You’ve found the space for your celebration. You’ve booked your accommodations. Now it’s time to hire the team of creatives that will support you in the journey leading up to, and through, your marriage day. So… where do you even begin? Don’t worry, we’re here with professional planning advice to lend an order of operations to your vendor hiring process.

Whether you’ve hired a full planning service or a day-of coordinator (or anything in between), make sure you first check in with your planning team to ask for the resources they make available as part of their working relationship with you. Some may offer an entire database of vendors across many categories; others may maintain a preferred vendor list. Some may conduct a needs assessment to pre-vet and rank vendor recommendations based on your style and celebration; others may leave it to you to bring your own ideas and inspiration to the table. Before you go anywhere, pause and take stock of what your planning team offers. And if you’ve found this article and have not yet hired a planner: Well hello, friend! We recommend starting your process by hiring your planning service first. The sooner they get involved in your process, the more resources and expertise they lend to save you lots of time and money.

1. FIGURE OUT YOUR NEEDS.

Set aside time to sit down with your partner and list all the services you plan to hire as a part of your day. Make sure you include all the services for which you need assistance, professional or volunteer. Not only do you want to track the vendor categories you need to hire, you also want to make sure that the “asks” you make of your friends and family are reasonable. Layer in the favors you plan to ask of friends and family, and make sure you attach a specific person to that service. There is no reason for the MVPs in your life to work your whole wedding and, if you find the list for these people is getting quite long, consider replacing some of those asks with professional hires.

Once you have the list of all the services you need, prioritize! Which services will your celebration be significantly impacted without? Chances are you will need a human to perform the marriage service, a professional to document the day, and food to sustain you and your guests. For larger events, also consider the unsexy non-negotiables like rentals, staff, entertainment, and facilities that make the experience work for your guests. Once you’ve put these non-negotiables at the top of your list, consider what services significantly elevate your experience of the day. What services align with the values you two agreed upon for the day? And how can they be served? These might include beauty services to treat yourself and those close to you to some grounded bonding time at the start of the day. You might also include self-expression through your attire, activities, entertainment, or sustenance. After these two lists have been made whatever services are left will be the third tier of hires: the cherry on top, if you will. These services may not be non-negotiables or significantly elevate your experience of the day, but they do help round out the vision you have in mind.

Now that you have an order of hires that reflects your event’s needs and wants, let’s talk about how to assess each vendor to see if they’re a good fit for you. If you’re working with a planning team that pre-vets and recommends vendors, you can trust that their recommendations check many of the boxes that follow. However, it can be fun to review vendors — recommended or not — and get to know their offerings prior to your first consultation. Here’s how we recommend going about that.

2. VET YOUR VENDORS.

The first step is to look over a vendor’s website. What impression does their homepage give you? Does their work look and feel the way you want your day to look and feel? Is their mission and message clear? Do they illustrate experience and personality? Do they include testimonials from past clients? A vendor’s homepage communicates a lot about the feeling of working with their business.

The next step is to hop on over to their Investment/Services/Packages page. This is where you can get an understanding of whether this vendor is a good fit for the price point you’re looking to spend. You should also see further guidance on what the experience of working the vendor looks like and what kinds of clients may be a fit for their services. If the price is right, and the process jives with you, then proceed to fill out a contact form! Use this as a way to introduce the vendor to your vision. This information allows your vendor to properly prepare for your conversation with examples and ideas, which allows you to spend less time on the logistics in your call and more time on personality fit and ideas. So take your time, provide complete information, and know that more detail is better than less.

We recommend having a phone or video chat consultation with each of your vendor hires. While you may be able to get a good idea of the quality of their work from the “portfolio” page on their website, a conversation shares so much more about their services and the experience of working with them. The vendor will recommend the process by which you can book your consultation and give you an estimate of approximately how long it will take. Come into the conversation prepared by reviewing their website and any subsequent materials — like brochures, blog links, and attachments — sent prior to the call. Then make good use of your time by writing down the questions you’d like answered in order to make a decision about hiring them. Here are a few of our favorite questions to ask vendors:

• How long have you been in business? Can you tell me your origin story?

• What is your mission statement? Why are those values so important to your business?

• Can you walk me through the timeline of what it looks like to work with you, from start to finish? What does your service look like on the day of our celebration?

• Do you provide any resources or guidance in the months leading up to our celebration? What do those look like?

• Do you have any boundaries that you draw in your business? Do you have things you will not do or offer to your clients? Why?

• What contingency measures do you have in place if, say, you get sick, or something goes wrong and you can’t perform your duties?

• [Insert fun question here that is related to your personalities, like: What is your favorite adventure and why?]

• What are the next steps to work together? Are there any time-bound decisions I should be aware of?

3. HIRE YOUR VENDORS.

When you wrap up the consultation, take five minutes to write down notes. These can include your impressions, how you felt on the call, what stood out to you the most, and any follow-up questions you’d like to ask other vendors. These notes will help you put words to the click factor you felt during the consultation. We recommend recording these right away because, if you let a day or two go by, you may not remember all the authentic thoughts and feelings that came forward during that vendor interaction, which will prevent you from being able to make an apples-to-apples comparison with the other vendors in that category. So build an extra five minutes into the end of your call time to record the click factor. 

Once you’ve completed your consultations across all vendors in a category, it’s time to hire! Start in the order of category priorities you set out with your partner. Discuss the click factor you felt with each vendor, as well as whether you think their services are the best fit for your celebration. 

If personality means the most to you, let that lead.

We recommend making personality-driven hires in categories like beauty services and DJ/MC services. These are the people who will either be spending lots of one-on-one time with you to set the vibe of your day and/or creating the environment that you want your guests to experience.

If you want someone resourceful and informative in a particular category, weigh that factor more heavily in comparison to others.

Your planning services should most certainly fall into this category. They are your guide and navigation system through the celebration planning process, so prioritize your planner hire based on the resources and information they have to offer. Also consider the format in which they deliver those resources and whether or not that will be a system that works for you (e.g. do they use a series of documents? blogs? a personalized portal?).

If aesthetic is the primary motivator, be honest and spend time re-reviewing the look of their work online.

We recommend making aesthetic-driven hires in the area of rentals, floral design, decor, and venue spaces. While other factors are certainly important, like experience and services, couples typically derive the most value from these vendors by how their work looks. It’s okay to be honest about that. ;)

If all these categories feel equally important, then fear not!

We have answers for this, too. We recommend making a mixed-priority hire in the area of photography and videography, as well as anyone else you spend a significant portion of the planning process or your day with. If planning, florals, or entertainment are a big part of your vision, then shift them down to this category, too. You certainly want a vendor whose work looks like you want the day to feel, but you also want a vendor whose experience makes you confident in their ability to deliver a high quality service, a vendor who can provide resources that prepare you to get the most out of your relationship, and a vendor whose personality jives with yours. You will be spending a lot of time together, after all!

With all that information in mind, TRUST YOUR GUT! You’ve taken the time and made the effort to make an informed decision. Let the work you’ve done lead you to hire the best fit.

— Kate, Tapestry Creative Director