Overall, planning a wedding can seem daunting and be a bit overwhelming! From feeling the pressure to narrow or expand the guest list, to ensuring that perfect dress fits in all the right places, and every detail in between, it’s important to feel you’ve made the right decision for you.
One of the biggest and most important pieces of the wedding puzzle is finding vendors that you trust to help make your big day everything you’ve always dreamed. Although you may not realize it, they are the people that keep the show going throughout the day! Your hair stylist and makeup artist start your day off strong while your wedding photographer keeps the rest of the day on schedule, and then it’s up to your DJ to control the flow of the reception while you enjoy it. That being said, you have to take your time and learn whatever you can about vendors before booking.
I’ve compiled some tips for finding wedding vendors that will make your day the best it can be!
WORD OF MOUTH
One of the best things you can do while planning your wedding is ask your family and friends for recommendations. While searching online and reading reviews can be a good starting point, I have found that hiring a vendor that someone personally recommended is much more trustworthy. When someone gives you a recommendation, it’s important to ask questions about their entire experience with a vendor—before, during, and after their wedding. Did they return emails promptly? How was their contract? Are they personable? These are a few of many good questions to keep in mind.
WEDDING BLOGS
Another fantastic resource for finding vendors is wedding blogs. A nice quality about such blogs is that all the vendors from the day you are seeing pictures of will be tagged, so it will be much easier to track down that florist that designed the beautiful bouquets you fell in love with on the site! This is an especially smart place to search for a wedding photographer. If you see a photographer’s pictures in a blog post, you’re able to check out their website from there and contact them if you’re interested. Seeing that a photographer took the time to submit photos sends the message that he or she cares about the work and wants to have it featured. Who knows, maybe your wedding could end up being featured as well! Take some time, poke around different sites, and hopefully you can find good vendor potentials!
Some of my favorite wedding blogs are Our Day, Green Wedding Shoes, and Lace & Loyalty. Check them out!
ASK YOUR CURRENT VENDORS
One last method of finding wedding vendors is asking your current vendors! If you already have your DJ booked, ask him to refer you to a photographer. Or if you have a photographer booked, ask about a favorite videographer. Being that they are in the wedding industry full-time, they gain a lot of exposure to other businesses and constantly cross paths with other vendors. Vendors all work together during your wedding day, and if they can pass along a name of someone they work well with and know is of high quality, it helps make things run smoothly.
It’s a short list but these are a few of the best tips in my experience to find wedding vendors. The most imperative thing to remember is to pick vendors you feel comfortable with and view as the best investment for your day!