Finding Wedding Vendors You Can Trust
All photos taken by yours truly, SariRisbeyPhotography
Planning your wedding is a lot of work and you might feel like you’re navigating your way through the dark on your own. I get it, I’ve been there too! I was once a young bride who didn’t have a freaking CLUE! Unless you’ve learned the ropes by being a bridesmaid a few too many times (hello 27 Dresses!), seeking out and hiring small businesses to bring your dream to life likely seems overwhelming. Not only do you need to love the vendors you bring on board, but you need to trust them too. Your wedding day will only happen once and it’s so important that you feel confident that the team you’ve hired has your back!
This blog post will teach you how to tell if a business is trustworthy and give you confidence that you can relax in the time leading up to your wedding knowing that you are in capable hands.
What impression does their website give?
A website is the first place you should head to when checking out a potential wedding vendor. This is the home of their small business and you should be able to tell that it is well cared for and organized! If you’re thinking “but Sari, my home isn’t organized! Can we really judge a business based on their website (home)?” I would ask, are you trying to sell your home? What condition would it be in if you were? Vendors have something to sell and our websites should help us to accomplish that. Our actual houses are another story lol!
Note how they care for their site. Is it up to date? Does it answer your questions? Is it a labour of love? Most importantly, is it professional? The effort that businesses put into their website can tell you a lot about how much care goes into what they do and that is, in my opinion, the best indication of how trustworthy a vendor will be! Make sure you take note of the state of their website and read each page before you inquire with them.
Are they a registered business? Are they insured?
While whether a business is registered or not will likely not impact your experience with them, the answers to these two questions will help you to understand how serious your potential vendor is about what they do, as well as how prepared they are. You likely won’t find answers to these questions on a vendor’s website so they’re great questions to ask with your inquiry or first touch point!
There are different opinions on this topic, but I believe you should have your ducks in a row before you start offering paid services. If a vendor is a registered business with the Manitoba Companies Office (or whichever office is applicable based on their area), you can assume that they are likely a) a well established business or b) are serious about becoming a well established business. In other words, they have plans to be in business for a while and are running or growing a legitimate operation! They are moving themselves forward and likely have proper systems in place.
Let’s talk insurance. Some vendors may not require insurance for their business based on what they offer, although I would think most business could benefit from insurance. For example, my insurance covers my photography gear, injury, liability (that’s a big one), among other things! Understanding if a wedding vendor is insured is another way for you to tell how serious they are, how prepared they are, and shows that they are willing to invest in the well-being of their business. That part is key!
to summarize, these two things may not affect your experience in working with a business at all and having a registered business doesn’t necessarily make the vendor more trustworthy, but it’s fair to expect a legitimate business to be registered and insured.
How do they communicate?
Communication is key, and you should follow what your gut tells you when it comes to this one. A few things that might leave you feeling unsure of a vendor are:
if their response times to emails are consistently very delayed. Keep in mind that a lot of us are a one person rodeo! We can’t always get to emails as fast as we’d like, but being left hanging is not usually a good sign.
if they are not professional and/or confident in their communication and discussion with you. Simply put, a business that you can trust should be confident and professional.
if you just don’t connect with them! A big part of trusting someone is feeling comfortable to be yourself. This is SOO important when looking for wedding vendors, especially the more personal vendors such as makeup artists, photographers, videographers, etc. You’ll be with some vendors all day, and you’ll want to feel relaxed around the people you choose, trust me!
do they do what they say they are going to do? For example, if they tell you they’ll send a contract to you later that day, do they follow through or do they send it three days later? Doing what we say we’ll do sets the expectation that you can believe and count on us.
What are past clients saying about them?
It’s always a good idea to check reviews that past clients have left for the vendors you look at! This will give you insight on how their experience was and may even highlight some specific strengths and/or weaknesses of the business. You can find reviews by googling the business (most serious businesses are registered on Google) or by searching the business in other spaces that relate to their services such as Facebook groups. You’ll likely also find some reviews on their website. Your vendors should have mostly positive reviews although, at some point, every business will have an unhappy client. If you see one or two subpar reviews, it may not be a reason to remove that vendor from the running, but if you’re seeing multiple unhappy clients or severely unhappy clients, it might be time to go down a different path.
Have you properly reviewed their work?
This one is a bit less about trust and a bit more about expectations, but not having your expectations met can feel very similar to choosing a wedding vendor that you realize (a little too late) that you cannot trust!
Understanding what you will receive from a vendor is super important, and making sure that you’ve thoroughly reviewed their work will make sure that you have realistic expectations. If we’re talking about your wedding cake, have you tasted the cake or just seen photos? If we’re talking about a wedding planner, do you understand their process and how they will work with you up to the day of your wedding? When it comes to photography, have you seen a satisfactory amount of their work? Scroll their social medias, go through their websites, taste the cakes (lol!) and see as much as you can. If you still need more to get a well rounded picture of what your vendor offers, don’t be afraid to ask. Our job is to bring your dreams to life and we want to be able to do that just as much as you want us to be able to do that.
Finally….
The last couple of things I’ll leave you with are these:
Remember, sometimes, less is not more when it comes to the price you pay. This is not always true and it is not to say that if you pay a low amount for a vendor, you’ll receive low quality work from an untrustworthy vendor. That’s most definitely not always the case! Many vendors are more than capable of providing a wonderful experience and have lower prices for various reasons. Maybe they don’t rely on the income, maybe they’re newer to the field but they’ve made sure they have their ducks in a row and a proper amount of knowledge (this was me once!), or maybe that’s just what works for them. With that being said, typically with a lower price you are hiring someone with less experience who may not have as much knowledge, resources, confidence and experience in their pocket. Make sure your expectations are fair and you understand the capabilities of the vendor you hire.
At the end of the day, always trust your gut :) You have an internal compass that knows better than anyone else, trust it!
If you’re engaged or hope to be soon, follow me on IG to stay up to date with my latest wedding planning blogs :) Click here —> @saririsbeyphotography
