Notes from the Future Mrs - Are Your Vendors the Right Fit?

Choosing the right vendors. This may be one of the most important decisions for a bride. And a difficult one, to say the least. My friends always tell me, "Planning your wedding must be so easy because you work in the industry", and "You're so lucky you work for a wedding planner". Well, to be honest, it's not so easy. And it doesn't always feel so lucky. Only being able to choose a few vendors from the sea of talented people that I have met in the past year is hard. Really hard. And to be perfectly frank, I have hit points where I just want other people to make the choices for me so I don't have to.

Here is the honest truth. Having every vendor I know be a part of my big day would be like a dream come true. That's impossible, yes, but the truth. Is that greedy? Maybe a tad. Alright, alright, maybe a lot...I know. But the arts that people master in this industry blow my mind every single day. You can't really blame me for wanting them all there, can you?

At the end of the day though, it's important for me as a bride to remember a couple things. One, I simply cannot afford everyone's service (I do have a budget after all). And two, just because I like someone's work, it doesn't mean it's the right match for my wedding.

So what's my point to this whole rant? My point is that this is true for any bride, not just me. No bride should go into debt trying to afford certain vendors. No bride should get sucked into hiring a vendor that they know is not the best fit either.

Being on both ends of the wedding planning spectrum {vendor and client}, I learned something. Vendors should not bend their entire business trying to fit with the wrong client. Nor should the clients bend themselves to fit a specific vendor. The results are never pretty and no one walks away feeling good. Either you fit, or you don't. And it's okay if you don't. It's being able to identify what works for you that really matters.

Here's to hoping brides {and vendors} keep these thoughts in mind when making tough decisions. I know I'm not the only one out there facing these challenges.

Good luck,
~ Jillian