Building Successful Relationships With Your Wedding Vendors

Wedding vendors are your biggest support team, deserving respect and professional treatment despite you being the one who hired them.

• Do your homework on vendors before contacting them
• Communicate needs, timeline and budget upfront
• Respect vendors' time by being punctual and responsive
• Negotiate fairly focusing on value, not just price
• Use contracts to clearly outline expectations
• Maintain professional communication even when stressed
• Pay on time according to agreed terms
• Provide constructive feedback and recognize good work
• Avoid micromanaging vendors—trust their expertise
• Keep communication open with regular check-ins throughout planning

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Chapters

• 0:00 Your Vendors Can Fire You Too
• 0:35 Doing Your Homework First
• 0:58 Communication and Respect Guidelines
• 1:18 Payment and Feedback Best Practices
• 1:51 Avoiding Micromanagement on Wedding Day

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey queens, welcome back to another episode of the Daily Buzz. So today we are talking about vendor etiquette. I am going to start this episode off simply with you hired them, but they can still fire you. I know that is a very deep and it probably burns just a little bit to hear, but I want to be completely honest and upfront with you. I've worked with so many couples who have treated their vendors so awfully. It absolutely breaks my heart. So I want you to remember that these vendors are people that are your biggest support team and cheerleaders on wedding day to execute the day. So please treat them with love and respect.

Speaker 1: 0:35

So make sure to start off, you do your homework, understand the vendors, their capability, their reputation and their terms before reaching out. The last thing you wanna to do is waste your time if they are not a good fit. Make sure that when you meet with them, that you communicate your needs, timeline and budget up front. Avoid any vague or shifting requests. This will just help set the scene for your wedding. Next thing is you want to make sure that you are respecting their time, be punctual for meetings and respond to inquiries promptly.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Vendors are often juggling multiple clients at a time. If you plan on negotiating, make sure that you are negotiating fairly. Push for values and not just the lowest price. Remember squeezing vendors is hard and can lead to compromising qualities. If you are going into a contract, make sure that you use that contract or service agreement to outline expectations clearly, including deliverables, timeline and your payment terms. Make sure that you are maintaining professional communication. Stay courageous even under stress. Escalating respectfully and avoiding blame usually will cause for a clear accountability and not cause any issues, like I stated in the beginning. And whatever you do, make sure you provide any access or information, giving your vendors the tools, contracts and content they need to do their job well. You want to understand those things correctly. So a few random key points Make sure that you're paying on time, honoring your payment terms. Late payments damaged trust and may affect your future service. The last thing you want, like I said, is to have any issues on wedding day. Make sure you're giving feedback and you're providing it both ways providing constructive feedback and asking how terms can be improved in the relationship too. And you want to recognize good work, acknowledging and appreciating your vendors who gave you above and beyond service. It fosters a goodwill and loyalty.

Speaker 1: 2:31

And then my last tips for your vendor communication will be don't micromanage. Trust your vendors to deliver. You chose them for a reason. This is their profession. This is their livelihood. Make sure that you're not micromanaging them. If you have any concerns, make sure you're upfront about it. The last thing you want on wedding day is to micromanage them. At that point, everything should be so known and well executed that you can trust that they are doing it. Stay ethical. Make sure you're avoiding any favoritism, kickback or just any wrong practices leading up to your wedding day. These are things that you have already communicated with them. You trust and know that they are going to execute appropriately, and keep your communication open throughout the planning process. Have regular check-ins and this can help prevent any issues before the wedding day. This is your short daily buzz for the day and I hope that it helps you with your relationships with your vendors and your upcoming wedding day. Bye.