When to Pay / Book Vendors

It's not uncommon. My venue was due in full at time of booking. My catering was $600 down, my dj was 50% down, my photographer was 25% down.

I agree, it isn’t uncommon. We booked an all inclusive venue (ceremony/reception venue, photography, catering, cake). We booked in January for our March 2021 wedding and had to put 25% down and then we have to make payments every 3 months.

All of our vendors required a deposit when we signed the contract. The venue (which included catering) required 1/3rd at signing, then another payment about halfway through and then the final payment the week of, after we gave final numbers. My DJ and photographer were a deposit and then the rest due at the event (we paid them a few days before just to have less on our plate day of).

$1200 for even dj, florist ? What’s ur budget for those, I feel like that’s a lot, maybe they are trying to get more money right now to cover this year?

50% up front deposit is normal

We had to put a 50% deposit down for pretty much all of our vendors.

Yea, a few vendors said the same to me, but they should be willing to work with you considering the circumstances we are all in right now. Also before paying anything make sure you read the contract thoroughly - a few vendors are changing contracts so they don’t lose money later. Trust your gut... everything will work out

We had to put down $2000 deposit for our venue then we had to put another $5000 a few months later and pay the rest before our wedding. We had to put $300 deposit for a photographer and a $100 for a deposit both of them want want the balance when we get married. It depends on the vendors as to how they conduct their business. See if you can pay on it throughout the year so that you can keep your vendors

I paid in March and April to contract with vendors for our February wedding. I would say do it. You're going to end up in steep competition with all the rescheduling couples if you wait.

Typically the placeholder deposits are due when you book (I.e. sign a contract). If you don’t have all of the $ ask about setting up payment plans.

View Quoted Comment Hi, not DJ or Florist.

Not uncommon at all. We have been paying on/paying off our vendors for over a year now. We also wanted to have everyone paid off early so we wouldn't be financially strapped going into wedding day.

It's very common for there to be a set deposit to hold the date for you, and this can vary from a set amount to a percentage of the overall package. Typically this deposit is non-refundable. With our vendors the deposits ranged from $100 to up $2,500 and ended up being anywhere from 10-50% of the total cost of the service we booked. The combined cost of deposits for our wedding ended up being about 20% of the total estimated cost of the wedding. For our vendors, final payments are due anywhere three weeks to the day of the wedding. None of our vendors have required payment of the balance more than a month ahead of time.

Our date is being impacted by Covid-19, we are now in the difficult position of deciding how to move forward. We've already invested a not insignificant amount of money, however the remaining 80% is in savings and we are worried about the economy and our jobs right now. So we either forfeit everything we have paid and keep our savings in case one of us loses our job, or we postpone and hope our income is stable enough that the money we saved for the wedding can still be used for that purpose.

It depends on the vendor, but I do think it's common. When I was planning my wedding, our caterer required half of our total as a deposit with the rest due on the day of the wedding (we paid the remaining weeks prior though), our venue required 10% down in addition to us paying the "save the date" fee (which if I remember correctly, the "save the date" fee was $250), with the rest being due by the week of the wedding (which we finished paying 2 months before the wedding). Our DJ asked for half of the total payment when we booked with him, with the remaining balance due the day of; we paid him the remaining balance on the day of in cash b/c that's the payment method he preferred. Our bartender just asked for payment day of - which we also paid in cash per her request.

Just a side note; if you pay any vendors in cash (mainly DJ's and bartenders), make sure you get a cash receipt from them to protect yourself. My husband and I didn't have any issues but one of my husband's friend's who got married before we did is going through a time with their DJ. They paid him in cash and he's saying they never paid him.

We booked and paid our deposit like a year and a half in advance. We didn't want to lose our favorite vendors to someone else so we just bit the bullet and did it. Just like you would with anyone read their contract carefully and look at their reviews to make sure they are reputable and there really should be no issues

Totally normal. Some take deposit, some take 1/3 and some the whole thing.

It is very common and most are non-refundable. My venue, catering, DJ, florists, hair/makeup and planner was 50%, photographer was 20% and cake $200. They require full payment 30 to 15 days prior to the event or day of for hair, makeup and cake. Make sure the vendor provides you a bill of sales when paying with any method but especially cash. I personally told my vendors I prefer to pay with credit card or check in order to protect myself and they told me a 2%-3% card charge and I agreed. Go through your contracts with a fine tooth comb and you should be good!