Budget

Determine your wedding budget (for the whole wedding)
Decide what percentage of your budget is going towards each vendor / portion of the wedding. Typically your reception (food, drinks and venue) will be around 40% of your total budget. Your wedding planner or manager will likely be around 10%. Your photographer will be around 10% (and another 8-10% if you want a videographer as well), etc. (We will be writing a blog later this month about budget breakdowns).
Do some research on specific vendors in your area to determine if the percentage you’ve allocated is realistic. E.g. If you have a $25,000 budget, 10% would be $2,500, but you may find that the style and skill level of photographer that you’re interested is an investment of $3,500.

Top Vendors

Choose your top 3 vendors
This will help you decide which vendors you may be willing to allocate a higher percentage of your budget to in order to get your dream venue, photographer, florist, etc.

Skill / Experience / Reviews

Find the vendors you’re interested in working with and read their reviews (or if someone you know recommended them, ask about their experience working with them).
Check out their website and instagram page to view their portfolios and to find out how much experience they have.
Feel free to ask how much experience they have. Some vendors started this as a side hustle, but only “officially” launched their business a year or two ago.
Note if they are recommended by your other vendors (especially your wedding planner or manager).

Personality / Vibe

Book a consultation with potential vendors. Most will offer this for free. It’s a great opportunity to make sure that your personalities vibe well, or to make sure they understand your vision.
Vendors that will be very involved on the day-of can help set the tone for your day, so make sure that you like their energy. You don’t want to have a makeup artist that has a negative energy with you the morning of your wedding. Or a photographer that you don’t feel like you get along with.

perks

Does this vendor offer any “perks” with their packages? E.g. Vendor discounts, rentals, an engagement session, etc.
This isn’t a deal breaker, but can be a nice little extra and can help break a “tie” between two vendors you’re considering who check off all the other boxes.

If you are interested in hiring a wedding planner to handle all of this for you, we would love to connect! Or if you want to hire your vendors and plan the wedding yourself, but you want to enjoy the day and let someone else execute it, we’ve got you covered! Get in touch with us so we can plan a consult, to make sure we vibe well ;) and then we’ll send you a custom proposal!