Weddings: The Beginning

Weddings can take quite awhile to plan.  People who plan weddings suggest that you begin by getting organized. 

One of the things you can do to get ready for a wedding is to start with a list of businesses and vendors you may want to use. 

Most of these wedding vendors can be found in your local phone book or online.  You can find businesses that deal with weddings in bridal magazines and you also may want to talk to any friends who have planned weddings in the last year.

You can make a chart of all the vendors you are interested in and keep this list in your wedding book.  You will have many questions to ask, so make a list of those as well as writing down the name of each business, address and phone number.

Weddings require time spent on calling or visiting each of these businesses.  Thinks of the weddings you have been part of and start your list there.  These are some vendors to put on the weddings list:  Stationery stores, cakes decorators, floral arrangers, caterers and photographers.  You will also need a wedding and reception site.

When planning weddings it is good to ask these questions of each vendor or business:  How long has this establishment been in business?  How many weddings do you handle each year?  Do you have references from other weddings?

Other questions to ask when you are planning weddings are: What services do you offer for weddings, what do you charge for weddings and is the deposit refundable?

Those who plan weddings should be happy to answer any questions you might have.  If the people who plan weddings do not want to answer your questions, it may be a good idea to look elsewhere.

When planning weddings you will also want to look at the work of the photographer and see samples of actual invitations the company uses.

Those who decorate cakes for weddings are usually happy to give you samples of the cake and also provide photos of cakes they have made.  You may be able to find someone who bakes cakes for weddings at a wedding fair.  Sometimes these bakers will have cakes at the wedding fair for people to sample.

When working with the folks who cater the food for weddings there are other questions to ask:  How many people work the weddings?  Do you accept credit cards as payment for weddings?  Do you serve food for people with special dietary needs?  Can we taste some of the foods you serve at weddings?

Get organized and ask many questions and your wedding will get off to a good start!