Red Lips Bride

In the past year, since I got engaged and started to plan my wedding, I’ve talked to a lot of vendors, sales people, photographers, caterers… you name it, I’ve talked to them.  And I get a very mixed response.  It’s clear some people want your business and other don’t.  While I don’t have any real advise to give, because I’m still struggeling with this myself, I’d like to relay to you all some of my better and worse experiences.

The Business who doesn’t want or need your business:

These guys are SO irritating.  I just want to give you my money, is that so hard to ask?  My largest experience with this “type” of business was looking for a hotel for my guests to stay in during the wedding.  I used a variety of methods, like the group tool on Priceline.com and a few others to get quotes from hotels.  There was one hotel that was just perfect for our guests.  A 4 star hotel with good amenities, large enough for the group, and within walking distance of the ceremony and reception so I don’t have to worry about drinking and driving or transportation.  But I was not to be so lucky because their response to my request for a quote was “We regret to inform you that due to other hotel obligations we are unable to consider your request”.  Now I don’t know what type of obligations they’ve already got about a year before the date, but if they don’t even want to give me a quote, I don’t want my guests to stay there.

The Business who knows what you want:

My experience with this type of vendor came while looking for a photographer.  I understand how many vendors are experienced working within the traditional understanding of a wedding.  When presented with a more “alternate” wedding, some vendors are not equipped to handle that.  While my wedding is not too far from traditional, the photographer had a very hard time understanding that we had no interest in traditional photography.  No posed group shots, no pics of the hanging dress, no lame shots.  We wanted candid photography that expressed the fun and celebration of our wedding.  I guess we wanted photojournalism.  Maybe I was just talking to the wrong photographer, or maybe he just couldn’t understand what we wanted, but the signals were clearly crossed.  He was very excited about our location, UofT property, and was trying to sell me on the appeal of the traditional photos in those surroundings.

Whatever your challenge with vendors, remember, there is always another vendor out there who is eager to work with you, so with more research you can find someone who suits your needs.  Be sure to stick to your guns, and be sure of what you want.  Vendors generally want your business, so they are usually flexible, but if they aren’t that wont change through the process, so you don’t want to work with them.