How many quotes to get!?

Inquire with as many vendors. compare quotes side by side and eliminate your choices down to 3. Based on your budget, see which vendor would best fit your amount and services provided. Talk to the photographer and get more information if you need more clarification.

As many as you want! If you find 6 photographers you really want to consider then get an estimate from all of them. This will really help you to find someone within your budget that you also really enjoy.

Another bonus to getting estimates is that it gives you an idea about how easy it is to get in contact with that vendor!

We got at least 5 estimates for every type of vendor so that we had all our options.

Totally Agree! Research is important to narrow the field first.

And for photography it is definitely important to know what you want. There are so many styles! At first I couldn't find anyone in my budget who's style I liked. It was hard to find options in my budget at all where the photos looked better than what I could take on my phone. So then I focused on looking for the style I liked first, and asking for recommendations. Thankfully I found a photographer... and although she was out of my price range she actually referred me to someone else who was the same style, and in my budget!

I agree what you feel comfortable with.

But before you start getting quotes, have a general idea of what is important to you, and the price point you would like to spend.

It helped me out to narrow options of the hop.

Also there was a photographer who's style and photos I fell in love with. She was over budget. But when I told her, she directed me to someone else that was the same style and feel and in my price range.

So gather what you want first, what you like, and go from there. And don't be afraid to ask for recommendations from friends, family, your local wedding buy and sell! If you know $2000.00 is your max those communities are really helpful. Just a "ISO photographer for 8 hours of wedding... max budget is _____ ". And you will get some excellent options you might not come across by just googling.

When I was looking up vendors and going to galas, all the main stream options that you come across more easily were way out of my price range. So this helped me zero in on a few before obtaining my quotes. Also don't just focus on the number... see if you can find reviews too!

I would get as many as you can/want until you feel comfortable with one. There is no set number on when that will be.

For photographer and DJ I got probably around 10 give or take for each before I made a decision. For DJ that was strictly cost, I knew how much I was comfortable spending on a DJ and until I got a number I liked I reached out to everyone.

Make up, venue, entertainment (photobooth) I got one quote and hired them all... you just need to figure out what you want and how much you want to spend and go from there.

To start you have to know what your budget is for each vendor. Then like Tori said you can narrow your search a lot by researching online and also here on the wedding wire site. From then you can get quotes from as many as you desire.

It really depends on what you feel comfortable like Seleena said.

I went through maybe 3 ish for each. But our venue also gave us a "preferred list" so it made the choice a little easier

I looked into at least 15 for DJ services but not by getting a quote - most of them had their pricing on their website so I only contacted the ones in my budget/ were the cheapest

As for a photographer, make sure you like their work first - that will narrow the search quite a bit, and then again - I only contacted those who were in my budget or close to it that I thought I could try to haggle with.