Everything you need to know about vendors before you book! part 2

Hi Faithful Readers,

If you were able to make it through the last, very looong post, I hope you found it helpful and informative. I promise to make this second and conclusive part (a little) shorter.

I mentioned previously that not all venues on-site coordinators are created equal, some provide full day of service, while others are there to ensure the food is served on time, leaving the responsibilities of coordinating to whoever you hire/assign. Whilst the latter option does mean you have more work to do in terms of coordinating the day of the wedding, these on-site coordinators will still have a list of vendors they work with frequently. This would always be my recommendation of where to start. For a venue to be happy enough with a vendors service to endorse them, they will have had to have performed exceptionally well on multiple occasions.

There are some exceptions to this rule, so make sure you ask the venue if they recommend these vendors due to their service or if these vendors have paid to be on the list. Some venues will accept kickbacks to recommend someone, some vendors will offer discounts to a venues clients to be recommended. While receiving a discount on a service for your wedding  is a great thing, I would be wary of vendors who have to do this just to be on the list.  My advice is, if they are offering discounts, read reviews and ask for testimonials.

Vendor kickbacks and paid lists are rare though,  so I strongly recommend using vendors recommended by your venue. Not only will this save you time but the chances are, these will be the best vendors available. Making a recommendation of another service/vendor is a refection of the venue, they are unlikely to suggest someone who would make them look bad.

Once you have your venues recommendations and have read the online reviews. you should have a short list of people to call. I would suggest having 3-4 photographers to call, 2-3 DJ's, 2-3 officiants, 2-3 florists. You don't want to call too many as that will get overwhelming.

First thing you should ask, are they available on your date?  Second, do they offer the services/style you are looking for? Third, I would ask, what sets you apart? You should never lead with "How much do you charge?", however tempting it may be. This can set a tone for the rest of the conversation which can make vendors feel that their value is in question. You are interested in getting the best vendor for your budget, not the cheapest possible vendor out there.

Personality can be very important when selecting wedding vendors. You will have to work with these people, not only on your big day but for up to 18 months before too.  If you have two vendors to choose between, both offering the same services  for a similar price, go with the one who makes you feel most comfortable.

Something to keep in mind when working out the costs for the vendors, most vendors who are present throughout the majority of the wedding reception will require a meal. Most will have this written into their contract but even if they don't, you should consider providing this. A hungry DJ isn't going to spin great beats.  A good rule of thumb is any vendor providing a service for 4 hours of the reception or more. This should not include catering staff, usually just DJ, photographer, videographer and possibly photo booth attendant. Always be sure to check with these vendors if they have assistants attending, it is unusual for a photographer to shoot by themselves. Some venues/caterers will just have sandwiches for the other vendors, however it might be worth considering providing the same meal as your guests. Adding an additional $50  to the photographers fees most likely won't make a huge difference to your budget but eating salmon or Filet Mignon could encourage your photographer to stick around for the extra 15 minutes that your reception has run late.
Also,  ask your caterer if they can serve the vendors at the same time as you. This is really the only time you are not going to want pictures (who wants to see themselves with spinach in their teeth).

Always ask if there are travel costs passed on to you by the vendor, have them include all fees, taxes and service charges in any estimate they provide.

As with all parts of  wedding planning, take a deep breath, have fun and remember this is a celebration of the start of your marriage, what you have afterwards is the important part.

Thanks for reading. If you found this helpful or there are any other tips you would like to see here, feel free to comment below.

Everything you NEED to know about vendors, before you book! (Part 1)

So, I am starting to find that this is a controversial subject but one I feel needs to be addressed as so many of my clients and friends that I speak to seem a little lost over it all.

The first thing I will say is, there are a lot of "wedding vendors" out there. With the invention of the Interwebby, (wait, does anyone these days even remember life without it, is it even relevant to talk about the invention of it, as if we know what life was like pre-web?.. I digress) it is all too easy for one to create a (free) website, buy some semi expensive equipment they learned how to use online and whoosh - they are a wedding vendor!!! However, in my humble opinion and speaking from personal and professional experience, it takes so much more to be a great wedding vendor.

