Timeline for Choosing Vendors

I personally would want to hire both of them ASAP, especially the photographer. Most caterers can accommodate multiple events in one day, so that isn't as concerning. A photographer with availability in one of the most (if not the most) popular wedding months, 9 months out, is going to be a rarity. I'm all for looking at your options, however, if you like his photography and he meets all of your other needs, I wouldn't keep looking just to look. You may be able to ask him to let you know if anyone else inquires about your date so that you have first dibs at putting down a deposit and signing a contract, but when it comes to hiring vendors, money talks. He may not wait around.

Thanks for the reply! I sent his portfolio to my cousin who is a photographer and she said that it does look like he knows what he's doing, so that was a comfort. But that's a good idea to just be candid with him. I will likely do that and see how the others pan out over the next few days.

Catering and photographer were the first things we locked down after securing the venue. We booked with a lot of notice (about 1.5 years ahead of time). You have a popular wedding month - I'd give yourself several options to choose among and do what you can to get meetings set up. Of course catering you will want to be in person (can you look at some reviews to at least narrow down who is likely to be solid?) - but we emailed the caterer that we wanted to go with if it all worked out and they had our date and when we met for a tasting they at least knew our date. I don't think they held the date for us per se, but if any availability changed in between the emailing and tasting they would have let us know. With our photographer, we emailed a bunch and then did a FaceTime with the one we picked. We knew we wanted to go with him so we didn't set up other meetings. Basically my philosophy has been to look at reviews, examples of work, and then set up a meeting with the one that looks the best - if everything looks good we went with them. It saved a lot of time doing constant comparisons. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with competition and good options this might also work well for you.

I would try to nail down the photographer soon. Even if it is the first you meet, if you click with them then I would hire them. My FH and I agreed that if we clicked with a vendor right away (as in we both did) we would hire them because we realized that vendors book up fast. We hired the first photographer and DJ that we spoke with. We liked them and thought they would be a good fit for us.

We've primarily been looking at caterer's that are preferred vendors for our venue. Only one of them has been very responsive and they also have some of the better prices, so we've already been in some discussions with them about our date and are pretty set about wanting them.

The photographer is the real scary one for me. I'm in Kansas City so lots of reviews and decent prices for the ones I'm looking at. That's good to know that you did a lot without meeting face to face. Thank you for the input!

I'm hearing more and more stories about people booking the first vendor they spoke with. Maybe that's not as crazy as I originally thought. We both had the same feeling about this guy that we met with. Food for thought. I really appreciate the help!

This was my order, I based it off of time restraints and personal priority:

- Venue (def do this first, everything else will likely depend on it)

- Caterer

- Photographer

- DJ

- Dress

- Flowers and all else

You don't necessarily have to meet with every vendor choice face to face. That could potentially be a huge waste of time for both you and them. Phone calls with photographers help. We met with one photographer and had a phone call with another and that was after I scoped out a bunch via email exchange. We had food included but generally catering and photographer are the first ones to lock in for sure. Photography was our first vendor booked then dj.

I would hire a photographer ASAP. The good ones tend to book up super fast. Our photographer was the 2nd thing we booked, right after our venue. I completely understand wanting to explore your options, but if a physical meeting isn't possible, maybe you could knock out several phone calls or FaceTimes with a few photographers in 1 day? Their portfolio and pricing won't change based on meeting in person or over the phone.

Go with your gut. If this guy seems like a good fit, I would book him.