How to Pick Your Wedding Vendors: Your Guide to Finding Your Wedding-Day Vendor Dream Team
Finding (and Booking) the Right People For Your Big Day
So you just got engaged. Congratulations! But now comes the part that truly gives many couples butterflies (the unpleasant kind): planning the wedding.
When it comes to choosing vendors for your wedding day, many couples don’t know where to start. It’s a concern we’ve encountered when we talk to our Pittsburgh couples many times. Luckily, there are some helpful guides that can steer you through this overwhelming time. This is one of them.
Within this guide, we’ll go over some of the more common questions we hear from newly-engaged couples just getting their feet wet with Pittsburgh wedding planning. Some of our top questions are
What vendors do you need for a wedding?
When should you hire your wedding vendors?
How do you find the right wedding vendors?
Can you negotiate with wedding vendors?
We know you’re probably anxious to get some answers, so we’ll just dive right in!
What Vendors Do You Even Need?
Where to Splurge and Where to Save
Going in knowing virtually nothing about the nuts and bolts of wedding planning, you may find that your first question is “what vendors are necessary for a wedding?” After seeing and hosting many Pittsburgh weddings ourselves, we’ve got a few ideas on which vendors you can splurge on and where you can trim some of your wedding expenses.
Vendors to Splurge On: the Photographer
Our top recommendation for vendors to splurge on is the photographer. Your wedding day is one you’ll want to remember. So finding the right Pittsburgh wedding photographer can be crucial to having amazing printed memories from your big day.
A good wedding photographer will also capture moments you may have missed from the day. While you were busy greeting all of your adoring fans, some of the guests may have been getting into mischief sneakily documented by the photographer. This can make for many laughs when you go back and view your photos.
Your photos are also what you’ll have to show to family or friends who couldn’t make it to the wedding itself. These days, that can be of paramount importance. So your wedding photos are not only how you’ll remember your day in the years to come, they’re how you can show off your wedding day to anyone who asks.
Vendors to Splurge On: the DJ
Okay, we’re a little biased on this one. But being Pittsburgh wedding DJs, we’ve seen what can happen when the DJ or MC isn’t top-notch. A DJ who’s awkward on the mic or rocking busted speakers can quickly sour an otherwise perfect wedding day.
But a wedding DJ who knows what they’re doing and can read the room can make a great day even better.
Reading the room and picking the right music is a skill that comes from a combination of talent and experience. Finding a Pittsburgh wedding DJ who’s able to do all of those things can seem like a tall order. The DJ isn’t just the music master, they’re also the voice on the other end of the microphone. If you’re the face of your wedding, your DJ is the voice. So it’s also crucially important that they not be awkward and uncomfortable.
The DJ will also be making announcements throughout the night and keeping everyone in the right places and moving them at the right times. They manage the flow of the day as a whole. We’ve seen cases where a family member is roped into making the announcements and MCing the wedding. While this can work, what we usually see happen is that family member getting tired of having responsibilities midway through the day and deciding they would rather just be a guest. Leaving the position of MC vacant. Which is not what you want on your wedding day.
Vendors to Splurge On: the Wedding Planner
Many couples these days elect to just plan their own weddings or have an aunt or other family member be a day-of coordinator when the big day comes. But trust us, there are other ways to save money on a wedding. These other ways also won’t deprive you of someone who can coordinate with all your other vendors, keep you on-budget, and keep the day on time.
Professional wedding planners are professionals and skilled at keeping everything on track. Even if something does go wrong on the big day (God forbid), an experienced wedding planner can get things back on track so efficiently, you probably won’t even know that anything went wrong in the first place.
They can also be irreplaceable in helping you find other vendors. They typically have lists (physical or mental) of other wedding vendors they’ve worked with and liked. This can cut down on vendor hunts, interviews, and emails.
Where to Save: the Decor
These days, one of the growing trends amongst young couples is doing your own decorations. With the advent of sites like Pinterest and Etsy, couples are more able than ever to find and craft their own wedding decorations that fit their own unique style and add something special to the wedding day.
Many wedding venues are very open to allowing couples to decorate as they will (within reason). Asking a venue if they’re open to you providing your own decorations can also be a good test to see how flexible they are in general. We’re not saying that if they don’t allow you to freely decorate you should head for the hills, though. Rather that the way they respond to that question can tell you a lot about the wedding venue itself.
For venues that allow it though, we definitely recommend adding your own little touches.
When Should You Hire Your Wedding Vendors?
How Soon Is Too Soon?
“How far in advance do we need to book our wedding vendors” is another question we’re asked very regularly. We usually say it all comes down to the length of your engagement. The most common engagement length is ~1 year. So if we assume you have around a year to prepare, you can use this as a rough timeline to book your wedding vendors.
When Do I Book a Wedding Planner?