Let me make one thing clear, I am not saying all vendors who are just starting out are bad, everyone has to start somewhere. I am sure when I first started in this career I was terrible at it (sorry early clients) whereas many people I know hit the ground running and were amazing at what they do from the get go. So don't let me put you off hiring that newer wedding planner who is giving you a great deal while they are launching their business. If they went to school to learn all of the in and outs, have done at least 5 weddings for friends/family and you know they have done an amazing job, there is no reason they can't be the perfect vendor for you. You just have to do your research.

Research can be a boring and time-consuming task but it is absolutely essential to making your wedding run smoothly and achieving the end product you really want. And I am not just talking about reading yelp reviews. While I love yelp for many reasons, they cannot be the extent of your knowledge on a vendor. People rarely take the time to go online and write a review about a service they were "OK" with. Mostly, I find reviews online are either angry rants or really really excited, happy clients who got everything they dreamed of. But neither tell the complete story.

I use the example of one of my best friends who got married last year. While she did not have a terrible experience, she was not entirely happy with the photographer she chose once she finally received the wedding pictures. She had painstakingly compiled a list of photos she really wanted to have taken and most of these were not captured. (Which was strange because most of the bridal party have said they remember posing for said photos) My friend had booked this photographer after her friend had used them for her wedding the previous year. That was the extent of her research. She loved the photographs of her friends wedding and based her decision solely on that. She did not go online and tell other clients to be aware of the issues she had, although it made her unhappy, it was not enough to tell others about.

My point (that I am taking a long time to make... stick with me people) is that you need a complete picture and the only way to achieve that is to do your research, lots of research.

Before you begin with research, you have to do more research. Haha - sorry not sorry. What I mean by this is, you have to have a good idea of what you want/expect from your vendor. For instance, do you want a DJ who will play exactly the songs you hand select regardless of his advice that your mostly 60+year old guests will not enjoy hip hop music during dinner or do you want a DJ that will play to the crowd, MC the event in just the right way to keep guests informed but not spend the whole night pretending he is a radio DJ and not shutting up for a minute? You might want to research the different wedding photography styles available, do you want classic style, dramatic, documentary?

Once you have an idea of what you want your wedding to be, you still can't start your research. I know, right? I am telling you research is the most important thing but not letting you get started!!! Patience, grasshopper, I promise all will be revealed.

Something even more important than research in choosing your vendors is budget. To me, budget is the number one most important part of wedding planning (with the exception of having fun throughout the process of course). You will need to sit down with your fiance and discuss what budget you will set for the wedding. It is important to be realistic, we would all love to only spend $500 on our weddings but what are we really going to get for that. Once you have set a reasonable budget and know what you are willing to spend on each item for your wedding, then the fun (research) can begin.

But where to begin? The first thing I would suggest is deciding if you have the budget for a wedding planner or if you really even need a wedding planner. 99% of the time I think it is the best thing you can do for your wedding. Finding the right planner should save you money, as they will be much more experienced at negotiating costs with other vendors. Not only does it save money but it can also save you all the time I suggested you spend on other research. Your wedding planer should have a list of trusted vendors that they have worked with countless times, so your research is done for you.

To find the right wedding planner, start online. Reviews are a good starting tool, then ask friends for referrals. Once you have narrowed down your choices to a few to call, ask the prospects if they have past clients who will give testimonials. Also, ask if the planner has vendors they have worked with recently - especially venues and call those vendors. Ask if they would recommend them. (If you want to be really vigilant, check reviews on these vendors too. You don't want to take someone's opinion if they don't know what they are doing either). The same research can be done for all of the other vendors if you are not hiring a planner.

I say 99% of the time. If you have a strong idea of what you want for your wedding and are not only willing to put in the time to research every detail but actually excited by the prospect, then by all means jump right in. Many wedding venues come with a "day of" coordinator who can help with many parts of the wedding, including coordinating the entire wedding day. If this is the case, a wedding planner may not be something you need or want. I would highly recommend discussing this with the venue you are considering, and having a clear outline of the duties performed by the on site coordinator, Not all of them are going to provide full service, so definitely have this discussion before you book your venue.

In the next part of this post, which I will post next week, I will give you research tips for the other vendors you might need, as well as additional costs that you might incur but not know about in advance...

Winter Wonderland???

Here in California, it is a little hard to believe that winter is happening. The weather is just great...

But elsewhere in the world, snowflakes and icicles abound. So here are some design ideas on fabulous and frosty winter weddings. Happy planning!

