Vendor shopping

Already married and it really varied. We toured 7 venues, but I researched and reached out to more than that. However, I had a general idea of what I wanted which helped narrow down my choices. I knew I wanted the reception to be in a ballroom and I wanted a place that we could have the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception at without having to flip the room. I also knew I didn't want anything rustic since I'm not a fan of rustic weddings and that alone eliminated a ton of options since rustic is so popular. For officiants, I lost track of how many I researched. For DJs I only reached out to the ones our venue listed on their recommended vendors list which was about four companies. For hair and makeup I reached out to countless. But for photography I knew before I was even engaged who I wanted to use. A friend of mine used that photographer so I only reached out to that photographer and she was available and within my price range so I didn't research anyone else. For flowers, I used the same florist as my brother. I did research some others, but only a few.

I think it depends on each person. I’m very type A, analytical, and detail-oriented, so I was considering 10-20 vendors at a time during initial stages of research 😂 (yes I had a spreadsheet). But that’s definitely not for everyone. Some May cap their vendor considerations at 3-5 and force themselves to make a decision from there. It all comes down with how much time and analysis you’re willing to put into the vendor booking. Good luck and congratulations!

We toured 4 venues. We also tried to meet with at least three different vendors in each category (3 DJs, 3 hair/makeup artists, etc), just so we had a few options of each to consider. After meeting with the second photographer that we talked to, we ended up booking with him and not meeting with a third photographer, but for all other vendors, we talked to at least three options. Things to consider in addition to pricing: take a look at years of experience, what they include, how you feel about working with them, read reviews of each option, etc., and use that information to help make a decision.

We liked the first venue we saw tbh. I only looked and talked to a handful of vendors for each category but I just kind of talked to people until I felt like I vibed with and connected with someone. I don’t think you can talk to too many people. You want to be sure! I never signed a contract though without at least an email or a zoom though. You can’t fully get someone’s vibe over email. Unfortunately though you can’t see into the future and you never really know how someone will be long term. I’ve gotten very lucky so far

View Quoted Comment Thanks . Me too. Im totally type A personality and even with the spreadsheet and notes, for planners, I find they’re all about the same price and all so sweet. It’s so hard to narrow it down. What process of elimination would you use at that point? I’m not sure if I should talk to all of them until it just feels right? I’ve had a couple where it truly feels right but some have less reviews etc. the hard part is, I don’t know what it will be like until they’re hired and reviews sometimes aren’t good though to go off of

View Quoted Comment Yes that’s the biggest problem I have with vendors especially planners and coordinators . Most of their pricing seems to be not far off and they all do the same thing so I am getting analysis paralysis. Maybe I should ask for a zoom meeting then? I’m not sure if that’s too much to ask for? Some seem to be old school and like the phones. How did you narrow yours down?

View Quoted Comment Same here the photography was easier to book cause I can visually see the work more so and musician probably isn’t too hard but what about planners or coordinators when I won’t know what they are truly like or what they’ll do for me until closer to the date of? They all seem organized and sweet from the ones I called and I feel a short one hour on the phone is hard to determine. Have you looked into booking wedding planner or coordinators yet and how did you decide? Just wondering

View Quoted Comment The only vendor I did over the phone was our DJ. But honestly I could tell if I liked someone over the phone. We talked with others on the phone that we didn’t like. But I don’t think asking for a zoom is too much! We decided based on their vibe, how responsive to emails they were (if they took longer than a week to respond to my initial email or message I didn’t book them) and whether I felt like they cared about what they did and enjoyed what they did. Checked all kinds of reviews. I realized I said email or zoom in my other comment. I meant phone and zoom but yeah I felt like zoom really helped. Most of our vendors offered it and seemed to prefer it that way

View Quoted Comment Reaching out to them is what will help narrow it down. Any that did not get back to me in time were crossed off. Sometimes we would find out certain things about a vendor after talking to them that we did not like and that would then help eliminate them.

I spoke to so many vendors my email( get a temporary one) was full and my notebook had so many notes. If you have a day of planner or someone who knows someone touch base and see who they have worked with or know someone.

I’m super type A as well and we looked at I think 10 venues in 2 states over 2 years. Lol I talked to 3 or 4 wedding planners and once I mailed that down vendors were much easier. My planner has a list of preferred vendors (so did my venue actually) and I just compared both lists and contacted those vendors.
I also used Google Drive for keeping all of my contracts, lists, and spreadsheets in one place. The drive was shared with my mom and MOH so everyone could be on the same page.

We did food tasting first and than the photographer.