Manage My Wedding Podcast

Booking Your Dream Wedding Vendors: Timing Is Everything MMW 214

• Yvette Sitters • Episode 214

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In this episode, host Yvette Sitters dives into the crucial aspect of booking wedding vendors and why timing is paramount in securing the best for your special day. Yvette shares expert tips on when to book major vendors, the impact of popular wedding dates, increasing costs and how to secure vendor availability. Don't miss out on your dream team!

Episode Highlights:

  • The significance of booking key vendors early in the wedding planning process.
  • Major vendors to prioritise: venue, caterer, celebrant/officiant, and photographer.
  • Tips for selecting vendors who resonate with your vision and style.
  • Considerations for popular wedding dates and flexibility in choosing dates.
  • Leveraging online meetings to secure vendors, even for destination weddings.
  • Negotiation strategies for pricing and payment plans.


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Yvette Sitters:

Welcome to the Manage my Wedding podcast, where we believe your wedding is the most important time in your life and you deserve to feel supported and organised when planning the wedding of your dreams. I'm your host, yvette Sitters. Hello, welcome back to the Manage my Wedding podcast Another exciting episode, and today I'm going to be talking about tackling a crucial aspect of your wedding planning booking vendors and the significance of the timing in securing the right vendors for your dream wedding. Now, who has heard that saying the early bird gets the worm? I haven't heard it for a while, but I'm sure many of you have heard it and you remember what it means. And it's the same for booking key vendors. The early bird gets the worm Like, honestly, the best venues, the best photographers, the best wedding stylists, florists, all of that If they are good, if they have amazing reviews, if they are popular, in demand, they book out early, and all those other weddings that started to get on top of things really early are the early bird gets the worm. So that's the saying you feel like oh my gosh, okay, whatever. That's a very popular saying, but it is just so, so true. Some vendors are in demand, and I mean really really high demand and they are worth their weight and gold. So you have to remember that and I get asked all the time when should I book my photographer? I've locked in my venue. When do I need to book my photographer? I want to tell you now like you need to book them in now, especially for the major vendors that we're dealing with. So the key ones that I always say are major vendors are one, obviously, the venue. That is critical that you do that as soon as you know that you're engaged, unless you're not playing gyro. Married for five years, fair enough, but if you want to have a wedding in the next two years, you need to book your venue now, and also a caterer if the venue doesn't have that. So they kind of go together.

Yvette Sitters:

The other major vendors that I want to say you need to book ASAP is your celebrant and your photographer. They are absolutely critical for a perfect wedding day. Your celebrant or your officiant sorry, whichever one you're going with or your pastor, whoever it is. They are marrying you. You do not want to miss out the good ones. Get on to that. You want to find the person you resonate with and that you feel is connected to you as a couple and to your love story.

Yvette Sitters:

And the photographer. Those are photos you look at for your whole entire life. They are memories you look at forever. You want to look at those photos and love them and you want them to be good enough that they're on your wall. And the photographers that are the best. They are going to book out really, really quickly.

Yvette Sitters:

So please just remember that there is no time frame on when you should book those ones. You should just do it now. Do it now and you know, obviously there are other vendors that are important as well. Like, you think, a makeup artist, they're making you feel beautiful for your wedding day. The musician is the person that's getting every single person on the dance floor. So they are equally, just as important, but they don't tend to book out as quick and sometimes you have, you know, more options than, say, a venue or a photographer. So those ones you know, if you're like, oh, I just can't do it all right now, get the venue locked away, kater, if you need it, get your efficient locked away and get your photographer booked in, and then maybe you could wait a little while to do the rest of the vendors.

Yvette Sitters:

But I do also wanna say when we are living in a time that we're living in now, where everything is ridiculously expensive globally for anything. I'm not talking weddings, I'm talking life. The longer you wait, the more prices are gonna go up and majority of the time, whatever the price is that you lock in today is the price that you pay, even if your wedding is in two years time. So if you have enough money to secure deposits for as many of the vendors as you need, I would prioritize that over worrying about favors and other things that you can book closer to the time. That don't matter. So get in. Book them at those rates. Now, do look at the contracts, because there are like some Katerers, they do stipulate in their contracts that there's a 2.5 increase year on year and that might affect you. So if your wedding's in two years time, it might be 5% more, and that's obviously because they know that food's gonna cost them more from their supplier. So just check that in the contracts. But the majority of your vendors will set the price and that's the price. So that is a massive tip. If you wanna save some money down the track, try and come up with the deposits as quick as you can and go ahead and pay those and sign those contracts. That's what I wanna say there.

Yvette Sitters:

There's also the impact of really popular wedding dates and seasons on the vendor availability as well. You might be really wanting a Saturday night in summer, which is a really popular time to get married, and if that is your situation and you haven't booked your key vandals, I would get onto that now Because popular dates go really really really quickly. So that is my tip with that, book at those peak wedding times and try and get in as quick as you can. And the same goes kind of with those less popular dates. Like there are benefits in being flexible with your wedding date because it can give you sometimes lower prices. Some venues will charge you less for, you know, a Monday to Thursday wedding, and some even Friday. It depends on where it is and location, et cetera. But if you are more flexible with your wedding date and you go for a less popular date and maybe you go for a winter wedding, then you are gonna have much more opportunity to find vendors easier, even the really really good ones.

