Lets Talk Vendors

Venues and vendors are literally what makes or breaks a wedding. You could have the best food in the world, but if your DJ isn’t lively, no one will ever care about the food. So, how do you find the right vendors and the right venue? Well, it goes back to your budget and your style. Plus, having a template to work off of to know who you have and haven’t gotten is very helpful as well.

So, where do you actually start when finding different vendors that you will need? It actually becomes simple when you break it down chunk by chunk. First, list out all the vendors you will and won’t want. You are probably going to have the basics of a ceremony site, catering, decor, things like that. But, not everyone is going to want a live band. So, at that point it really does come down to personal preference. The one I will always say to start with is going to be your ceremony and reception site. You never know who does and doesn’t want it, so you want to make sure to book it first. After that, there is a few guidelines of what to book, since some things book up faster than others, but for the most part, do what is more important to you. Have a list of things you won’t compromise on, and work from there.

When you do work on finding vendors, don’t do it all at once. You’ll risk having major burnout and really hating a process that shouldn’t be extremely stressful. Yes it will be stressful, but it should also be fun. Break it down to where you do one or two at a time. Do your research on it and work from there. Pacing yourself will be your best bet, in all honesty.

So, when you do start working on vendors, where do you start and how do you keep organized? When it comes down to it, you have to find what works best for you. What I have made myself is a vendor template. It closely relates to the budget one, but slightly different. It’s broken down into a few categories: the vendor, if it’s booked, the price, and if it’s been paid. If you keep yourself organized in a writing things down way, this will really be beneficial to make sure you have the basic information at hand and ready to see what has and hasn’t been done. So, this is what a blank on would look like:

I listed it in order of things that I personally should be booked in what order, just because of prices and the fact that there may not be any spaces for you if you wait. Again, there is no perfect solution since everyone has the same vision.

So, this template is really straight forward, you just put down the information that you have, when you have it. So, if you haven’t started your research yet, just leave it blank. If you’ve found a vendor that you like, but havent booked it, then mark it as no for booked, the price they gave, and that it hasn’t been paid. With that, an example would be if you’ve found your ceremony and reception site, they are booked with a half downpayment, and you’ve found photography and videography but havent booked it yet.

You can easily add and subtract lines for this, or even do it in any order that you are wanting. Don’t feel limited by what is here, always do what is best for you and what you are personally wanting to do with, and for, yourself and your wedding!