Picking your dream team of wedding vendors is one of the absolute hardest parts of the wedding planning process. Where do you find your vendors? How do you narrow it down? How do you reject vendors? What if they’re your friends? Today, we’re talking all about this and more, and hopefully by the end you will feel ready to create your dream team!

Where to Find Your Vendors

The first place I recommend looking for wedding vendors is on social media. I know the internet can be very overwhelming, but try to take some time and search through wedding hashtags, locations, and tagged photos. Search specific terms such as #VirginiaWeddingCake or #HarrisonburgWeddingPhotographer and you will find vendors in your area. Click on their profiles and look through the vendors they tag in images as well as the accounts that have tagged them. Feel free to go down rabbit holes of hashtags and tagged photos and you will not be disappointed by how much you can find. When you find people you like, either write down their accounts or screenshot them so you can find them again!

Next, try looking at wedding blogs! You can look by location, by style, or by reputation. There are dozens of wedding blogs that specialize in specific styles, so you will find at least a few that fit the hopes for your wedding. They always tag their vendors, so this is a great way to find vendors that showcase exactly what you’re looking for. Additionally, try sites like WeddingWire or The Knot. There you can search for vendors by area, type, price, and more. You can see reviews and get to their websites easily and all in one place.

Lastly, ask the vendors you’ve already found! If you’ve booked your venue, ask them for their recommended vendors list. Most vendors have a list of people they’ve worked with before and trust, so this can take a lot of pressure off while searching. We’re all happy to recommend our peers!

What to Do When You Find Vendors You Like

If you find a vendor you like, stalk the heck out of them. Check their social media to get a feel for who they are and how the interact with their community. Go to their website to see their professional work learn about the process of working with them. You can learn about their work flow, experiences with others, and their pricing. Vendors tailor their website so it can present them exactly how they want to be presented, so take note on that to understand how they work professionally. If they have a blog, check that out to get more detail, see how they talk about their clients, see if they educate their readers, and find out if they are regularly active on their site.

Once you’re sure you like the vendor and everything you’re about, reach out to them through the contact form on their website. If they don’t have one, find their email or DM them through social media. Give them details about your wedding and ask any questions you have! Hopefully you can set up a meeting to talk with them either in person or over Zoom or the phone.

How to Pick Vendors During COVID-19

Either by distance or by world pandemic, sometimes you can’t meet your vendors in person. If you can’t make it to your venue in person, ask for a virtual tour via Facetime, or ask for videos of the property. Ask for socially distanced tastings for your caterers. For all your other vendors, ask to meet via Zoom or Facetime to get to know them and ask any questions you have.

How to Choose Between Vendors

You have a list of equally talented vendors, but you have to narrow it down to one. What should you look for?

To start, look at their reviews and how their clients describe them. See if the client was excited to have worked with them and if they would recommend them to others. If you know someone who has worked with them before, ask about their experience.

Next, look at their experience. What will it be like to work with them during the planning process and during the actual wedding day? How will they help you, what services will they provide, and how accessible are they? Do some packages come with more than others? This is where you can compare prices, location, styles, and more to help narrow it down.

Lastly, and most importantly, choose the vendor that matches your own personality. You are going to be working with the vendor a lot, so you want to make sure you can be friends with them. If your personalities clash or you can’t stand to talk to them, that will make for a miserable planning period. Choose a vendor that you enjoy talking to and spending time with. If you do this, the whole process will be a thousand times more enjoyable.

How to Turn Down Vendors that Invested Their Time Into You

The absolute best thing you can do is to let them know that you are going in a different direction and they will not be part of your wedding. Please please let us know. Here is a sample email you can send:

“Hello ___

Thank you so much for meeting with me and sending over all your information! I appreciate the time you’ve put into us, but we are going in a different direction because xyz.

Thank you for your time!”

Let us know if another vendor fit your style more, fit your budget better, or vibed with you a little better. Let us know so we can improve our businesses and help you find your best fit! We really want you to have the team of vendors best for you, and if that doesn’t include us, we will be ok.

The absolute worst thing in the world is not responding at all. If you choose another vendor, we don’t know unless you tell us. We will continue to reach out and ask if you have any questions or need help because we truly want to help you have your best team. We can see if you read our emails, and when you don’t respond we are left to wonder what we did wrong. It’s heartbreaking and so easily avoidable, so please just let us know. I promise that a rejection email is a million times better than not responding at all.

How to Turn Down Vendors Who Are Friends

The same concept applies to the previous section. Just be honest and let them know! Tell them why you did not choose them whether it was pricing, style, or if you want them to be just a guest. They really will understand.

Picking your winning vendors may be stressful, but it can also be really fun! When you find one vendor, feel free to ask them for recommendations on other vendors in a different category. From florists to DJ’s, your vendors will not leave you to handle it all on your own. You can also ask your friends who have been in your exact position before. Throughout all of it, remember the most important part is to have fun and enjoy the experience.

Want to see some of the wedding vendors I’ve worked with? Check out my weddings category!

Want me to be your photographer? Contact me!

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