8 Questions You Must Ask a Wedding Vendor before Booking Them

8 Questions You Must Ask a Wedding Vendor before Booking Them

Having the right team behind you for your wedding is crucial to the success of your wedding day.

It can make your day super easy, awesome and stress free. Get it wrong and it could potentially mean disaster!

Finding the right wedding vendors can be quite difficult, stressful and time consuming, but I’m here to help you with this. It’s very normal to feel overwhelmed and confused by the hundreds of options out there.

How do you know who is good? Can I trust them? Will they deliver what they promise?

Having been married before, I’ve gone through the process myself and I’ve come across some brilliant wedding vendors who are passionate and awesome at what they do, and on the other hand i’ve seen some who really shouldn’t be working in the wedding industry.

Since you probably haven’t organised a wedding before, it’s all very new to you. But that’s OK! Here’s a few tips on finding your A Team for your wedding day.

Do your Due Diligence (or homework)

Talk to your friends who have been married and get their recommendations on who they enjoyed working with.

Do your own research by visiting wedding expos, looking at wedding directories such as Easy Weddings.

Google their business name and look for recent reviews. If their past clients have taken the time to write nice words about them then it means they have done a great job and most likely will for you. If they have lots of good reviews, then put them on your shortlist to contact.

Did they get back to you quickly or did you have to make an effort to reach out to them? If they are too busy to contact you and take 7 days to reply,  then they don’t really want your business and you shouldn’t give them your slice of your wedding budget.

Get an idea of what you like and don’t like. Put a list of questions together to ask the potential vendor.

Meet with the potential wedding vendor

An in person meeting is the best way to get to know your wedding vendors. You get to experience what they are like in real life, does their personality match what you have read about them and if they are genuinely passionate about what they do. Do you get a good gut feeling about this person?

If you can’t get to them in person, at least have a phone or skype call.

Ask lots of Questions

I personally love getting lots of questions, for me it means you understand how important it is to find the right wedding vendor and you want to know how it can help alleviate your concerns. Make sure you get clear specific questions about it. If they expertly dodge and weave their way around it like a politician, then you know they can’t be trusted.

If you don’t understand what they mean first time, tell them to explain it to you again!

If they problems with you asking lots of questions, or get impatient, maybe they are not suitable. The best wedding vendors are patient, understanding and take the time to help you without asking.

Can you imagine them being part of your A Team?

Do you feel comfortable speaking with them? Do they sound confident, know their product and shows a real love and passion for what they do? Or do you feel like it’s just another business transaction for them? Remember that you will be working with this person leading up to the wedding and on the day, and for sometimes long afterwards (for photography) so you have to get along nicely. Can you trust them to do their job?

So now that you’ve got to the end of this post, Here are the 8 Questions You Must Ask a Wedding Vendor before Booking Them.

1. How many weddings have you done? Have you had experience at my wedding venue?

This is a pretty important one, as you don’t want to hire someone who’s never worked a wedding before, or has had limited experience. Ideally, your wedding vendor should have plenty of experience working in weddings, or have done something at your venue before. Not only will they be more skilled at their craft, they will be a valuable source of information to ensure your day goes off without dramas.

2. What do you charge?

In general, the pricing someone charges reflects their experience, reputation and skill level, or how much they value their own work. The most talented professionals have a higher price tag because they are worth it. A low price tag means low pride in their work or less experience.

3. What happens if you cancel? What happens if I cancel?

Ask what sort of backup plan your wedding vendor has if they fall ill, or cannot work on your wedding day. The best vendors are well connected in the industry, belong to a professional association such as the AIPP and can provide someone of similar experience quickly. Find out if the deposit is refundable or at least transferable.

4. Do you have a written contract and a invoice/receipt?

If the answer is “No”, run! Don’t settle for anything less than a written contract as it is meant to protect you and the wedding vendor. A verbal agreement means absolutely nothing in court. In my experience i’ve had wedding vendors not turn up on the wedding day as they have no legal obligation to do so.

5. How much is the deposit?

Wedding vendors all require a deposit to lock in the date, so make sure you don’t delay this as they all work on a first come first serve basis. If you find the deposit amount is too much, just ask if they are flexible with payment terms and the good vendors usually say yes.

6. What is included in the price?

Find out exactly what is included with your package and have it in writing so you can go back to it if needed. Make sure you know of any additional extras that can creep up as sometimes they are not very clear before making a decision.

7. Do you have a backup plan just incase S*hit happens?

Ask your wedding vendor if they have a backup plan, for example,  with photographers ask them how they will keep your photos safe if you lose a camera, gets stolen or your memory card fails.  Do they have backup equipment? What happens when it rains? If they can’t give you a good answer then I’d reconsider my decision.

8. Do you have liability insurance?

Any wedding vendor who takes their craft seriously will have at least $10 million in public liability insurance. Some venues have this as a requirement for all vendors to even step foot in their door. If they don’t have insurance, then I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

Any wedding vendor worth putting on your shortlist should be able to comfortably answer all of these questions with ease.

Hopefully this guide has helped you choose your A Team for your wedding. Don’t settle for second best!

Learn more about how I can help you with your wedding photography The Wedding Experience