Pre-paying for everything

We are from a small town and most of our venues are allowing up to pay all at time of booking.

makes it easier for us , as this way we don't have to worry about who needs to be paid when getting closer to the date

Most contracts need a deposit only and other payments when dated. You don't need to pay it all of beforehand before something happens and you lose all the amount. Just wait until your day and have a family member in charge to give all vendors the remaining payments.

We also had the money set aside, we paid as much as possible up front and paid the last of it in the last month. It wasn't too bad we knew when payments were expected and it didn't stress us out at all to pay it at the end. This way also if something were to happen with a vendor for some reason you aren't out everything.

I am also waiting for the day of the wedding to finalize all payments- only 2 things I paid in full is officiant as they are part of organization and the cake, but otherwise everyone will get paid day of the wedding or after.

I'd wait, because like a lot of people mention if a vendor ghosts or an act of god happens, its hard to get your money back. If they go out of business or go bankrupt, you might as well kiss your money goodbye.

Hi Courtney,

I would wait until the due dates to pay. Your money is better sitting in you account collecting interest or something like that. And remember to pay by cheque or something that's traceable. You don't want to be in a situation where vendors don't show up or worse, they say they didn't receive payment.

We are 19 days out and are currently having this conversation. FH wants to pay right away, where as I would feel more comfortable paying when we get to the resort and can actually see what we're paying for. I have also been watching the dollar like a hawk haha

I am on the side of wanting to pay it all off right away! I am also OCD with my budget, and its hard to be happy with what is in my account when we have this massive bill looming in 1.5 years. I feel like if you are booking reliable vendors (and you should be) then there is no fear of them running off with your money.

But I get if you have heard of that happening, its hard to not have that in your mind. The other argument for keeping your money until closer too is that it could be collecting you interest (the good kind).

That all being said, I want it all paid off a good week or so beforehand. I do not want to be thinking about payments the day of at all! I trust all our vendors on this.

I agree with the other ladies waiting to pay until they are due. Some may be ok with it, just make sure if you do pay them before the due date, document it some how, get it in an email in writing just in case.

I would suggest paying them the month of or end of month of June. I know some of my vendors ask to be paid the remaining balance 10 days prior or little earlier. I have 2 out of the how many that will allow me to pay day of. I know your eager to be done with it all! I def understand that, If you know the vendor and trust everything fine then you could. But bright side to paying the closer to or month of is that you can check in same time to make sure they are on same page of when to show up and have your contact info of the cordinators info if get lost ectra.

I paid all my vendors way ahead of time. They all showed up, and they all did an amazing job! I would have hated to deal with money the day of. I found it hard to even get tips out for delivery people. Vendors rely on good reviews, if they don’t show up, their ruining their business.

I wouldn’t pay them now. My biggest fear is paying off vendors and someone not showing up the day of or something gets messed up but you’ve paid them already and they disappear - no refund or discount.

Im paying all my vendors the day of.

We are 25 days away from our wedding and have paid all our vendors in full. I think the only downside to paying them ahead of time is that you lose your money earlier
The contracts should protect you from anyone disappearing with your money or anything but you could even pay them all at your 1 month mark if you want to wait a little longer

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This is sound logic and a good reason to wait lol.

I personally wouldn't. As much as I'd love to trust everyone I hire I just fear the fact they could just completely cut contact and disappear.. I've read so many stories about this unfortunately. We get married in 1 month and have just started to pay off our balances. I'd wait.

We have been paying things off as quickly as possible. It’s taking a lot of stress off of us by knowing it is paid. Our wedding is October 19th so if you can do it I say go for it

We put down the required deposits and then started paying off the largest expense first then the second largest etc. All of our deposits were non-refundable, however the balances were refundable, so I didn't see any reason not to pay things off. Trust me when I say it is so gratifying to see things at a zero outstanding balance.

I have paid all of them all ready. We are 66 days away. I wanted the money out of my account. The only thing we haven’t paid is the venue

Yes, i think it's good to wait till payment is due and i am like you where i am waiting for the bills to come in so i can pay them. God forbid something terrible happens like your venue catches fire or has some type of shutdown. I don't mean to be so drastic but for me personally i would wait.