Researching Wedding Vendors

Whether you are hiring a wedding planner or not, it is extremely important to conduct a thorough research on the vendors you will hire for your wedding day. Simply relying on the 'thank you' messages from past clients posted on their websites is not a full proof way of confirming his or her credibility and satisfactory service from previous clients. There are several things I recommend you research before booking any wedding vendor or signing any contact of theirs:

• Ask for references - names/phone #'s/email addresses of past clients. Sometimes this may be tricky as many vendors do protect their client's confidentiality; however, most vendors do have references available if you request them.
• Check out the company with the Better Business Bureau. If a vendor has previous negative complaints that they have not yet responded to or resolved, this is a bad sign. If the vendor has 2 or more negative complaints that he/she will not respond to or offer to correct, then the BBB will rate this company as 'unsatisfactory'. It's also important to check with the BBB throughout the time leading up to your wedding as well, as a negative complaint can be reported at any time by anyone.
• If possible, always try to meet the vendor in person. This is sometimes hard to do for destination weddings or couples that live out of town and are having their wedding elsewhere; however, if at all possible try to meet them in person or at least have several phone conversations beforehand. Beware of any vendor that will only communicate through email.

Lastly, always go with your gut feeling. If you have an uneasy feeling about a vendor, it's probably for a reason. Of course there is no 100% full proof way of guaranteeing that each vendor will perform exactly to your liking; however, if you do your homework beforehand you will save yourself a lot of stress in the end!