How many vendors to contact?

View quoted message We could’ve made our engagement short and get married in 2018, but we have a lot of family events this year. Also, we’re planning across a province so we can’t easily meet up with vendors, hoping most are good for skype calls!

View quoted message Thanks! It was actually really not so bad looking back on it.

The way I did mine is I viewed their work and if I like it, I contact them and see if they are available for my date and pricing. Then I narrow it to top 3 and meet with them. But I did not had to do this with my videographer and photographer because I knew they were the 1. Plus it's a bonus because it's 1 company that I had to deal. And they are not about the money but the quality of their work. They shoot till the end of ceremony, which most company will set specific hoursm. I did the same with my Dj becuse they offer live music so I went for them.

View quoted message I feel like booking one thing at a time is a good idea, that way it gets less confusing!

I think it depends on the vendor and the feel you get from them. We only checked out one photographer but already knew we wanted to go with them (they did my FH's sister's wedding). For everything else, we've been booking one thing at a time and contacting at least 3 or 4 to get price comparisons etc.

View quoted message We have a long one, 1 year and 7 months to go lol and I’ve been having no problems with availability. Glad everything worked out for you!

We contacted several vendors at once since we had a relatively short engagement (9 months). We needed to know if they were available and could work with our ideas and budget. We did hire several of the first people we contacted so don't feel bad about that.

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I would visit one or 2 more just to get a better feel for prices

Venues I contacted at least 10 and only about 5-6 got back to me.

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Fair enough, it doesn't hurt to get a few options!

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I went to one in January and met a few there.

We contacted about 4 or 5 venues, but fell in love with the one we picked th second we visited. Pretty much same with the photographer. With our official I knew who I wanted for months and we got her! Those are all we've booked so far but for every vendor I like to contact or meet at least 2 or 3 just so I have all my options. It also makes it 100% easier once you've had some sort of communication with a few of them.

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For photographers we met A LOT at wedding expos but we only met up with one outside of the expos. At expos you can get most of your basic info, an estimation of cost for each vendor as to say. The 1st expo we went to the package I liked it was going to cost about $5000 and most of the packages varied from $1200-$6000 depending on the vendor. We chose our photographers due to their package and they were super nice and we got a long right away and we met them at the 3rd or 4th expo I visited.

I'm paying $3800 for 2 photographers, 10-12 hr coverage, all photos edited and will be on a USB for us and they also threw in a free album as well. Which this was almost the same package I wanted when we went to the 1st expo, and this one was a lot cheaper. I knew I wanted to splurge on photography but $5000 is a little too high for me.

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That sounds like a great idea! I'm currently doing that, hoping to book my photographer by May, Officiant in August, and DJ/entertainment in October. That way I'll have my big 3 by October, which is my goal lol and I'll have a few months in between to search up the next group.

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Thanks Michelle! How many did you end up contacting, say for photography for example?

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Fair enough lol

We ended up hiring the first photographer but we did meet with others just to compare. I would focus on one area at a time but contact multiple vendors. So, first was venue, once we had that booked I moved on to photography, etc. It worked for me and I ended up being able to hire my first choice!

I contacted 2 at a time for sure but no more than 3! Just so I can keep track of all the vendors I did contact so I don't get confused with any other ones. Once I crossed off 1 or 2 contacts for that particular vendor, I would look up 1 or 2 more.

We hired the 1st vendors we met up with: photographers and officiant. We met lots at wedding expos but to actually meet up outside of the expo those were the 2 we hired right away.

DJ we hired without actually meeting up as this DJ has done family events before for my FH's side so it was an easy decision.

View quoted message I felt the same way until my mother made it clear to me that these people want my money, therefore I should compare and be certain I’m going with the right one. Weddings aren’t cheap so why not browse around vendors? Lol.

View quoted message Thanks Bianca, I feel like I might be wasting people’s time by contacting them and then eventually not booking them. Might just be me though lol

I’ve been contacting several vendors at a time. I constantly have email conversations with 3+ vendors as to be able to compare prices accurately.
With that being said, I booked the first photographer I contacted. She had done my cousins recent wedding and I really liked her work so for that I wasn’t about to take a chance of not securing her.

View quoted message I have spreadsheets of all the vendors I look at and like sorted by type (photographer, dj), and ranked my top 3. I’m also planning long distance so I can’t meet some as quickly as I’d like to, some have been flexible for skyping

We had been in contact with two different vendors at a time and sort of narrowed it down after meeting them. It's always good to have two on the go so you can compare!