Winter themed weddings are great for playing with mediums other than flowers. Branches and trees with white blossoms, lights or even just sprayed a playful color give a winter theme an added edge, bringing the outside in. 

You can have a lot of fun with color schemes at this time of year too. I love the traditional holiday colors of red and green, seeing how couples have used this palette without it feeling like they stole decorations from the Christmas tree! 

But then you could also go with an icy blue...

Or how about classic white...

Of course, no one says you have to theme your wedding to the time of year. Nothing wrong with Hot pink in January! 

What colors will you pick?

In the navy!!!!

Navy is such a popular wedding color, and for good reason. It always looks so elegant paired with ivory, white or any other lighter colors. 

I love this cute cake topper, the bride dragging the groom off the golf course. So appropriate for a wedding here at cinnabar hills golf club, one of the grooms favorite courses! 

Congratulations Brandee and Ruben! 

Hustle and Bustle

One of the tiny details that most people don't think about for the wedding day timeline is bustling the dress but it is an important detail. Once the ceremony is all done and you have taken every picture from every angle and your cheeks are sore from smiling, the next item on the itinerary is usually dinner and dancing. Most wedding dresses have trains that make it near to impossible to dance, this is where the bustle comes in. The seamstress who alters your dress should have a good idea on the best way to bustle your particular dress to make it drape as nicely when I is pinned up as it does when the train is down.

There are a few different types of bustle. Some have hooks sewn into the dress, some have ribbons that you have to tie together under the skirt. Whatever the style of your bustle my advice is practice!
 If you can, take one of your bridesmaids along to your final alteration and have them explain the bustle to your bridesmaid. And then practice, practice, practice. The chances are you will be doing this just before the formal introductions of the bride and groom and most likely there will be little to no time in the scheduled timeline for bustling. If you know how it should look before and where the hooks/ribbons are then this will be a stress free part of the evening.

If your bustle is complicated and has a whole lot of ribbons that need to be tied together, have your seamstress label them, either with numbers or color dots so you know which ones to connect them too. I have seen bustles from one simple hook to 25 ribbons that took 25 minutes to figure out. If you tie the wrong ribbons together you can end up with a lop sided dress and you still have that first dance picture to take.

The hardest dress bustle I have ever seen require the bride to take her dress off, as the bustles were high up inside and the bridesmaids could not get near them, however I have heard stories of brides "planking" in order to get the dress bustled... :)

How to cope with the recession so it doesn't effect your procession.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-things-wedding-industry-won-103944073.html

I came across this article and some of it really hit home. The recent abrupt closure of an historic local wedding venue highlighted the fact that some of the issues mentioned in this article can happen. Do not despair, not all vendors and venues are out to swindle you, in fact in my experience most vendors try to be as fair as possible, wanting to be paid a reasonable amount for the service that they provide. But just in case, here are my tips on avoiding the drama that a recession can cause...

1. It is true that no business wants their clients to think they are having money issues, this does not make them look successful and therefor you would be less likely to book them. When a vendor that you have booked does go out of business, there is very little you can do if you have not prepared for this. Sure, you can take them to small claims or bankruptcy court, but that won't do you much good 3,4,5 weeks before your big day. Wedding insurance is the best option. Check with your insurance provider to see if this is something they can provide. They can cover the cost of damages, losses (best man, we are looking at you, keep your hands on that ring...) and even vendor no shows and last minute cancellations. The small added cost will be worth it for the peace of mind you will receive.

2. I have to say, Pinterest has a lot to answer for. My husband is a Pinterest widow, I can be on that site for hours, just trawling through other peoples inspiration. It is a great site for showing you "what's possible", but not so good on the "probable" side. After having attempted a few Pin Projects and been left feeling very deflated and what one can only describe as a "loser", I have come to realize that Pinterest and other inspiration sites should not be taken too seriously. Take your ideas from there by all means,  but build them into your own, in a way that is manageable, on your budget and in your time frame. Flowers, as a perishable item (meaning that they have to be done too close to the day of, when you will have lots of other important "stuff" to do) are never a good option for DIYing it, but if you are going to tackle some other decorations, make them well in advance and be sure to price out all of the components before you are fully committed, some of these things come with a much bigger price tag when you Do It Yourself. There are some good ways to stay under that tight budget if they are done right.


