Communicating with Vendors: 7 Do's & Don'ts
Mar 28, 2021
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Planning your wedding can be challenging, especially when you’re working with a large team of vendors. They’ll all have their wants, needs, and you’ll be dealing with multiple personalities. Communication will be very vital here, especially now during the pandemic that most of the communication will be done online. One thing to keep in mind is that you’re all working toward the success of your wedding. Communicating with your vendors is very important, and there are ways you can do it successfully. Here are the seven dos and don’ts to apply to make your wedding planning experience easier and better.
Dos
Establish Boundaries
They may help you work on your dream wedding day, but they are also people in business. Most wedding vendors will also have other couples that they are working with. It’s always best to establish communication lines and boundaries when you put them on your team.
Answer Their Questions
Sometimes, you may forget to provide some information that your vendor needs. That means they’ll reach out to you with questions. These questions might sometimes sound random, but it often means that they are trying to get to know you, your style, and your personality. This will help them pattern your wedding to celebrate your love. Help your vendor understand you better by responding to these requests promptly.
Communicate How It Works Best for Them
While you may love to communicate via text message, that may not work for your vendor. It could be better to reach them by a phone call or email. There is no right or wrong way to contact a vendor. Just go with whichever works for them and gets them to respond faster easily. Patience will also be very helpful here.
Tell Them If You Are Not Pleased
Holding on to your frustrations will not serve you or anyone else. Your wedding team is there to make sure your day is just as you want it. They are human, so sometimes they’ll miss the mark. It’s up to you to let them know. Else, they might assume that your silence means you are okay and move on. If you don’t like something, say so.
Offer Them A Meal at Your Wedding
Having worked with your vendor team to plan your wedding, a lovely meal at your wedding would be nice. Some of them would have worked to set up your event and will also carry out the breakdown after the event. So, ask your caterer about vendor meals. It does not need to be the same as the one for your wedding with the cocktails and wines, but a hot meal would work.
Tip Your Vendors
Often, contracts will show how much to tip your vendor team. They could include it in the service fee. If you feel like a particular vendor has been exceptional, then tip them some more. It’ll definitely be appreciated.
Trust Your Vendors
With hiring the members of your vendor team, always go for people that you trust. Check out their reviews and ask people who have worked with them previously if possible. When you do hire them, then trust them. They want you to have the best wedding so that you can refer more people to them. For example, if you get the best wedding drapes DIY from a rental company that will ship them to you at cheaper prices, you’ll be happy to refer them to your loved ones.
Don’ts
Leave Communication to Chance
This is your big wedding we’re talking about. Get the lines of communication with your vendors straight right from the start. You should be able to ask them for progress, and they should be able to reach you with questions they might have. They might want to know if you’re fine with getting your wedding decor rentals, for instance.
Keep Them Waiting for Answers
Be accessible to your vendors. They might have one or two questions to ask about a detail you omitted when providing information. Once you get a request from them, try to get it sorted out as soon as possible so that you do not hold up your planning process.
Insist on A Particular Method of Communication
You may not like using emails, but it’s the best way to get across to your vendor, then you might have to make a sacrifice. That is much better than sending them a text message that could end up lost amongst many other messages.
Keep Your Feelings Bottled Up
If you don’t like something a vendor has done, tell them about it. Keeping it inside and stewing over it for a long time could lead to a big blowout. Better voice out your displeasure and have things fixed than have to cope with something you don’t like on your wedding day because it is too late to sort out.
Leave Them Hungry at Your Wedding
Some of your vendors will be at your venue early to set things up and stay through to coordinate and takedown when over. A nice warm meal to help them feel better would not be out of place. Speaking to your caterer about this ahead of time could be helpful.
Forget to Pay Balances and Tip
Have an envelope with tips and balances set out on your wedding’s eve. Then hand it over to your point person who could be your wedding planner or a member of your wedding party. That way, your vendor doesn’t have to come looking for you to get their balance.
Micromanage Them
After doing lots of research to find the right vendors for your team, let them do their job. Micromanaging will achieve nothing. Rather, you could end up impeding the progress of your work. Trust your vendors to understand your vision and help you achieve it.