email to a wedding vendor might not be responded to until the Monday or Tuesday after a wedding weekend. This isn't because your wedding vendor is ignoring you, it's because they are taking care of another client on their wedding weekend the way that you would want to be taken care of on yours.
5. Social Networking is not the way to communicate with your wedding vendors. Yes, Social Networking (Facebook, google+, twitter) are all great ways to see what is happening with your photographer, florist, videographer, etc. it is not the place to contact them about pricing, a product you'd like to receive or anything of importance. Social networking is a great tool, but all important communication about your event should be left to a phone call or an email to their proper email address. Many vendors don't even personally update their social networking: they have staff, interns, marketing associates, etc that create these posts and keep up with the items that take up a lot of time but don't necessarily need to be done by the owner...with this said, if you'd like a response in a respectable amount of time and by the person that you intend it to go to, please call or email your vendors directly.
1. Have a mutual rapport with your potential vendor before you sign a contract. Make sure that you feel you will trust them and will have an enjoyable working relationship because it doesn't matter how amazing you think a vendors work is if the rapport is not up to par. If there is tension between you and your booked vendor it will absolutely show in their work. You want them to create beautiful flowers for you out of love, or to take amazing pictures because they love working with you and want to see you happy. If there is animosity in the client/vendor relationship then the best foot might not be put forward on behalf of either party.
2. Trust your vendors. Understand that a respectable vendor is going to give honest feedback and will use their years of experience to give you the best service possible. If a makeup artist that has been in the wedding world for 20+ years tells you down to the minute the amount of time they need to service you and your bridal party...trust them. If you have valid questions by all means ask, but don't create your own schedule based on the amount of time you believe they need.
3. Respectable vendors recommend vendors to you based on their experience. This is a topic that always gets me. Personally, as a vendor I only recommend other vendors that I have had an amazing experience with and those that I would trust with my own event. (this doesn't mean we don't work with new vendors, it just means we can only educate our clients off of the feedback we receive from other vendors in the industry) While I can't speak for all planners or vendors I don't recommend other vendors based on some sort of kickback I might receive as a gift for a recommendation. With that said...We have to share the bad as well. If a former client is suing their photographer because they haven't received their wedding pictures over a year after their big day, we are going to tell you. This isn't to ruin your hopes and dreams for a wedding photographer, it's to save you the upset after the wedding.
4. Communication is key! Here is the fine line, it's important that all vendors treat you with respect and respond to you in a quick response time...but it is also important that clients understand that a Friday or Saturday email to a wedding vendor might not be responded to until the Monday or Tuesday after a wedding weekend. This isn't because your wedding vendor is ignoring you, it's because they are taking care of another client on their wedding weekend the way that you would want to be taken care of on yours.
5. Social Networking is not the way to communicate with your wedding vendors. Yes, Social Networking (Facebook, google+, twitter) are all great ways to see what is happening with your photographer, florist, videographer, etc. it is not the place to contact them about pricing, a product you'd like to receive or anything of importance. Social networking is a great tool, but all important communication about your event should be left to a phone call or an email to their proper email address. Many vendors don't even personally update their social networking: they have staff, interns, marketing associates, etc that create these posts and keep up with the items that take up a lot of time but don't necessarily need to be done by the owner...with this said, if you'd like a response in a respectable amount of time and by the person that you intend it to go to, please call or email your vendors directly.
I hope these 5 tips find you well and help create a proactive and well-received relationship between you and your wedding vendors. All of the items we touched on are topics of recent feedback from clients and vendor friends, so we thought it was a great topic to write about.
Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Just email antonia{at}antoniachristiansonevents{dot}com
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