If you’re planning your wedding and feeling excited yet somewhat daunted by the organisational task ahead, you’re certainly not alone.
One key aspect of preparing for your big day is the whole gamut of suppliers you’ll need to hire and deal with, from florists and caterers to dressmakers, cake makers, photographers and others.
Indeed, you may never have had to work with so many traders at the same time before.
Here, we offer you a few pointers to get started.
- Do your homework
Look online, see industry websites and magazines and consider attending a wedding fair, where all the services you’re likely to need will be under one roof. Trawl social media, read reviews and ask friends and family members for recommendations. Get a feel for what’s out there, and their potential prices.
- Have a budget in mind
You almost certainly won’t have limitless funds, so this is a vital part of most marriage plans. Set your budget from the outset and allocate different sums to the various elements of the big day. You’ll then be ideally placed to negotiate with potential vendors, since you’ll have a clear price already in mind, and so can kick off a productive conversation.
Whatever your budget, be courteous but firm and stick to it, unless you really feel you have no alternative.
- Prioritise your hirings
Clearly, along with the date of your celebration, its location is your biggest decision (and, no doubt, expense), whether your heart is set on a luxury wedding venue or something smaller and more intimate.
You’ll need to check where it is exactly, and capacity, and be clear on your budget from the get-go. Make sure the venue is a good match for the time of year and your chosen theme. Discuss catering and entertainment options, and whether you can appoint your own suppliers or have to go with the venue’s vendors.
Only once date and venue are in place can you focus on all the other aspects of wedding organisation and the smaller suppliers and details, such as whether to have a wedding photo QR code.
- Get in touch
As you contact suppliers, be quite targeted, rather than adopting a scattergun approach. Put a bit of time into writing a good initial email to each prospective supplier. Include your wedding date and location (unless you’re writing to the venue itself), and, of course, be friendly and polite. It’s also worth stressing how impressed you are by what you’ve seen of their work so far, and how much you’d appreciate having them do your own wedding.
- Stay open to new ideas and think creatively
Keep an open mind when it comes to compromise and fresh ideas. There are various ways of doing this. For example, if you’re based or getting married in the Bristol area and a Clevedon florist you like can do your ceremony flowers, could you repurpose these for the after-party? Or how about choosing a small, up-and-coming cake-maker who could offer you a great price in return for plentiful media exposure?
- Don’t forget the small print
Read any and all contracts from your suppliers very carefully before you commit to anything – unromantic and tedious though the task may seem.
Finally, when it comes to price, enter negotiations in the spirit of working together and looking for middle ground, rather than aggressive haggling.
