Why You Should Book Your Vendors Early

Did you know that the highest number of engagements occur during the months of November through February? With the prime question-popping holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Valentine’s Day all one right after the other, it’s no wonder that we receive our highest number of bookings during that time. Hence why you will find, that by the time January rolls around for the start of the next bridal season, majority of your vendors will already be booked and closed by then, especially for Spring/Summer months!

Don’t want to compete with the huge rush of brides wanting to book all their vendors for their 2012 wedding? Book BEFORE the engagement season takes over…

Typically, the first things to happen on the wedding day are Hair and Makeup services. Whether this is first thing in the morning or first thing after lunch is up to you, but generally we get there before your photographer is due to arrive and long before all your other vendors.

This is why Beauty services are generally one of the first and fastest services to book up!! Especially those seeking the luxury and convenience of MOBILE Bridal services were your artists come to you in your home or at hotel location. As covered in our booking and timeline posts. These services generally book a minimum of 6 months to 1 year in advance. Spring/Summer months and all long weekend dates (Fridays included) generally averaging closer to the 1 year mark!

Here are some tips and things to consider about booking your vendors and why earlier is better.

Don’t believe what you see on TV.
With all these Bridal shows now, they’ll have you believing that you can plan a lavish event in mere weeks or a few short months. In most cases this is very untrue. What they don’t show you is the dozens of vendors hired in, to make everything a reality, dozens of teams hired on for just basics like set up and take down, let alone the actual details.

In the real world, it doesn’t quite work that way. Wedding planning takes time, unless of course you don’t have a job and have unlimited time to juggle all your vendor appointments, fittings, taste tests, trials, and more…This is also why the average stat for engagement/planning stage is 14 months.

Your Stress is your own!
Yes, I know that sounds harsh, but let’s face it, if you hadn’t of procrastinated and waited until the mere month before the wedding, you wouldn’t be rushing around all drama like and taking it out on everyone. It’s because of you and it’s not fair for you to take that out on others.

The brides we see the most stressed out, are always the ones that left everything up until the mere few months before the date, now they scramble around work schedules, kids, school, etc. to get it together.

Somehow they thought they’d have plenty of time to book all their vendors, have all their appointments, make the decisions, then reconfirm all those details the week before? Really?
I can’t tell you how many brides we turn away every year, who contact us in say July, for an August wedding. The busiest month(s) of the entire year and you left it until 3 weeks before the wedding? Sadly, by that point, they might as well go to the makeup counter or find someone on Craigslist, as all the professionals are likely booked MONTHS Prior, if not longer.

What happens then? STRESS – They begin to freak out, calling everyone they can find and mass messaging vendors to find someone who isn’t already booked. Usually resulting in a family member or friend, with no idea about photography ready makeup, decor ideals, etc…. we then see a flood of “Help me” posts running rampant on the bridal forums.

In the rare instances we do still have artists open, or a vendor might be available still, the brides are already so stressed it can make for a very tense situation and thus many bridal vendors just based on that alone, will turn away a client!

Save money
In the case of last minute clients, that is a perfect example, on what’s likely to cost you more. Many vendors will now charge you more, there will be late booking fees and so on, in many cases FULL Payment is now due upfront! You now have created a stressful working environment for them, leaving them rushing around to accommodate you last minute for a trial or meet up, processing paperwork, rush bouquets, that list goes on.

You want your vendors to be able to provide you with the very best, not slap something together for you in 2 days. It’s not fair to you, or them. Sadly, you then see the brides that have the nerve to complain when a Vendor can’t meet the criteria’s in such a short time, can’t get the supplies requested, or doesn’t have an open booking at their convenience, due to having other client’s booked in MONTHS beforehand…I mean seriously think about that, the entire situation at hand rests solely with the bride at that point and the procrastination of a last minute booking.

So just remember, it does not matter what vendor it is you are seeking, booking them in advance is going to save you a lot of headaches in the end, give you ample time to plan, the ability to change things as needed and just overall make the experience a lot more enjoyable. It’s never fun feeling rushed, especially for a day where there is a lot of time and money being spent. This is your day, take the time you need to make it prefect for you. An experienced professional will have a game plan for any situation, and getting your hands on that knowledge early on will save you stress, time, and money in the end.


Thank you to Felicia Bromba of Vancouver BC for the information posted above.