What comes first?

You really should have the venue locked down first, that way your date is locked down and you can give that date to each of your vendors. From there, you can hire in whatever order you'd like. However, you could reach out to the photographer and see what dates she/he has available, and book her for one of those available dates and find a venue with that availability (really not recommended, but an option). You run the risk of hiring a photographer for a date that an ideal venue isn't available for, book a different date for the vendor with the idea the photographer can also move the date, but can't and you lose out on deposits.

ETA - Feel free to contact them though and let them know that you're highly interested in their services but do not have a date locked down yet but you are thinking of 5/22/20. Sometimes they may "pencil" you in and give you a courtesy call if another couple is looking to book for the same date.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. Normally the first thing people get is the venue as it sets a tone for the wedding, but as long as you pick a venue that your photographer can travel to you should be good! I only say that as some photographers will only travel a certain distance from where they’re based. Congratulations though! That’s exciting!

I'm getting married September 1 this year, the very first vendor I contacted was a photographer and for them booked, I knew where the ceremony would be because we are doing it outside at a family members farm, but I just booked the hall for our reception last week. I think its completely fine looking into a photographer first!

Hi Katie! Great question! I recommend checking out the following planning resources for guidance:

- What's your Wedding Planning Next Step?

- Which Planning Tool Should You Use?

I would also recommend using our planning checklist!

Best of luck!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts! maybe i just have the "newly engaged wedding bug" or something lol, i want to get everything done RIGHT NOW even if i still have 2 years! we'll be touring a venue mid june (we unfortunately don't have any availability personally until then!), so maybe i'll just wait and see how our venue search goes first!

I would highly recommend booking a venue first. But if worst comes to worst and your venue doesn't have the date you pick with your photographer, you may be able to change the date with your photographer if they still have it open.

I would do venue first. Our venue requires one of 5 caterers, and we toured other venues that had required vendors that either they wouldn't budge on or you paid a fee to use a different vendor. We got engaged in December, and our wedding is July 2019. We booked the venue in March, and since then I've booked photographer, hair and makeup, month of coordinator, florist, and the hotel block. We are close to booking the caterer, baker, and officiant. Then need to do videographer and DJ. From my experience, I didn't have any vendors that were booked 19 months in advance when I contacted them.

IMO, you should 100% book your venue first. Reach out to the photographer, get some info, let them know your interested. But until you book the venue you can't be 100% sure of when your wedding is.

Venue first thag is a must, you cannot book anything else until the venue is locked down. Then I would advice on booking your officiant or ceremony site especially if your wedding is during a busy season. Then book your photo and video this is important if you want to get a particular photographer, entertainment then florist. We booked our florist and limo a few months before our wedding and there were no issues.

The first vendor i contacted was my photographer because i wanted him really really bad. I don’t think you should set a date with the photographer before finding your venue bc it might makes things difficult , but maybe you can ask the photographer to let you know if someone else contacts him interested in the same date? That’s what I did and it worked out well, I called all the vendors i wanted and found a date that they were all available . I wanted my wedding on Sunday but my photographer had every Sunday booked so i settled for a Saturday. If i had already booked my venue for Sunday i would’ve missed out on my photographer!! So I’d suggest calling vendors first then setting a date

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I agree with this 100%. Venue should be selected and deposit put down first. You don't have a wedding date until you book a venue. But, I think contacting the photographer you really like with your ideal date is definitely okay. A DJ we were interested in held our date for two weeks while we "shopped" around for DJs (we had already booked the venue).

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I understand, I was the same way! I was so anxious about getting a venue right away so I can start planning. I got the major vendors out of the way by 20 months before the wedding

I wouldn’t do anything before booking your venue. That is definitely #1 priority! I wouldn’t consider your date your date until you have a venue booked with deposit paid!

Once you have a date and location, you can narrow down vendors and reach out for their availability. If you already know a photographer you like, you could get in touch now, but definitely wouldn’t be able to hash out the details until you know where and when the wedding is (you probably don’t know the number of hours you need, for example, until you know the plan for your getting ready, ceremony, and reception locations).

I found theknot todo checklist very helpful. i would say venue as vendor first though. if your heart is set on the photographer, it's not weird at all. you'd want to book them before they get booked on your wedding day if it is set for 5/22/20. not sure if theres a chance your wedding day will change and you have signed contract for 5/22/20 with your photographer and will be SOL

Thank you everyone!!

I would make sure you have a venue set in stone before you book any other vendor. You never know, the venue may be booked for your original day that you want.

I picked my photographer first because I KNEW they were the ones we wanted. We set a tentative date but they had flexibility. I'll say it was stressful though, because we hadn't actually locked in our date yet. Everything turned out fine because December weddings aren't as popular as May or June weddings but it was a stressful week or so until we signed that venue contract and locked in our date.

The venue comes first. You need to make sure the venue has the date you want available so the photographer can see if they are available that day. You can contact them and tell them your estimated date though and maybe they'll put a soft hold on it?

You need a venue first, no venue=no date. This far out, you have a lot of time to find vendors so I'd get the basics first. The where and when.

There is nothing wrong with contacting the photography if you REALLY want them and possibly they can hold the date you want until you find a venue, but most won't sign a contract until they can have a solid date in the contract.

Once you have your date locked down, I'd suggest hiring the most important vendors to you, for us, it was catering and DJ so we found them first. Good luck in your planning! It's good to get ahead of the game, but with two years, you definitely have plenty of time to find great vendors and book them. I used a calendar and each month gave myself a few tasks here and there to make me feel like I was still planning while not overwhelming myself.

This far out in the game, I'd find the venue and lock the date, then hire the photographer if you're crazy about them, and any other vendor you have to have, then hang tight and research decor, colors, etc. those are things you can wait on.

We booked our photographer first. Venue second and cake after that. Ended up changing venues a month ago and all worked out fine with keeping our date.