Why are vendors so hard to contact?

I totally feel you!!! Some of my vendors weren't that responsive in a timely manner. I guess it's like how there's some people who take days to respond back to your message - some people either really don't check that often or somehow miss your message

Lol! I hear you! And for those vendors who are slow to respond, I ask for a discount for my inconvenience or to match another quote. (Surprisingly this has worked!) If they are not willing, I move on to the next one. I don’t want to start a working relationship unless trust and reliability can be established for such a special event.

So I can tell you that when we first looked for a DJ, we sent a service a message on WeddingWire. After not hearing from them for a week, I went on their website and found a contact e-mail and sent the same request. The manager of the DJ place sent me back an e-mail within an hour. When I told her about my WeddingWire request, she said they have a lot of issues with not getting those messages. After that, I only reached out to vendors through their own website/e-mail.

I honestly hate this too! I totally feel the same way, like were about to spend at least 10K at your place and I can't get an email back?!

What I do is I'm really annoying! lol I email and email and email until they respond. I actually had to email someone's supervisor once. My suggestion would be if it's a vendor you are really considering then be annoying and email and call and leave messages until you get a response. If it's a vendor you're kind of on the fence about I'd say forget them and choose someone different.

It happened to me all the time. I just moved on and found someone else.

I know that the messaging for vendors on here can be an issue. I've messaged several and sometimes they don't get it. I would use wedding wire as a tool to find possible vendors THEN contact them on their work email or phone number. All of my vendors have switched our communication to their work email almost immediately.

Wedding wire is really bad about it's platform notifying vendors, I think their notification system needs updating.
Overall I've had vendors flake from me too, it's super annoying to be quoted several thousand dollars for service and.... Not have the customer service. Like I'm paying a LOT of money at least say hey well get back to you or no we can't.
I did however have a caterer call me and profusely apologize because Comcast managed to lose service to their area for a week and they were calling people from their personal phones to let them know they're working on it. So Im going to choose that guy.
But otherwise it's been a huge let down for me too.

To be honest I think vendors may have come to treat clients how clients treat them. In the digital age we have a tendency to just let correspondence go— like sending an inquiry, getting back a price listing, realizing they’re way out of budget, and then basically ghosting instead of saying “oh sorry, out of budget! No longer interested” ...when I reached out to caterers I think I contacted like 12 companies and only ever heard back from half that. I presume they weren’t available that date or couldn’t accommodate what I was asking for, and just didn’t bother responding to the inquiry at all.
But oh well— I chose vendors ultimately based partly on their communication skills / responsiveness etc— and it worked out great, I found wonderful ones! For every crappy responder there’s another better fit vendor out there

I only had this issue when I first started planning, and was searching for vendors. I used WWs vendor search tool, and I would reach out to all the possibles in each category, asking for their pricing, and if they had my date available. The ones that responded back timely, I started a conversation with them. The ones I never heard from, or it took a long time (more than a week) for them to get back to me, I passed on those. I didn't want to hire people that can't even get back to me with a quote, or a yes/no on the date I was looking at. That's just asking for stress!!

So, now, I have vendors who are all very responsive and I never have to worry about them getting back to me about anything!!

When looking for vendors, I first contacted them on WW. If that didn't work I tried email/phone after a few days. If that didn't work either I moved on to the next one. I work full-time and would plan in my downtown at work and I wasn't about to waste my time and money on people.

I feel you. So many vendors flat out ignored me that I actually cried tears of joy when one of my top pick photographers chose to work with me.
I think finding these vendors is the hardest part about putting together a wedding. I have a small budget and short time frame so it made it even harder.

If a vendor doesn’t contact within a week I just move on.

I’ve been mostly lucky so far but I did have one weird experience where I met with a florist, discussed my wants and needs, and was promised 2 quotes within a week- never heard from her again. Ghosted me lol! If I were you I wouldn’t work with someone who can’t even return a phone call in a timely manner. If there’s a genuine reason okay, but I feel like it’s a sign of disorganization. As far as feeling like it may be because you’re LGBTQ, that would totally suck but they don’t deserve your business anyway. Find people who support you and your partner and find joy in your love! Good luck ☺️

I wouldn’t hire someone that didn’t respond in a timely manner. Lack of response sends me the message that my event is not important to them. The venue, dj and photographer I hired all got back to me same day or next day, quite often multiple times a day. Your options are practically endless for vendors, don’t settle for someone that doesn’t make you feel important.

If a vendor didn't respond in a reasonable amount of time(A week or two) I did not hire them. Ya I get people are busy but if I'm spending that much money I want someone that's reliable.

If they weren't responsive when trying to book just move along with the process. You don't have time to sit and wait. After you booked a vendor, is another story. Getting in contact with my dj, cake guy, and photobooth guy has proved difficult. I'll send an email and no response. I chalk it up to they are busy with their other weddings going on now, but it's still irritating. It's part of the process I guess. All I can do is send another email or call if I feel the manner is urgent to be addressed.

View Quoted Comment I definitely think that’s understandable which is why I usually wait one week after initial message and send them a second correspondence usually on a different platform and/or follow up call. I ended up speaking to one vendor on Instagram who told me that they had responded to my message and I should check my spam folder (which I do faithfully!) and there was nothing there. Maybe it’s all just missed connections but I’ve planned parties before and never had so much trouble simply contacting a potential vendor. I guess wedding planning is a different beast!