It can be an overwhelming process selecting vendors for your big day.  That is understandable because chances are you have never hired a caterer, DJ, florist and photographer for any previous event.  I remember when I planned my wedding 5 years ago, I found the process to be extremely difficult and I’m in the industry!  But, we have a few suggestions that will help ensure you will have a dream team of All Star vendors!

Venue Referral List

This is a great place to start!  Venues will do vetting for you because it can be really difficult to get on a venue’s preferred list! You can almost guarantee that any business on a preferred vendor list will have a good amount of experience working at that particular venue as well. One common misconception is that vendors pay to be on these lists, but I don’t know one venue that does this.

Google Them

Simple enough! You can find out a lot about a company from googling them.  The reasons are simply this: legitimate active businesses with consistent contact information and a descent web presence will show up well on a google search!

Review Sites

Make sure to always take these review sites with a grain of salt because websites such as Yelp do their fair share of “online bullying” by filtering out real reviews.  BUT, with that said, you will still get a good feel for a companies reputation by checking out review sites such as Yelp. You can also learn a lot if the company has very few or no reviews. This usually occurs when the business is relatively new or they are working only part time.

In Person Meeting

Would you want to meet your heart surgeon at Starbucks or their house?  I wouldn’t! I would want to meet them at their nice office in a respectable area!  A brick and mortar location says “I have been in business for a while and must be doing alright.” At this meeting, consider their dress, attitude and overall rapport.  I feel that general rapport between you and vendor is the most important!

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