Eenie Meenie Minie Moe!

In my opinion, vendor selection is critical. Why? Two words:

Customer Service

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had your meal ruined because you were annoyed and preoccupied by poor customer service? Well, imagine that your meal cost $10,000, $30,000, $100,000 or more! What if that memory was one you wanted to look back on for a lifetime? How would you feel? You may think this is being dramatic, but can you tell I’m super passionate about this??? How was my intonation Mr. Director? In actuality though, my little scenario is more of an understatement. Your wedding day is more than just an expensive dinner. It’s an orchestrated event which requires much more work than a mere dinner.

I’m a stickler when it comes to customer service. Personally, I’d rather pass on the venue or vendor of my dreams if I’m not convinced I’m going to get excellent customer service (and I recently have in my own personal wedding planning). If I’m going to hand over thousands of dollars, or even fifty dollars I want to be treated well as a customer. I have no tolerance for anything less.

I’m surprised to hear about Brides feeling and seeing the red flags and not listening to their inner voice. If you’ve decided to forgo professional planning services, make sure you really listen to your gut. Especially since you will be paying these vendors in full before your event. Sometimes cash paid in full changes people’s level of service. I read several reviews on one well known local photographer who makes his clients wait about two years to get their albums! Who wants aggravating memories attached to their wedding albums? Every time you look at it, you will probably think about this guy whose clients say “made them beg” for their albums <shudder>.

My advice? Really interview your vendors in depth. Check their reviews.  Ask a lot of questions. Call them a few times with more questions (anyone can seem nice at the first meeting or phone call). If they get annoyed or impatient, pass on their services. I’m not asking you to take them to their breaking point, but it’s completely natural for someone planning such a momentous event to have lots of questions. A wedding day can be stressful if you are managing it yourself. If they are already annoyed with a few questions, how do you think they may react if a crisis hits and you need them to go out of their way to help fix the problem?

So the point of the story is my dear Brides & Grooms is to check these people out! Make sure they are on your team! Starting with a great team makes for a better chance of a successful day. Choose people who want to help you and pride themselves in the quality of their work. Find the vendors who love doing a great job because it brings them personal satisfaction. Those are the ones who will go above and beyond and truly want to make your day a special one. If you follow this advice, you’ll feel much better when your wedding day finally comes and you have confidence in your vendors.