How to Choose Wedding Vendors - 6 easy Tips

But first....

A WEDDING HORROR STORY

I was at a wedding in Louisiana, setting up to draw caricatures.

This particular event was no two-bit rinky-dink wedding. There were 10 bridesmaids. 10 groomsmen. A DJ station. A 360 degree Photo Booth. And myself - a caricature artist. The venue itself was probably about an 8-10k rental. Everyone was dressed in their finest.

Yet, as I was setting up, I noticed a man dressed in jeans and a polo shirt. See the photo.

Someone in jeans and a Polo Shirt at a Very Posh Wedding

At first I thought - Wait - is this guy working at the wedding? Maybe he’s the tech guy. He was messing around with some wires and such. Well, I thought, he must be planning on changing clothes before the reception.

I shrugged it off and went back to setting up my stand.

I was dressed as always in my black wraparound wedding gig dress, and once I was done, it was time to change from my slip-on shoes to my glittery wedding heels. Put on my earrings and diamond heart necklace. One last trip to the bathroom before the wedding party started their march down the aisle to check my hair and makeup. Ok. All's good.

I went back out to the reception hall and the guy in the striped shirt was gone. So I figured he was the tech guy like I’d thought.

Imagine my horror a little later when this guy shows up - dressed in the same striped shirt and jeans - as the DJ!

I was horrified. Every other wedding DJ I’d ever seen wore at least a shirt and tie. Many wear tuxes. I’d never seen one so dressed down for a WEDDING.

Not only that but later I was drawing people and his daughter sat in my chair. I know because she told me. She was supposed to be manning the Photo Booth but it was dead.

(which unfortunately often happens when people rent photo booths. a good reason to have a caricaturist instead or in conjunction with your photo booth rental)

So instead of enticing people to get in line for her station, she waited in my line for at least half an hour (time the bride was paying for her to be doing the photo booth), and took the place of wedding guests who could have gotten drawn.

Again I was horrified. How unprofessional. The couple is paying for you to be there to WORK - not to get a caricature. (Although it DOES tell you how desirable my caricatures are!)

As a wedding vendor, I don’t even eat the bride and groom's food. That food is expensive and unless I’m there at a wedding all day (which does happen) I don’t ask for a plate. Even then I will ask for a vendor plate so that I don’t cause the couple more expense.

At that same wedding, I saw the wedding planner acting rather unprofessionally as well so I wasn’t too surprised. I won’t get into it but many of the details I’d come to expect from a higher-caliber wedding were missing from this particular wedding.

I wasn’t surprised then that she had allowed such an unprofessional DJ. She should have made him go change. I would have if I’d been the planner. He was a blot on the whole wedding. He was center stage literally. I was embarrassed for the bride who hired him.

But the planner didn’t seem to notice or care.

I hadn’t been hired by the wedding planner but by the MOB- the mother of the bride - who saw me at another wedding. But most of the other vendors were probably procured by the wedding planner. Either that or they had found him on the knot. (not a good place to find wedding vendors. Please see THIS blog post)

I’ll give him this, at least he played the bride's list of music. But he didn’t do anything else.

He didn't announce the dances, the cake, or anything else except the entrance of the bride and groom and their exit. I don’t know if there was anything else because I was busy drawing but if there was, he didn’t announce it, I didn’t know about it, and neither did anyone else.

I was genuinely horrified.

This bride and groom had spent a good $30K on this wedding. Yet they had to deal with unprofessionalism?

So how can you avoid having this happen at your wedding?

How to Choose Wedding Vendors

There’s a few ways to make sure the vendors you pick for your wedding are good ones.

1. DON'T hire friends and family.

Have you ever heard the old advice not to work with family? Hiring wedding vendors is no different, and it's for the same reasons.

• Not having enough experience - So often I read about brides that have this happen. THey hire a sister or a cousin or a friend of a friend to save a few bucks and they're often not up to professional standards. I attended a wedding where the bride had her aunt make a wedding cake - and she'd never made a wedding cake before . BAD idea. You can imagine the outcome. It was a mess. Luckily the bride thought it was funny.

  But If you care a lot about the outcome, then hire a pro.

• Feeling Used - They may be cheaper but your relatives and friends may be resentful that you're using them for free or cheap labor, and may not give you their best efforts. They could even bail, leaving you high and dry. Which can lead to....

  
  

• Family Issues - Hiring family (or friends) can cause more than just issues with your wedding but stress and conflict that can last well beyond your wedding. Wedding planning is stressful enough without adding that on.

  
  

  If you INSIST on having friends or family as vendors at your wedidng (I warned you!) make SURE you get a professional, signed contract that protects you.

  
  

SO... what SHOULD you do with potential wedding vendors?

2. Watch them in action at another event.

Do it covertly and you'll see what they're really like. This is why I get a lot of referrals from weddings - the guests can see how much fun everyone has when I'm drawing caricatures as wedding entertainment and favors. And how much fun I have - which translates into happy guests having a great experience at a wedding or other event.

Here's a brief rundown:

• Wedding Planners should be dressed well and be in control of whats going on without being caustic - and the bride should be happy at the end of the day.

