Tips + Tricks from wedding professionals on how to choose the perfect vendors for your big day! With understanding the impactful influence they will have.

Creating the most memorable day of your life can be an overwhelming experience! The process of planning a wedding has many important milestones, and how you achieve those can be detrimental to your big day’s outcome. The most important pieces of your wedding day will be determined in the significance of choosing the right vendors! Follow along for our perspective on how the right vendors will help your wedding day & planning process flourish!

Taking the Time for Yourself

Wow! This has been an interesting couple of months hasn’t it!? This new wave of life has reshaped our society in ways we didn’t know could have existed. However, with change comes adaption! Many individuals are working harder than they ever have before by saving people in droves. Some have altered their kitchen counter to become their new home office. With the rest encountering the inability to work and have taken up the newest eight series on Netflix. (I just started Outer Banks and I am hooked, ya’ll!)

Whichever state you are in, we applaud you! No matter your working status right now, we understand that it is hard to continue to wait. Wait for the next yoga pants + blazer combo for your Zoom meeting. Wait for the Wifi to come back on after a mediocre wind blew through. Or wait for the next time you get the chance to step back into the office building you swore you hated before, but now it has a certain charm to it. We get it, and we are TOTALLY with you!

How is this effecting the Wedding World?

During this unique time in the world, the gathering of mass people has halted, but the wedding industry has not stopped moving. From rescheduling weddings, to planning with future brides; the face of weddings has stood still, however, the behind the scenes work remains unmatched. Rest assured though, with the time we do have on our hands our creative juices have been in overdrive! Extra time + planning = exciting new trends in the making, and the ability for everyone to perfect their craft. *Sips whipped coffee I saw how to make on Instagram*. Fortunately, like us, you future brides have been able to dive a little deeper into planning during this down time as well! While you are continuing your planning process, we have a proposition for you to consider. Do some research and take into account the vendors your are choosing & why.

Take the Time to Research Your Potential Vendors

The wedding industry is filled with so many wonderful, talented individuals & companies that choosing one can be overwhelming. In order to choose a vendor that is best fit for you, we would recommend doing your research! Ask yourself, which vibe does my visionary wedding fit? Then, narrow down your list of vendor categories based on how their vibe reflects your vision. Your planner has a ton on knowledge in this field, and would love to provide a recommendation if you’re stuck!

Pinning down a perfect vendor could come at many angles. It could be their vibe was a perfect representation of what you’re looking for. You could have been drawn to their personality, or maybe their social media following. Either way, all of these reasons are important to the selection of your vendors! After stalking potential vendors (& not in the Joe from “You” way, but definitely a good ole “Mamma Mia” fashion), we would recommend using one of the most important decision making tools known to man: your gut feeling. You, and only you know what you want your perfect day to look like! First, talk it out with your fiancé, your family, and your friends. Second, talk it out with your planner and your venue!

Talking it out with Your Venue Prior to Booking

Your venue is a wealth-of-knowledge when it comes to the local and extending markets for vendors! Chances are, they have worked with or alongside just about every vendor in their area. We have developed relationships or perspectives on many of these vendors in the process. It takes more than just the art that the individual produces to be a good vendor for your wedding. It takes professionalism, quality of work – on & prior to wedding day, and a team centric mindset in order to contribute to the caliber of day you are needing! Your venue will have underlying knowledge of these attributes. They could provide helpful feedback to you prior to you signing on that vendor’s dotted line.

At CR we take immense pride in our Preferred Vendors list due to the integrity they all uphold within their work time and time again. Although our list is handpicked with some amazing vendors, there are other vendors in surrounding areas that produce creations worth highlighting! So, chatting with your venue about choosing the right vendors prior to booking can only implement positive vibes!

Working within the Budget

The budget is one of the most detrimental reasons brides choose to go with a vendor that they might not have chosen first. & We totally understand! Which is why we want to circle in some key points to help assist you in choosing the vendors best fit for you – from a budget conscious mind. The three most budget consuming vendors, after your venue is booked, are Catering, Photography, and Floral. All for very important reasons, might I add!

Finding a healthy balance between each of these categories is the key component to creating a gorgeous wedding! For example, having stunning floral elevated throughout the event creating a gorgeous backdrop for your entire evening, and then not having a seasoned photographer to capture every little detail for you to remember. Even for the minimalistic brides, choosing the right vendors for each avenue is an important balancing trick. This isn’t to say that each of these categories will be around the same price points, however, they are all comparable in the weight they carry throughout your wedding day.

The vendors that are most important to you and your fiancé will vary based upon your personalities. However, the three vendors mentioned above are the most influential vendors to have an impact on your day. If you are working within a budget, we would recommend checking out vendors that spark your interest, first. Then, inquire about the packages they offer. Most vendors offer a few options for their service. Based around the flexibility you have in that category could be a suitable package for you. When in doubt, consult you planner & venue on other comparable options that might have a more budget friendly option!

How will Choosing the Right Vendors Improve Your Wedding Day?

I don’t want to compare wedding entrepreneurs to super heroes who save the world or anything, but I will say that having the right team of vendors on your wedding day is like having a family full of Clark Kent’s who are ready to spring into action! Even prior to your arrival at CR, your team of hard working vendors will be in the venue making sure everything is prepared for your entrance. Having a skilled team will help not only you, and your fiancé, it will help your family be at ease the day of as well.

Often times, when brides bring on a vendor who has not worked at CR before (or who is Aunt Becky’s sister’s cousin-in-law), it creates an uneasiness. The family of the bride is usually the one who experiences this the most. They want to make sure everything is in place for their sweet girl, and if they don’t have a peace of mind throughout the day, it can be reflected to the bride. We also want the families of all involved to be 100% in tune with their loved ones that day. We don’t want them to be worried about the behind the scenes happening on the floor. Choosing the right vendors to implement your vision will help alleviate some of the stress on your family!

Having a group of seasoned, well organized vendors implementing each piece of your wedding day will give you complete peace of mind. Every element will be executed – with no detail overlooked. We want you to feel as if YOUR wedding day is OUR wedding day! Your venue is here for you, your planner is here for you, and your ven friend-does are here for you! SO, let’s get planning!

XO.

Kayla LeDuc
Designer + Planner
Chestnut Ridge Events