Picking the perfect vendors for your wedding is one of the most important things you’ll do.
Creating the perfect relationship for the best result is equally important.
If you hire a wedding planner, that’s our job, but if you’re flying solo, this is an important thing to think about.
When you’re thinking about planning your wedding, this “trivial” things often slip your mind.
You get occupied with shades, themes, menus, etc.
In the craziness of it all, you never get to meet your vendors properly.
When clients (or their planner) pick vendors some standards seem obvious.
Basics of picking the perfect wedding vendors
1. The style of the vendors
2. Cost
3. Experience
Aaaand that’s about it.
But from our experience, these three standards simply aren’t enough.
Unfortunately, most couples realize this when it’s too late, the deposits are paid and those partnerships are basically sealed.
Often people realize the selected venue isn’t the right fit for them, but don’t want to complicate things and lose money so they just keep them and hope for the best.
So, how do you handle this properly and get the most out of your vendors?
1. If you opt for a wedding planner, make sure they really know who you are.
These relationships don’t have to be super professional and cold.
The more the planners get to know you as individuals and as partners, the better the result.
Even the smallest details about you, that you start to write in an e-mail, then delete them 5 seconds after because it seems too trivial, are the ones that in the end could be a huge part of your wedding.
What we do is, we meet you as much as you let us too, we take details from your love story and personality, add your budget to it and go from there.
2. Don’t choose the first vendor or the least expensive one.
If you don’t care about cake, flowers, or music then it’s fine to go with the cheapest option and don’t look into other aspects of the vendor.
But if you really care about a specific category, then find out as much as you can about vendors, find options A, B and C and make your decision from there (or ask your planner about the details if you hire one).
Wedding planner standards while looking for vendors:
1. How does their offer match with our couples expectations
2. What’s the cost of services
3. How are they reviewed by previous clients
4. How quick and professional are their responses to inquires?
5. Are they open to think outside of the box and work outside their comfort zone if needed?
6. Are they overall nice and polite people
Even though people can surprise you, these standards gave us a sense of security and great results time and time again.
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to pick the most expensive vendor that’s offered to you, nor am I saying that the cheapest vendors suck, but there are many more things to consider while picking the perfect one for you.
3. Communicate clearly your expectations and wishes to your planner/vendor
This is really important, it happens all the time that clients don’t want to be a bore and don’t communicate enough what exactly they expect or want.
There are no stupid requests, not all of them will fly for a number of reasons, but they should be discussed as options.
Which brings us to number 4.
4. Be ready to compromise
Even though it’s great when you know exactly what you want, like said above not all wishes can be delivered in reality. The willingness to compromise is really important. No one will ever force you to compromise to the point of you feeling uncomfortable, but sometimes compromises are crucial to make things happen.
5. Listen to the recommendations from vendors
Sometimes the things that slipped your mind completely are the things that can make your day even better. Listen to ideas and recommendations from your vendors/planner because they have your best interest in mind. If you don’t like them, it’s totally fine to be vocal about it, but it’s always a good idea to consider a professional’s opinions.
6. Be kind
We are extremely lucky that we work with amazing clients that are also great people in general.
What became clear right away, is that their human approach and overall polite way of handling all the good and the bad sides of planning inspired vendors to work even harder on the actual wedding day.
By being rude and treating vendors/planners in a bad way, you’re creating overall stress which is visible in the details during the wedding day.
Even the most professional vendors with years of experience crack under stress if they aren’t treated well.
If you hire a planner, most communication will be done by the planner, and then it’s our job to treat the vendors in the nicest way possible.
Our first goal is to make you guys happy, but our second goal is to make our vendors happy.
When we establish good and honest relationships with them, we get professionals that can’t wait to work on your wedding day because they feel validated and inspired.
The end result has shown us that we deal with any potential problems quickly, and in the best way possible because our vendors are ready to step up and work as a team.
We also saw that we get perfect end results partially based on the fact that our vendors were motivated to do the best possible job.
7. Read the contracts
Almost all vendors have their contracts, and even though they are super boring you should really read them before booking.
Sometimes in the middle of reading those contracts, you realize this really isn’t a vendor/planner for you because you don’t agree with their standards.
We all make contracts based on our experience, our visions, and our way of work.
This is almost some kind of manual that shows you what you’re getting yourself into.
It’s good to read them before signing because they show you what’s expected of you as a client, how or are you in any way protected by the vendor, what exactly are you paying for, what are payment/delivery deadlines.
With the Coronavirus sweeping up the wedding market, this is such an important part of booking vendors. When the virus spread like fire, a lot of brides and grooms realized that the contracts didn’t protect them enough.
8. Be honest with yourself when someone’s just not for you.
There are a lot of great vendors that made a lot of people happy.
But that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you if you just don’t click.
Don’t pressure yourself to like every vendor with raving reviews if you don’t feel comfortable with their way of work/communication.
These things happen, and most of the time there’s nothing wrong with you as a client, or with the vendor as a professional.
Remember, this is your wedding day and the money that you’re spending. You’re allowed to decide based on your instinct. Rarely does that first impression change during the planning process.
9. Think outside of the box
If some classic choices just don’t sit with you, and you and your planner are running out of ideas, try thinking outside of the box.
Most planners want to play it safe and they recommend verified vendors with tons of experience. This is understandable because hiring someone new is always a risk, but sometimes it’s necessary to bring dreams to life.
Every year there are tons of new vendors on the market and there’s nothing wrong to give some of them a shot if the classic choices are not a good fit.
10. Trust your vendors/planner
This one should maybe be number one based on importance.
I can’t articulate enough how important it is you trust the people you’re paying for your wedding. When there’s no trust between you and the people you work with while planning, the chances of things turning out perfect are slim. Honesty and trust are the first two things that are the basics for good results.
This maybe sounds too dramatic when we talk about planning a wedding, but like I said before this is more personal than most jobs you usually hire people for.
It’s more personal to us too, and it’s impossible to treat it just as a job.
Even if you just want to cover your basic needs and leave the rest to the planner to save time, it’s important you at least know the person making the decisions in your name and that you trust that person.
And if you’ll like us to help you plan your wedding, fill out our form here: https://www.croatiaweddingplanner.com/form/