The wedding planner should be the first vendor you book. They’re going to help you find and contact other vendors, so it only makes sense to book them first. There are many great Pittsburgh wedding planners to look into (but ask yourself: have any written a guide this amazing?) so find one that fits your vision for your wedding day!
Booking time: ASAP
When Do I Book a Wedding Photographer?
As we’ve mentioned, the photographer is one of the most important members of your wedding dream team. They’re another one that you want to book as quickly as possible (and they book up fast!). If you’ve already booked your venue and your wedding planner, finding a wedding photographer in Pittsburgh should be next on your priority list. Of note, a videographer also falls into this category. Many Pittsburgh wedding photographers also offer videography services, so it may be wise to ask your photographer if that’s something they can include. If not, they’ll at least be able to point you in the right direction.
Booking time: ~10 months out
When Do I Book a Wedding DJ or Photo Booth?
If you’ve made it this far, you’re doing great! If you have your venue, planner, and photographer/videographer already booked, it’s smart for your next move to be your wedding entertainment. Finding a Pittsburgh wedding DJ doesn’t have to be a tedious task full of interviews and phone tag. We generally recommend 2 steps to finding the right DJ for your Pittsburgh wedding. First, talk with the DJ. See if you like their vibe and if you can imagine them on the other end of the mic. Second, see if they have any sample mixes or can give you an idea of what kind of music they typically play. Then you can make sure there won’t be any musical surprises.
Booking time: ~8-9 months out
When Do I Book the Rest of My Wedding Vendors?
The final touches when creating your vendor dream team should be your officiant, your florist, your baker, and your transportation (if applicable). Once you’ve successfully booked the last of these vendors, you can sit back and take a breath. Your vendor team has been assembled! Now you can focus on fun, extra things, like dance lessons or decor.
Booking time: ~6 months out
How Do You Find the Right Wedding Vendors?
Where to Look and Who to Ask
There’s more than one way to find a wedding vendor. Online is a great place to start, but there are many great vendors who may be perfect for you but aren’t the first search result. If you have your heart set on a specific vibe from a specific vendor, it may be wise to do a little digging.
The first step would be asking your current vendors for any recommendations. The Pittsburgh wedding vendor community is smaller than you’d think, and most of us know each other. So you can get an inside tip from a wedding insider if you ask the right people. Further, if you already like and mesh with the vendor you’re asking for a recommendation, you’ll probably like their recommendation, too.
Recommendations from Experience
If you know anyone who recently got married in Pittsburgh, you can also ask them for vendor recommendations. If they have a particular vendor who stood out to them or if you’re stuck finding one specific one, asking for suggestions can be a great way to find your perfect vendor.
Expos and Bridal Shows
If you wanted, you could probably find your entire wedding vendor team at a wedding show. With all the local vendors in one place, it can be a great place to get a feel for the different vendor personalities and see some of their work in action.
We can’t stress highly enough that it’s always smart to talk to your vendor before the big day. Even if it’s just a Zoom call or over the phone, get a feel for them. Someone may look great on paper, but when you talk to them, the energy is all wrong. The opposite may also be true. Take note of your first impressions of a vendor. That’s often the way guests will feel when they’re interacting with them, too.
Can You Negotiate With Wedding Vendors?
Is the Price the Only Price?
This final question is another that we’re frequently asked. We saved it for last because it’s probably the trickiest one to answer of the bunch. What we will say is: yes and no.
It’s perfectly fine to ask your vendor if they do discounts of any kind. Many will for things like booking from a bridal show, on an off date, or on a referral from another vendor.
But for many other vendors, the price is the price. What we would recommend instead of haggling is to just be upfront about your budget. You can’t go wrong with honesty, and if the vendor is looking for a wedding on your date, you may be in luck. Or if they’re out of your price-range, they may be able to point you to another amazing vendor they know who would be a better fit.
Ways to Cut Wedding Costs
If you found a vendor you adore but they’re just out of your price-range, another solution is to rework the wedding budget just a little. Costs can be cut by doing your own decorations or designing and printing your own save the date cards. We’ve had couples tell us they had a great time designing their cards and decorations, and it adds a little personal flavor to the day that guests always love.
Final Thoughts on Finding Pittsburgh Wedding Vendors
A Quick Summary
We know we hit you with a lot of information in a short amount of time. There’s a lot that goes into wedding planning, but it doesn’t have to be the cause of sleepless nights. Having a gameplan is one of the best first steps you can take when you’re planning anything, and a wedding is no exception.
Make a rough time-line of your engagement. How long do you have until the big day? Which weekends/days can you devote solely to wedding planning? When you know those things, you can work on when you should book certain vendors, and take steps to get those goals accomplished. Plus, it feels awesome to check things off a list.
In closing, remember that your wedding is about you and your significant other. Make a plan together of how you’re going to crush your engagement and your planning. Then put that plan into action!