When to book vendors

[TwoCoffeesPlease]

I am getting Married March 24 which feels like flipping ages away but here we are.

Catering, DJ and decor is included in my wedding package and my fiancé’s mum is going to speak to her friend about doing the flowers and we haven’t decided what to do about a car yet. Registrar is booked.

Photographer is the main thing really, is it too early to make enquiries? When should I book my vendors?

Now - the best ones will already have bookings for 2024. People book their dates round things like availability of photographers.

Absolutely now. Right now.

ASAP, particularly if you have specific vendors you're keen on. I hope you have an amazing day 💛

Definitely book now. If you leave it, you may find that the photographer you find that you have a rapport with and like their style of work has been booked by someone else for your date.

Big things book now.

Things like decorations, invites and the dress do no more than a year in advance. Fashions change and if you get them too soon your tastes might have changed

Make sure you have insurance, and then lock in your suppliers now.

Now. I found hair stylists the hardest to find, did my own in the end.

Yes I'd say to make a start asap.

We get married in the April and some of our vendors, like the venue dressers and cake maker have a lot of bookings around our date already.

Yep, you need to get on it now. It's only 8 months away and that is really not long in wedding terms. People quite commonly book vendors 2/3 years in advance.

@violetanemone March 2024, not next March.

I would book now, good photographers get booked up really early. Good luck.

Have you been encouraged to book now @TwoCoffeesPlease?

@PritiPatelsMaker

haha yes message received! I have a bit of a warped view I think because my DB and SIL went from engaged to married in 5 months so the fact my wedding is 618 days away feels like it’s way too early to plan anything even though I know 18 months - 2 years is common!

Might have to wait until next month to support cash flow though as we paid the deposit on our venue this month and want to take out wedding insurance.

Also is it bad that i’m not bothered really about having “the best” photographer? Just anyone to take some photos will do! I can’t stomach the £2k price tag of some photographers round here!

Ok you don't need the "best" but you want someone reliable who isn't going to take a load of photos of the back of your head or all blurry or do a style you hate with tacky emojis or boarders etc.

Get the wedding insurance in place ASAP. Ude a credit card if you need to. If your venue goes under you may not be covered. It happens a lot more than I thought.

I’m going to do it when I get paid on Friday.

To be honest I’m not that worried about my venue going under - historic castle been around since 11th century and owned by the council rather than a private business - but obviously there are concerns around suppliers and “acts of god” so it’s definitely worth the £100 odd quid to potentially not lose £15k!!

Asap.
Im getting wed august 2023 and booking all my big suppliers at present and alot of the ones ive looked at are already booked. Band is going to be biggest issue i think.