How do i narrow down a florist and a photographer?

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for all the feedback!

I narrowed down a photographer, they asked so many questions and helped me narrow down my ideas. I eliminated based on price, # of shooter, and number of hours. We picked Fox Photography. We are meeting them in the new year, since I contacted them they have asked so many questions and I really appreciated that.

Same with the florist. I contacted a lot off of wedding wire and one florist called me, and asked questions. I clearly like it when people ask a lot of questions haha it helps me figure out what I really want.

After picking though I started to freak out because I did it in such a short period of time, and started to wonder what if I find someone better between now and my wedding. But, now I'm really confident and not looking anymore.

I really appreciate all the advice! Really helped me out a lot.

Thank You!

Also when you meet with possible photographers make sure you seem comfortable with them. You'll definitely want someone yoj are comfortable around and someone with similar ideas as you have.

Photography is the one thing I was the most excited to plan! I spent MONTHS researching photographers, reading reviews, looking at portfolios, contacting and gathering information but luckily we found the perfect one! I got a book of lists from Indigo Books and used that to interview her and others.

I would say check wedding wire/online reviews. On wedding wire its great because you can actually reach out to the brides and ask them specific Qs.

If youre looking at reviews online look on google, not the vendor's site. They obviously filter out the bad ones.

For photography, I googled photography at my venue. That way I could see how the photographer captured events similar to mine.

Oh - picking vendors is so tough!

For a photographer, I think I looked up like 80% of photographers that worked in the area we're getting married. I IMMEDIATELY eliminated photographers (didn't even look at their portfolios) if they didn't meet the following criteria:

1. Work in my area. I decided I didn't want to pay travel fees or worry about traffic and them missing times.

2. If they offered the amount of hours I was after in a package that was in or CLOSE to my price range/budget.

3. If they didn't have two shooters.

From there I reviewed portfolios.. some of the pictures I just didn't like as much. I found one portfolio I LOVED so we met with her.. and we really didn't like her personality. So I went back to the drawing board and looked at photographers who had a personality I then jived with. I found one I liked so I booked an engagement session with her.

I would HIGHLY recommend an engagement session. It gave us a good feeling about how they work and capture shots.

As for florist... I mainly went on budget.. if they fit within my budget great. I then also sent along some images of things I had interest in and got their feedback. For this I primarily based who I went with based off of the gut feeling if I liked talking/working with them on my vision.

After finding your vendors, Don't look anymore!

Honestly for my photographer, I asked my friends recommendation and she recommended them and checked out her Facebook page. She is one of the popular photgraphers in the area (she was a little pricey so we were a bit nervous at first) but then we had our engagement photos with her and man were we impressed! (Our engagement photos were included in our package so if you can get s package like that and see how you like them). So she was an easy choice!
As for a florist, we are skipping real flowers and I am making our flowers from artificial ones, maybe I'll grow some for around the ceremony and reception. But in your case, I would just ask around, look at reviews and then your choice may come easier.
Good luck in planning!

I met with my photographer at the venue. We are having the ceremony and reception in the same place, and there is a cafe in the same building as well. We met there and the photographer said she had ideas for pictures there. That was really helpful to know because she could see the space and then her creativity took over. If possible, I would recommend that to people.

Also, ask to see a full album. That way, you can see what all they capture, the candids, the posed shots, the natural ones.

If you know what you are looking for in a photographer, ask for their style. Personally, I don't know the difference between photography styles, but, this is helpful as good, experienced photographers all have a style (and, they should be able to describe it).

With a florist you can ask them to do a mock up for you of your vision for the day. And then with your photographer do an e-session with them to see how you get along with them. Creep all of their photos!