• Photographers should be able to gether the bridal party without making a big scene, and help keep everyone on track timewise. THis is JUST AS important as thier "vibe"

• Hair and makeup should know not to have the bride go last. The bridesmaids shouldn't have to redo any of their hair or makeup.

  
  

• Caterers The food should be consistently good. That's a big one. Should have plenty of staff help and all of the equipment they need and it should all be ready to go by the time of the reception.

  
  

• Bakers should have already set up their cake display before most guests arrive. It should be beautiful and NOT leaning! If you're early you can check them out and see how much work they put into their display. And of course it should be delicious!

  
  

• Venue staff should be nonobtruisive and work together like a machine. They should be bussing tables and fetching guests needed items. Recently I went to a wedding where they had to hunt down silverware for me. Not a good thing.

  
  

• Bartenders should be good with people and know their drinks as well as be able to handle guests when they have to enforce regualtions.

  
  

• Florists and Decorators should be creative and there shouldn't be large areas of no decorations at the venue. The memorial table, the guestbook table, the gift table, and anything else all should be beautifully decorated and unified visually.

  
  

• Officiants should be comfortable in front of a crowd, not stammering a lot or saying "uh's", and not having to read from a book (unless its required religiously)

  
  

• Live artists should be interacting with the crowd, not just making art. They're entertainers not just artists. Or should be. The same goes for other live entertainers.

  (read up on how to hire a caricature artist HERE)

  
  

• DJs AND Live Bands should not just be playing music but getting people on the dance floor, announcing the wedding things, playing the music that he’s been told to play or improvising well. This is one fault I see with DJ's a LOT - they don't announce the wedding things. And live bands also - no matter how good they are - they need to Emcee the wedding events (such as cake cutting, dances, etc) in between sets.

All of this and more are things you can easily learn by googling "What to look for in a ______" (fill in the type of vendor you're interviewing)

I will say the MOST IMPORTANT one is going to be your Wedding planner. And if you're not using one, then your venue should have one and THAT will also be IMPERATIVE to look at reviews. How many times have I looked up a venue to find horrible reviews and wonder what the bride was thinking choosing that one?

3. Check Legitimate Reviews.

Of course, you know this already. But the problem with reviews is they can be doctored.

For example, the Knot and Wedding Wire (and their

affiliates such as the bash and the bump) have been accused of taking down bad reviews of vendors by many brides online.  (Please see THIS blog post)

You can do a simple experiment yourself and go look up 5 random vendors on The Knot.

Look up their star rating there. Then go search elsewhere online and you will often find that they have a lower rating elsewhere. Sometimes much lower.

That’s because the knot is pay-to-play. Their vendors pay to be listed there and they wouldn’t get much business if they had a lot of bad reviews. All the vendor has to do is complain to the Knot/Wedding Wire and they will take down the bad reviews.

Which is very deceitful and it’s why I’m on a mission to keep any bride from falling for it and hiring a guy like that DJ in the striped shirt. I've seen too many horror stories.

The moral: Look at reviews from many sources. Don’t trust just one site.

So.

On to #4: Don’t necessarily trust your wedding planner.

I’m sure that plenty of wedding planners are honest people. But some do get kickbacks from venues and vendors for hiring them. Reputable vendors don’t play that way and we rely on our reputation alone.

One bride online was talking about how her wedding planner kept pushing a particular venue even though it said right on the brochure that there wasn’t enough room for her size event.

That there’s a red flag, folks. You can have 🚩 red flags in more than intimate relationships!

If they're pushing vendors on you (not just recommending them) it may be time to look for a different planner.

5. Conduct your own interviews.

Treat hiring vendors like a job interview. Because it is!

What would a star interviewer do? They would track the source of the reviews.

When I can, I like to show where my reviews came from for just this reason,

For Example:

Review from Zola

Your prospective wedding vendor or entertainer may have a bunch of quotes on his or her website - but the only way to know if they’re real is to interview some of the brides they worked with yourself.

I know I know - who has time for that? But on the other hand, who has several thousand dollars to throw away on a rotten vendor?

So narrow it down first. Get 3 of your favorite prospective entertainers. Then ask them for the references of actual brides.

Then call them and interview them! You’ll likely learn a lot. Pay attention to the details. Take notes.

And remember to trust your gut!

Finally -

6. Learn about their Process

If they dont even HAVE a process or dont know what you mean by that, that's a red flag 🚩

What is a process? It's a systemized way of doing things.

For example:

Your vendor should have a contract for you to sign and it should be before you pay a cent.

The contract should actually protect you and not be vague. It should include a full refund if the vendor noshows. Which shouldn't happen. But if it does, you need to protect yourself.

When you pay, they should also supply you an invoice for you to keep track of your payments.

A process sets apart the pros from the hobbyists. You dont want a hobbyist for your wedding. You want a pro.

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If you are looking for a professional caricature artist, or need unique wedding entertainment or favors no one at your wedding will even consider throwing away, CARICATURES are your solution.

CHeck out my website at www.caricaturesbykathy.com

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