What To Ask Your Wedding Supplier?

So, you’re recently engaged and ready to starting the planning process and reaching out to suppliers. The wedding industry is a beautiful place, but it can be overwhelming with the amount of fantastic suppliers out there ready to share their work with you. The suppliers you choose will contribute to the whole vibe of your wedding day so it’s important you connect with them in the right way.

Here are my top 5 questions to be sure to ask wedding suppliers to make sure they are the right fit for your special day.

1. How would you describe your style in 3 words?

This is a great question to get a snapshot of their business and style in a quick and succinct way. Established suppliers will have already considered their style and tagline and this can really help you to know whether those words fit with the vision you have for your day.

2. Will it be you that turns up on the day?

There are lots of suppliers who are running their businesses single-handedly and they will be the ones on the end of the emails, ordering the supplies and the ones turning up on the wedding day. But some businesses have teams of people, and the person you meet at a wedding fair, or are liaising with, may not be the person who shows up on the day.

3. Are your images/examples from real weddings?

This might seem an odd question, but particularly for new suppliers, their work may be a result of a styled shoot or staged wedding in order to gain experience and content. Now, everyone has to start somewhere, but even for seasoned professionals, what they produce on the day, under the pressure of the moment, can vary from that when they have time and the opportunity to reshoot and direct models.

4. What do you need from us?

There are so many moving parts in planning a wedding and you, the couple, are at the centre of it all, so it’s really important to know in advance if your suppliers require anything from you and what that timeline is. Please remember to delegate jobs, especially on the day!

5. What happens if you are ill on our wedding day?

Believe me, no supplier wants to be cancelling last minute on a wedding, but sometimes life happens. You need to know what your supplier intends to do in those moments. It might be that they have a network of fellow vendors who they can call upon to cover them, but for those slightly more niche suppliers, they may not have that option so really understanding what that means for your day is important.

And beyond these (and other) technical questions that you will ask, the most important thing is to pay attention to how they answer. Are they enthusiastic? Do they listen to your ideas, or are they trying to push a "standard" package on you?

You’ll be communicating with these people for months; make sure you actually like them!