Wedding Supplier Guide

You’re about to enter into an excit­ing new world you may be quite unfa­mil­iar with.

Lots of brides find that buy­ing from a mul­ti­tude of small busi­nesses is a new expe­ri­ence. Deal­ing one-on-one with your pho­tog­ra­pher, florist, bridal retailer and sta­tioner can be tricky, so here are some guide­lines which may help you along the way.

1. Book early. Venues and pho­tog­ra­phers book up very quickly — so get in there as soon as you can. Talk to your other sup­pli­ers early and ask how soon you should con­firm your book­ing. The most pop­u­lar will book up early. If a sup­plier pushes you too hard though, be cautious.

2. Get con­tracts. For any­one pro­vid­ing a ser­vice on your wed­ding day, or for any order over £100 — par­tic­u­larly per­son­alised or bespoke items — get a con­tract. This helps you feel reas­sured about your book­ing, and is a sign of a pro­fes­sional wed­ding sup­plier. Also check over the terms and con­di­tions on the web­site. If there’s any­thing you’re unhappy with, ask for more details.

3. Meet peo­ple. Trust your instincts. It’s impor­tant to get along with your wed­ding plan­ner, your pho­tog­ra­pher and your enter­tain­ers — espe­cially all the sup­pli­ers who’ll be there on your wed­ding day. Your pho­tog­ra­pher in par­tic­u­lar should be easy to relate to, so you know you’ll feel relaxed for the pho­tographs. Your wed­ding sup­pli­ers should be friendly, but professional.

4. Be nice! You’re deal­ing with real peo­ple, not big com­pa­nies. Under­stand that although most of us do work 24/7 we’d rather not answer the phone at 7am on a Sun­day morn­ing to chat about rib­bons 12 months before the wed­ding day. Like­wise it’s in a wed­ding supplier’s inter­ests to be nice to you back! If a sup­plier isn’t return­ing your calls or answer­ing your queries, then find some­one else.

5. Get sam­ples. When order­ing sta­tionery in par­tic­u­lar, ask your sup­plier to send a free sam­ple. Visit their stu­dio if they have one. Qual­ity can vary — some big com­pa­nies sell very low qual­ity wed­ding invi­ta­tions (at very cheap prices) while some small startup busi­nesses put their heart and soul into cre­at­ing gor­geous qual­ity prod­ucts. At the end of the day, it’s the prod­uct that counts.

6. Ask ques­tions. The beauty of a small wed­ding busi­ness is that you will speak directly to the designer and busi­ness owner. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of ques­tions or to ask silly ques­tions. We’ll be happy to help you! And if at any time you’re wor­ried about your orders or book­ings, get in touch for your sup­plier for a chat.

7. Give feed­back. There’s noth­ing bet­ter than a thank you note from a happy cou­ple. If a wed­ding sup­plier has given great ser­vice let them know. They’ll love you forever!