Like most wedding professionals, we as a company are experiencing a BOOM! Twice the amount of weddings, quadruple the amount of work, and somehow less time all around. With more people getting married and the demand being through the roof, I thought it would be a good time as ever to go through some helpful tips on how to navigate the wedding boom while planning your wedding.
Book Your Vendors Early If you are planning a wedding, you are going to want to book your vendors a HECK of a lot earlier now. Vendors are booking further out and wedding dates are filling up, so in order to secure your preferred vendors, you will want to lock them down ASAP.
Give yourself at least 16-18 months for the venue, 12-14 months for a caterer, and at least 9-12 months for your supplemental vendors like florists and photographers.
Be Mindful Of Long Response Times This is the most weddings our industry has ever seen. It is likely that vendors and wedding professionals are struggling to keep up with the demand. Be aware that response times will not be as swift as before. We are usually out in the field away from our desks during the week now, since more weddings are occurring during weekdays. Wedding pros are also experiencing an influx of emails and messages. Be mindful that their response times may be delayed. If having a vendor respond with a 48 hour time frame is important to you, be sure to ask the vendor ahead of time, what their typical turnaround time is for responding. Also find out what their dedicated office hours are, so that you are in the know of when they will be available for calls and texts. It is better to be prepared and know what to expect from them, than get frustrated later when it has been a week and you've heard nothing.
Bonus tip: Be nice to us please. We are exhausted. We are drained. And we are trying. At the end of the day, we are service workers, who live to serve you on your wedding day, just donʻt be serving us attitude, because that's no fun for anyone!
Be Ready To Pay A Premium Unfortunately, the wedding industry was not immune to inflation and we too have to keep up with the supply and demand. From flower shortages, an increase in cost of living, and having to outsource more help to keep up, most wedding professionals have raised their prices. If you received a quote back in 2019, know that the prices you were told are most likely not the current prices for their services. In an article by CNBC, wedding costs have gone up by 30% in 2022. That's a significant increase to make you rethink inviting all 250+ guests. Know that these prices are not a reflection of a vendor being greedy or trying to rip you off. This is a reflection of wedding professionals just trying to stay a float and pay their people a liveable wage.
Shameless Plug: If the idea of spending more than what you budgeted for makes your hair stick up, then maybe you should flirt with the idea to elope. We wrote a whole blog on the pros and cons of doing so. We've also written a blog on budgeting to help figure out a budget and stick to it.
Donʻt Let The Wedding Boom Scare You
My last tip, and maybe the most important, is donʻt let the wedding boom scare you. Yeah, there are a ton of people getting married, and maybe that has meant that youʻve had to adjust a few plans, but donʻt let that throw you off your game. Plan the wedding you want. It is extremely common to make haste decisions out of the fear that the vendor you want might book out or that you need to pick a venue that you donʻt really love because it's the only one that has your wedding date. Come back to center and remember what this day is about – It is about the love you have for each other. Everything else is secondary. I canʻt speak for what 2023 has in store (though it is also starting to pick up), but if the planning process is too stressful, explore the idea of giving yourself more time and waiting out this wedding wave till next year.
We hope you found this blog helpful. If you are interested in booking our services, please fill out the contact form here.
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