Things Wedding Vendors Wish You Knew
This article comes from a place of love, as well as, a whole new view on weddings after working as a planners’ assistant for a few years.
You should feed all your vendors. To most this is obvious, but others insist on not feeding your vendors. I would encourage the latter to look at it this way. Your vendors are guests that you hire for the day. You will have memories with them as much as you will your guests. The caterer is already making meals for all your guests just throw in the extra 5-10 to feed your vendors. They don’t get breaks throughout the day so that meal is the only break they will get….and they will scarf it and get back to work. p.s. We don’t want to sit at a table with your guests.
Read the contract fully, AND THEN FOLLOW THROUGH. This topic is the one I want to bring up for the photographers’ sake. For instance, my contract states that, unless you have added on a second photographer, I am the only photographer allowed to take photos at your wedding. This means Auntie Karol, who got a point-and-shoot for Christmas, needs to just leave the camera at home. It’s not an ego thing either, we had to learn to deal with the moment cell phones started having cameras on them. It’s an issue when it comes to being in the way of a shot or taking up double the time for photos and then we are severely off schedule. On a personal note, a hard lesson for me was that when you are so busy documenting the world around you, you end up missing the moment with a camera in front of your face. < THIS is why you hired us and not Auntie Karol.
From a bartender: Open bar is great! But maybe not all night long. Unfortunately, I have worked several weddings recently where guests drank themselves silly with an open bar. The last one the bartenders had to cut off ten people before the dancing even started. Thank goodness the bride and groom chose to have a bus come and pick up the guests, or we would have been finding a lot of drivers.
From a planner: Drink Water. Oh dear, please oh please ESPECIALLY if your destination wedding is in Colorado…DRINK WATER. This is something many people don’t correlate with Colorado in general, but it’s so dry here that you get dehydrated so much faster, especially if drinking alcohol! Make it cute and add a personalized reusable cup to your gift for your guests, but please drink water. Bride and Groom, that means you too. Whether you already live here or not. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. I realize this might be hard to do, but I can promise that very few people will remember a typo on your menu or that some of your flowers were on the wrong table. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a bride or groom say, “I never realized how many things do not matter until after I had mine.”
From a DJ: Two hours of dancing is perfect, three is ok, four is over the top.
From a venue manager: Take the time to spend with your guests. Some of them travel long distances to be with you. Sit down with your planner or your scheduler for the day and find the time to mingle with your guests.
From a florist: Collaborate with your florists, not Pinterest. I am the first person to tell you this was hard to hear but it’s from a place of love. Sometimes the flowers in photos aren’t in season or even in the country! Having an inspirational photo is great but then trust your florist to creatively come up with something that is perfect for you!
From a caterer: EAT! Please eat. You worked so hard for your wedding day you should give yourself enough time for your meal. Also, there are no seconds and you cannot have to-go boxes.
From an HMUA: Schedule a trial run so you know for sure you will be happy with the look you choose. This way, it’s very clear what you will get on the day of.
From me: Stand up for yourself. It’s YOUR day. YOUR way.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my article!
