“Too many to choose from, how can I make the right decision?”

Lowell, MA - As we’ve been planning our own wedding, we have been thinking a lot about how couples choose their wedding vendors. There are a ton of options out there for every category of wedding professional, so it is easy for people to become overwhelmed. With this blog post, and some others that we’ve planned for the coming weeks, we will hopefully assist some folks out there who are having a hard time deciding on the right people to bring to their wedding day.

• Recommendations: Probably the first place to start your search would be contacting friends and relatives who’ve recently got married and ask them who they used and how they feel about recommendations. Check out a friend’s wedding album and see if the photographer’s style fits your expectations. Plus, you can get a lot more out of this than just a photography referral because if the photographer was a true wedding shooter you’ll be able to see the flowers, decorations, cakes, and venues in the album as well.

• Reviews: Use wedding planning sites like Wedding Wire, Wedding Mapper, or Project Wedding to find reviews on vendors that are of interest to you. The downside to this is that there are so many wedding professionals on these sites that it can contribute to the problem. However, if you have a specific list of vendors you are already interested in, you should ask them if they participate actively on these planning sites and check out their reviews.

• Budget: The wedding budget can be an important tool when choosing wedding pros. Lets face it, we all want the best of the best, but if they are nowhere near your budget it would be wise to scratch them off the list right away. If not, lingering hope that you win Powerball will soon turn to disappointment when you just can’t budget for it. However, if there’s only a few dollars difference between the price and your budget, you should ask about payment options. We’ve just begun using payment installations to help our clients plan effectively, without losing sight of the money. Wedding pros are people too, so if you have a specific request don’t hesitate to ask. Some people will be more responsive than others, but don’t take it personally if they decline.

• Experience: To know that your DJ has been a wedding pro for a decade or more will put your mind at ease that the “Chicken Dance” will not be played when you specifically put it on the “Do Not Play” list.  Professionalism is a key attribute in experienced wedding vendors. Although, for the better wedding professionals out there, experience may influence their starting price and their availability.

• Contract: Before you decide who you are going to work with, check out their contract. This can give you a distinct impression of how your business transaction will be handled.

• Personality: This is hands down your most important quality when dealing with your Photographer, DJ/Emcee, and your Wedding Coordinator. These are the folks that you will spend the most time with and really get to know (and hopefully like). As an example, your photographer will be following you all day so you should be sure their professionalism and personality match your expectations. If your personality clashes with your photographer you are going to look annoyed in all of your images, which is not a good look for you. A wedding photographer should be friendly, confident, able to give direction when needed and unobtrusive when direction is not needed.  Your wedding vendors are there to work with you to make sure your day goes the way you want, so make sure those people have a personality that makes them easy to be around. We all vibe with like minded people, so go out there and find them.

We’d love to hear from brides/grooms and wedding pros who can add to this list of helpful tips on finding the perfect match for your wedding needs. Thanks!