Yvette Sitters:

So have a think about that. You know I get asked all the time is it okay to have a weekday wedding? Yes, it is Absolutely. It is because those that love you will come. They will make the effort to be there. So have a think about that. If you're gonna book a public holiday weekend, sometimes you're gonna find vendors are away, so they're not gonna take bookings for those weekends. So you have to put that into your mind as well.

Yvette Sitters:

Now, if you're like, well, I'm actually planning my wedding in another state or another country, I've locked in my venue, but I don't wanna lock in my vendors because I can't get back there for six months, then my suggestion is speak to them on Zoom. Like, if you can't meet them face to face, but you really wanna get them locked in, and especially at the prices that they're at now, meet them on Zoom. Honestly, you pick up pretty quickly when you're looking at someone face to face, even when it's online on Zoom or FaceTime. However you wanna do it, you're gonna pick up pretty quickly if you like them or not. Like. We're living in an online, digital world now and, honestly, a lot of the time, that's how we get to know people, and it's no different for vendors.

Yvette Sitters:

So get online, have a chat to them face to face, look at their testimonials and reviews, look at the work they've done previously and then just make a decision and lock in those key ones, cause, honestly, it makes a world of difference If there's a makeup artist and you're like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna know that they're gonna do what I like? Make sure, when you look at their work, that their work looks like you're looking at the work of somebody who looks like you. So there's no point in looking at someone who only does makeup on blonde, blue-eyed, pale skin type people and your, you know, olive, dark hair, dark eyes. You've got to actually look at people who are similar featured to you so you can see if they do to work like that and if you like it. So that's a little bit of a tip with that and Flores, obviously it's really easy to look at their reviews and it's really easy to stalk their social media and see if they do a good job. That's gonna tell you pretty quickly. You don't really meet with a Flores to touch their flowers or smell their flowers. You're looking at their stuff online or on their website, or mostly from past weddings, to be honest, because we can all put photos on our websites, but true photos, you know, showing when the work is actually done on the day. So look at their stories, see what they're doing, see what they're getting up to. So that is my tip around that as well.

Yvette Sitters:

But honestly, when should you book vendors, vendors, the major ones Now, book them now. You know, it's really, really, really important. The early bird catches the worm. I'm gonna say it again. And, like I said, if there is someone you really want to lock in, sometimes it's worth talking to them. If you're like they want a $500 deposit, I just don't have that right now, but I don't want to lose them. Ask them, just say look, is it okay if I pay $200 now and $300 next month, because I'm locking in a lot of vendors and I just don't have all of that money up front right now? But I want you and I don't want to lose you and I'm happy to sign the contract too. So just talk to them, negotiate with them and come up, you know, with a way to make it happen. Honestly, it is worth it. Ask them if someone you know even if someone says, oh, my prices go up 5% each year just say I really want to lock you in, but I can only afford this year's prices. Is that okay? You know, see what they say, have a chat to them.

Yvette Sitters:

Vendors are lovely, they care so much about your wedding and they want to help you. So it's just never, ever a situation where they're like, oh don't, you can't ask me that. Yes, it is sometimes rude to you know. Say to a celebrant, if they've sent you a quote for $1000 and you're like, can you do it for $600? Yeah, that is kind of rude, because they set their prices for a reason. They've set it because of their experience and how well they do their job and also all the hours that go into what they do. So obviously, when I say negotiate and talk to them, I mean in a fair way, okay, so that it's a win-win for everyone. So, yeah, that are my tips.

Yvette Sitters:

There's not much else I can really add to that about when to book your vendors. I think that pretty much answers what everyone keeps on seeming to ask. But the sooner the better. You know, if you're not getting married for another three years, it's okay to sit back and not make decisions right now. That is totally fine. But you know, if you want your dream venue and you've got time on your side, try and lock it in two years before, if you can I say and obviously if you're listening now and you're like, oh my gosh, my wedding's in six months, get on to booking the key vendors and then maybe every week book one more vendor so you're not overwhelming yourself and then you get on top of where you should be and you know you're not stressed out in those last couple of months trying to find vendors. So, yeah, I hope that helps everyone.

Yvette Sitters:

If that has helped you, please, please, please, pop over and leave me a five star review. I would be so grateful. I don't know what it is. It is so hard to get people to leave reviews. I have beautiful five star reviews, but it just is very hard to get people to take the time, because I know we're all living in a really busy world and I run competitions. So you can win access to my free full course. You can win my now only my final 90 day wedding guide. You can win one-on-one time with me. There's all prizes up for grabs every month. Just because you leave a review, you go straight into the draw. So if you could take the time, I would be so grateful. And until next time, enjoy being engaged and staying stress free and organized while planning a wedding of your dreams.