Common Mistakes to Avoid When Booking Wedding Vendors

If you have already started your wedding planning journey you will already be aware of the number of choices out there when it comes to choosing your wedding vendors. When planning a wedding, hiring the right vendors is crucial to ensure a smooth and successful event. However, with so many options available, it's easy to make mistakes that can lead to disappointment and stress on your big day. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most common mistakes to avoid when hiring wedding vendors, so you can enjoy your wedding day to the fullest.

Mistakes to avoid when booking wedding vendors

Not doing your own research

One of the biggest mistakes couples make when hiring wedding vendors is not doing enough research. It's important to take the time to research potential vendors thoroughly. Look at their websites, social media profiles, and online reviews to get a sense of their style, quality, and reliability. Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations from friends and family who have recently planned a wedding. Also don't be afraid to ask questions and seek clarification on anything you're unsure of.

While advice from family and friends will definitely be useful, don’t rely on it completely. Their wedding may well have had a different vibe than what you want from your own wedding. Take any advice they offer on board but research any vendors they recommend yourself to ensure that they fit with what you want on your own wedding day.

Not asking vendors you’ve booked for help

The wedding vendor community in Northern isn’t that big. Most experienced wedding vendors know who the good and not so good vendors are and most will be happy to provide recommendations on great vendors they have worked with before.

A lot of wedding venues will provide a list of recommended suppliers and with some of them they provide these as a way of helping to ensure that their couples have a great day and aren’t stressing about finding good experienced vendors to help ensure everything goes to plan. We are on the recommended supplier lists at Larchfield Estate Weddings, Breckenhill Wedding Venue, The Old Court Wedding Company and Dufferin Inn. All of these venues added us to their recommended lists for no other reason than because they like what we do and how we do it.

However, at some N.I wedding venues couples do need to be a bit more careful about choosing vendors from the recommended lists. Some venues recommended suppliers list aren’t a recommended list at all. They can be just a list of suppliers who have been willing to pay the venue to be advertised on their list. They are also often not vetted in anyway by the venue as the venue don’t really care about who is on their supplier list, just that they sell this “advertising space.”

Having photographed hundreds of weddings all over Northern Ireland, like many other vendors we have a list of suppliers who we have worked with before and our couples have had good experiences with and are always happy to provide it to couples that book with us.

Failing to set a realistic budget

Another common mistake couples make is failing to set a realistic budget for their wedding vendors. It's essential to have a clear idea of what you can afford as your overall budget and stick to it. Identify the areas of your wedding that are the most important to you and invest in those.

If for example the photos on your wedding day are important to you and you have found an amazing wedding photographer but they are more expensive than what you initially planned to spend on photography, are there other areas you can cut back on to stay within your overall budget? Do you need a photo booth? Do you need a candy cart? Prioritising the things that are important to you can help you stay within your overall wedding budget.

Don't be tempted to go crazy and spend beyond your means on your wedding, as this can lead to financial stress and impact on how much you enjoy your wedding day. Don’t be cautious about asking wedding vendors about their pricing and what is included and don’t forget to ask about any potential hidden costs.

Our free wedding budget planner might help with budgeting and planning your wedding.

FREE WEDDING BUDGET PLANNER

Booking vendors too late

Leaving it too late to book your wedding vendors is a common mistake that can result in disappointment and frustration. Popular wedding vendors book up quickly, especially during peak wedding season. Couples sometimes make the mistake of overthinking their decisions and then end up having to go with their second, third or even fourth choice. If you find a wedding vendor you love, book them as soon as possible.

Too often couples overwhelm themselves with the decision-making process and then miss out on the wedding vendor that they really wanted. This is something we see a lot as a Northern Ireland wedding photographer. While we always tell couples that get in touch with us to make sure that they are 100% happy with everything before they decide to book with us, this process sometimes takes so long that by the time they get back to us we are no longer available on their date.

There is not set rule as to when you should book your wedding vendor that will guarantee that they are available for your wedding. The vast majority of wedding vendors in Northern Ireland can only facilitate one wedding a day. We get enquires and book weddings as far ahead as 2-3 years before the wedding day. Most couples that book with us do so around 12-18 months before their wedding. Although occasionally we will have couples who book us only a few months before, which is grand, if of course we have availability.

Just today as we write this, we had a couple get in touch who first contacted us a couple of weeks ago for a wedding that won’t take place for 2 years. When they got in touch a couple of weeks ago, we had their date available. They got in touch today to confirm their booking but unfortunately, we booked that date with another couple a few days ago. While this was incredibly disappointing for the couple that missed out, it shouldn’t take a couple of weeks to make a decision. If it does, were we really the right choice for them? Lots of times in this same situation, couples who have missed out have said they had made their decision shortly after speaking with us but had just got caught up dealing with other wedding related stuff and hadn’t been able to get back to us in time. As we have already said above, if you find a wedding vendor you love, confirm your booking with them as soon as possible.

