Contact or No Contact

It's courteous to let them know you didn't pick them. You don't have to explain why.

If the extent of our interaction was "Hey, can I have more information on your X services?" and they replied with some details, then no.

If we had more communication and/or they said they had my date available, got to the point of drafting a contract, etc., then I would as a courtesy.

The only vendor that I got that far with that we didn't end up picking was a venue - and I think I actually forgot to send my "we booked another venue" email, eek. (Fortunately, we had booked 2+ years out and had a popular date, so I know the venue filled in that date quickly.)

In one bizarre interaction, a hair stylist that I had only requested pricing from -- over a year out from my date -- and never spoke to again... requested to be my friend on FB a couple months before my wedding and sent me a message about doing my hair. I had to awkwardly tell her that I only requested pricing, there was not a contract, deposit, or any other communication, and I that I booked someone else.

I let the majority of them know by sending an email, especially if they spent a good amount of time answering my questions.
I’m very glad I left everything on a good note with all the venues I had toured because due to Covid we ended up having to change venues, and pick one we had originally said no to.
You’re not required to send them an email but it’s nice to do so.

I would absolutely let them know that you don’t need their services. A simple, “Thank you for your information. We’ve decided to go with someone else.” is the courteous thing to do. In the wedding FB group I’m in, vendors are consistently saying how much they appreciate not being ghosted, even if they’ve only sent you a rate sheet.

For ones who inquired again about whether we wanted them, I politely told them we found someone else. But I didn't do it for every single
Vendor.

If they reached out to me again, then I would politely tell them that I found a different vendor that suited my needs.

I’m a current bride, AND I used to be a wedding vendor. Most people didn’t reach out which I thought was a bit rude, but that’s because I always reached out to follow up. I would say to definitely reach out to vendors who had good communication with you, took time out of their schedules etc.

I let the ones i didn't pick know that i went with someone else. that way they're not still thinking they have a chance or wasting their time trying to continually contact me

I've just been doing a quick email/text (depending how we've been communicating prior) saying just hey I'm sorry but we've decided to go with someone else. It's just polite.

If it was just someone I talked to for five minutes at a bridal show, or just requested a little information by e-mail then, I didn't. We went and saw several venues, though, and those people took significant time to talk to us, so I sent them a follow-up saying we went a different direction. (Some of them were actually quite rude when I said we went another direction)

Most of the vendors I was looking at communicated with me through email. We would talk on the phone for the first interaction and the rest was through email. Once my husband and I made our decisions, I sent an email to each vendor that we did not go with thanking them for their time and letting them know that we have gone with another vendor. I did get replies from most of the vendors thanking me for letting them know and them giving us their well wishes. There were a couple of vendors who never did respond, which was fine, it was important to me to let them know we had made a decision.