3. As for the restaurant that is charging bride's for additional time, well I guess that is up to them. I got into this business because I love to help people create their dream wedding day and if that takes responding to 5,000 emails then that is what I will do. I have dealt with a lot of people in my years here at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, most of them nice, but a few "Bridezilla's" thrown in. We expect that people will have questions, I mean, you only have one wedding right? (At least we hope so), so unless you do this for a living, generally you are not going to know how many people fit at a 72" round table or if you should have place cards or just a seating chart. I make sure to tell clients when they book that if they require any meetings to ask questions, see samples of linens, or just chat about ideas, they are welcome to set up a time to do so. My advice is always check before you book what the vendors involvement will be (and if there will be any additional charges for their time). Many venues do not go that extra mile like we do, some only provide a catering manager who will help you pick out your menu but the rest is up to you. For a lot of these venues, hiring a wedding coordinator can be very helpful and worth the extra money. If that is not in your budget, try to find a venue that provides all the services you think you will require, including day of coordination.

 

4. Tax and service charge are an expected part of any wedding, however some vendors don't bother adding this until the final bill is presented, leaving you with a hefty surprise. When asking for an initial quote from any vendor, ask that they include the tax and service charge in the estimate right from the start. Remember that tax rates can change but it is still good to get an estimate of this.

5. There is a difference between preferred vendors and approved vendors. Always check before signing with a venue which outside vendors, if any, they allow. We (Cinnabar Hills Golf Club) allow you to bring any photographer, DJ, Florist etc.. as long as they are an insured, licensed vendor but we do make recommendations on who you hire. We provide our own catering, no outside vendors for this part, but this is so we can control the quality of the food served (we have a reputation to keep up, y' know)  Your venue will generally know which vendors have worked there in the past and if they have done a good job each time. This information can be invaluable, just make sure the vendors are not paying for this endorsement. If your chosen venue does only allow their own approved vendors, make sure the cost falls within your budget before signing the contract.

6. Many venues hold more than one event per day. Other than making you feel less than special (You mean I am not the most important person in the world today?!?!?!) it can also make for a tight schedule. If you do run over your schedule, the venue may charge a hefty fee for doing so. To avoid this issue, check with your venue before you book, how many events they hold per day and if more than one, how do they schedule these to avoid conflict. Also, ask if they offer discounts for holding your wedding on the same day as another wedding, if it is cheaper than getting exclusive use, it may be worth it if the venue are experienced enough to handle more than one event per day. Personally, we avoid this completely. At Cinnabar Hills Golf Club we hold only one event per day. This gives us plenty of time to set up for the event, taking care to handle every detail with the attention it deserves and avoiding scheduling conflicts.



7. Put your money to use in the right places. As the article states, awards are not always an indication of great vendors. Some awards are given to venues who advertise on those sites, essentially they are paid for. This doesn't mean that they are not a good vendor but you should not base your decision entirely on these awards. Do your research to ensure that your money is well spent.

8. Pick the details that are important to you! Do not let inspiration boards and other websites tempt you into adding cute little details that were not important to you in the first place. If you and your groom have a sweet tooth, do a candy station as your favors, you don't have to do this in addition to another favor. Ask if the venue provides cake cutters and toasting flutes before purchasing your own, these are things that will sit in a drawer collecting dust for most people, if you don't think you will miss it if you don't have it, don't buy it.

9. Have a strong idea of your budget before finding vendors. If you go in there with a attitude of "Well, this is what I want, how much will it cost", Chances are you will pay a lot more than you can afford. Start with your budget and ask what they can fit into it. Give them a general idea of what you would like and have realistic expectations. If you absolutely must have a certain flower in your centerpieces, then find another area to cut costs.

10. Finding vendors who are just starting out can be a great way to save money, they are usually willing to offer huge discounts to build their portfolio, and it is true that all good vendors started somewhere. If you do choose to use this option, research them first, ask for reviews from other clients, ask to see examples of their work and ensure that they understand what you expect of them and that they can deliver on this. Ask your venue or other vendors if they know of anyone that is starting out and whether they would recommend them.

Just remember, as special and magical that you want your wedding to be, it is only one day. You don't want to start off your marriage in so much debt for that Cinderella carriage that you just had to have even though it took you $2,000.00 over budget. The wedding is a celebration of the start of your lives together and the marriage is the important part. Enjoy!