Some wedding vendors will offer the option to hold provisional dates, but for us and the way our business operates unfortunately this isn’t possible. We have to work on a first come first served basis to be as fair as possible to everyone that gets in touch as we often get multiple enquires for the same date.

As a general rule of thumb the earlier you book your wedding vendors the cheaper it is as well so booking early can help with sticking to your overall wedding budget.

Booking vendors without talking to them first

While it's tempting and seems easy to book vendors based only on their online presence, it's important to chat with them before making a final decision. Speaking to a vendor before booking allows you to get a sense of their personality, professionalism, and communication style.

We regularly get emails and messages from couples on social media who just want to go ahead and book us for their wedding. We always suggest doing a consultation by telephone or by zoom if they prefer. This allows them not only to ask any questions they might have, but also allows us to gauge if we are a good fit for them as well. If we don’t think that we would be the right choice for them we will be honest and tell them. Wedding photography is an important part of every wedding day and we would much rather turn away couples that would be a better match for a different style of wedding photographer than have them book with us and not be 100% happy.

Choosing vendors based only on cost

While weddings off course can be expensive, choosing, your wedding vendors based only on price will often be a bad choice. Like with most things in life you generally get what you pay for. If something seems ridiculously cheap there is probably a reason why.

Every wedding vendor will have operating business costs to cover and will have to make a profit to be able to continue in business, just like in any other industry.

When it comes to wedding photography prices in Northern Ireland the average cost of a professional wedding photographer for all day coverage is around £1500-£2000. There is quite a large variation in price though with some photographers charging around £3000. Added to this you may have additional things like albums or engagement sessions to pay for as well. If you are on a tight budget, it is possible to find wedding photographers in Northern with prices starting as low as £500-£1200. Sometimes with budget wedding photographers they are cheap because they lack experience, are learning their craft and building their portfolio. Sometimes though it is because their pricing structure reflects their ability level or they are cutting costs somewhere else. Knowing what our own business costs are, to do everything properly and provide a great level of service to our clients while still making a living wage it isn’t possible to sustain a wedding photography business in Northern Ireland and charge less than £1500 for all day wedding coverage.

If you decide to choose a budget vendor for your wedding, it is even more important to research them extensively than it would be for more established well known wedding businesses.

Avoid booking everything at the same time

Planning a wedding can sometimes feel stressful for couples as they try to tackle everything at the same time. Book the most important things to you first and relieve some of the stress.

When you first start planning your wedding the first big thing to book is of course your wedding venue. Our guide to N.I’s best wedding venues might help with this first step.

Best wedding venues in Northern Ireland

Once your venue has been booked and your date confirmed the next step would usually be to choose your celebrant, your photographer and your videographer if you decide to have one. Once all these have been booked it is much easier to book the rest of your vendors at a more relaxed pace.

Not reading contracts carefully

Finally, not reading contracts carefully is a common mistake that can lead to misunderstandings and disagreements down the line. It's essential to read wedding vendor contracts carefully. It is also important to pay close attention to details such as payment schedules, cancellation policies, and what's included in their services. Ask for clarification on anything you're unsure of and ensure that all terms are agreed upon in writing.

All wedding vendors should ask you to complete a contract or booking form. If they don’t this ais a huge red flag and you should maybe consider an alternative vendor. These contracts don’t just protect the vendor, they protect you as well if something does not go according to plan.

Tips for finding N.I wedding vendors

Most people find vendors for their wedding using google or social media but these are useful places to look as well.

Wedding fairs

They can be an easy way to find vendors but it is usually quite a small pool of vendors to choose from. Many wedding vendors don’t attend these, we never have. Wedding fairs are also known for fake special offers and promotions and a hard sales approach. If you find a vendor at a wedding fair that you like, don’t be pressurised into booking them on the day, make sure to do your research on them first.

Online wedding directories

These are basically an online version of the old school wedding fair. Of these we would advise ignoring local wedding directories which offer a very small pool of good wedding suppliers and instead looking at the main U.K directories like Hitched and Bridebook. Both of these offer a huge choice of suppliers and have apps for managing your wedding.

Wedding Facebook groups

If you use Facebook there are lots of wedding groups that you can join and participate in. As well as being a way to find vendors they can be used for asking wedding related questions as well so can be a good source of free wedding help in Northern Ireland.

We have our own Facebook group that has lots of vendors as members. You can check it out here.

N.I WEDDING VENDOR FACEBOOK GROUP
Tommy + Laurene