Choosing wedding vendors can be a daunting task. Prior to becoming a bride, I underestimated the time, organization and decision making that goes into selecting the right vendors for your wedding! While I had my dream wedding planned via Pinterest, Instagram saved archives, and within the dreams in my brain, it’s the vendors who are the ones to make those visions come to life!
I have to say, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have such wonderful and lovely vendors to work with! I’ve been so pleased with every decision we’ve made up to this point, and I am eagerly looking forward to the day I get to share all of the hard work from countless meetings and planning with them!
I also want to take a minute to say how incredibly grateful I am that our vendors have been heaven-sent angels during the postponement process, and truly made that transition seamless. We were able to re-secure all but one of our vendors, and have already found a replacement for that one that I am super excited about!
I cannot wait to share and forever brag on each of them after the wedding, but until then, I want to share a few tips for newly engaged brides beginning the vendor selection process.
1. Get organized & create an action plan
One of the very first things I did following our engagement was purchase my wedding planner, and set up an account on The Knot. The Knot app was a super helpful tool as it provided a timeline to help prioritize each decision. Once we set the date at our venue, from there I followed The Knot and my planner’s recommendations and timelines for securing vendors. It’s important to be prompt with that process and making those decisions because vendors book quickly and several months in advance!
2. The Hunt
I used The Knot’s vendor planning tool, local sites such as Brides of North Texas, referrals from friends, recommendations from our venue, and Instagram to find vendors to research. I would often save pictures from local or DFW weddings I liked on Instagram, and then use vendor tags from there to research. Also, utilize your friends who are newly-weds!! Real life reviews are so helpful in searching for the right vendor for you!
3. Research & pre-planning
Prior to selecting any of our vendors, lots of research was done! Any time I came across a potential vendor I would research their website, social media, and also look at reviews on sites like TheKnot and Wedding Wire. I had a specific vision and theme for our wedding in mind, and after that process of basically creeping on the vendor, I was able to easily make a decision as to whether or not I felt their work was something I’d be interested in. If I felt they were a good match, I would usually reach out via email or through their website contact page. If they were available on our date, we would begin the communication process!
It’s also really important to have a general idea of a budget prior to beginning the contact process, as that makes the selection of vendors much easier. Knowing how much you are willing to spend in a given area whether it’s on the venue, florals, catering, etc. will help to narrow the search. Occasionally you’ll find vendor prices on websites, however often times pricing information has to be obtained upon contacting them.
4. Communication is key.
Communication is SO so important y’all! And, by that communication you build relationships! Whether it’s through email, phone calls, or in-person meetings, communicating your wants, needs, and ideas to vendors will help to make the planning process so much easier. After the initial contact of meeting vendors, I would ask questions regarding their services, pricing, and specific ideas I had for their field of expertise for the wedding.
5. Trust your heart!
That sounds so cliché, but it is so true! There are so many talented vendors out there, and selecting the right one for you can be so hard! At the end of the day, do what feels right! When stuck, I would often asked myself, is this someone I will be excited to have there on the happiest day of my life with me (i.e. photographer, videographer, hair and makeup, etc.)? Or is this vendor’s work something I’ll be proud to share with our guests on that day (i.e. catering, cakes, DJ/band, etc.)?
I hope this is helpful for any bride beginning the wedding planning process! Like I said, vendor selection can be very overwhelming at first, but once it is done, the hard part is over, and you get to move on to the fun details of it all!
I can’t wait to share our full list of vendors with you! You may even see some of them not once, but twice! 🙂
44 and 128 days to go!
xx,
Madison
Love this!!! Glad to know I’m not the only one cyber stalking vendors too😅
Abilgail! Thanks for reading! And no you are definitely not the only one! 🙂