Ah, engagement. You and your partner have decided you want to spend your lives together and get married! Spending those first few days in engaged bliss is such a great feeling. And then you realize you actually have to plan a wedding. Although you may want to push wedding planning off your plate, it’s important to secure your main vendors as far in advance as possible. Just like venues, a lot of wedding vendors get booked pretty far ahead of time. Here are my top 3 reasons for booking your wedding vendors ahead of time!
It’s no surprise that the “best” wedding venues get booked up really quickly. This is especially true in New York City, and even more so post-pandemic. But what about other vendors? It’s just as important to get in touch with photographers, videographers, bands or DJs ASAP so that you have a little time to consider your options and keep looking if the people you reach out to are booked up. These wedding vendors are the ones that can only do 2 weddings a weekend. When you think about it, a florist or a baker can create multiple bouquets and cakes for weddings all over the city! But, a wedding photographer or DJ can only be at one wedding at a time. This is why it’s important to secure those top-tier vendors as early as possible in your wedding planning process.
If this is stressing you out already, don’t worry! We’ve reached out to Lauren Schaefer from The Get Together Events Co to help us iron out the details.
The Best Tips for Booking Wedding Vendors in Advance
First and foremost, it’s very important to set realistic timelines for booking your wedding vendors in advance. “On average, our clients are booking us 8 months to 1 year ahead of time,” says Lauren.
“For those vendors that are “one-person” teams, you should definitely prioritize their booking as once they are booked, they are totally booked!”
Another thing to consider is you’re now booking a vendor in a “post-pandemic” world. This means your date is even more important to secure. Not to mention, wedding vendors have amped up their contracts and terms. When we asked Lauren from The Get Together Events Co how they’ve changed their terms and conditions, this is what she had to say.
“When booking vendors in a post-pandemic world, expect stricter contract terms. We’ve all learned a lot regarding cancellations, postponements, and what is needed to keep our business above water. Don’t sign with a vendor until you understand and respect their contract terms. And please don’t negotiate on terms! If you have a question about the terms, ask away, but respect that the terms of a vendor’s contract are written as such to uphold their business.
Also, expect BOOKED schedules! It’s a domino effect with postponed weddings flowing into 2021 and new engagements then moving into 2022 and 2023 instead of even exploring 2021.”
All in all, we all agree it’s most important that you be patient with vendors! As you are learning to navigate this new “post-pandemic” world, so are we! We are all human and learning as we go!
