written by
Loren Douglas

Evaluating Wedding Vendors: Does the Price Match the Service?

Wedding Planning 2 min read

Choosing the right wedding vendors can help make ones wedding day. A quality vendor will provide whatever service they are paid to, in a professional and exceptional manner. Bad vendors will not. They tend to be unprofessional and unreliable. The goal of the soon-to-be-wed couple is to avoid the latter and hire the former. In order to do this, they will need to properly evaluate potential wedding vendors. We will discuss how to do so below.

Do Your Research: Researching potential vendors for a couple's upcoming nuptials is very important. The couple should do whatever they need to, in order to find out all that they can about a particular company or vendor. In today's technological age many vendors will have a website which lists and reviews of the services that they provide. It might also mention any relevant licenses or professional associations that they have.

Couples should take some time looking over each vendor's website. The information found there can be a great jumping-off point for questions during the formal consultation, if the couple decides to request one. At this stage, some potential companies may be weeded out.

Plugging in a vendor's name in search engines such as Google, may yield further information about them. If most of what pops up is bad, it will be probably be best that a couple eliminate them from contention.

Set Up A Formal Consultation: Once a couple has determined that a particular vendor is still in the running, they will want to schedule a formal consultation. The vendor will typically provide a run-down of whatever services they offer. The couple should use this time to ask whatever questions they have or to express any concerns.

Ask for References: Because the quality of the wedding will be determined, in large part, on whether or not vendors are able to deliver what they promise, couples will want to ask for references and then give them a call.

View Their Portfolio: Couples should almost never hire a vendor without first viewing their portfolio. Portfolios are a collection of pictures or samples that showcase the vendor's past work.

Ask For A Bid: Before making a final decision on a vendor, it is important to receive a bid. It is only after doing so that a couple will be able to make their final decision.

Make Comparisons: After researching and meeting with a few vendors, couples will be able to compare what each is offering and make an informed decision. Most couples will want to go with the vendor that offers them the best deal for the money.

Evaluating vendors is an important part of the wedding planning process. In fact, it is one of the most crucial. If a couple gets this part wrong, their big day might be doomed to failure. Properly and thoroughly evaluating a vendor involves researching them, asking and calling references, taking a look at their portfolio, asking for a formal bid and then comparing what they have to with other vendors. Only after a couple has gone though the aforementioned are they ready to hire a vendor.