How to find your wedding vendors; 5 questions to ask the pro’s
Finding your vendors can be really hard when planning your wedding! Especially in diverse areas like the Bay Area! So here are my top 5 tips to finding the right vendors for you as a long time wedding and event photographer!
Ask about their website
Most professional wedding vendors will have a website filled with all kinds of information including reviews from past clients, their booking process, package deals, and info abut themselves for you to get comfortable with them as your vendor! My website even includes a photo of myself, so you know who to look for, a blog page like this one to help you learn and save, and more! If they don’t have a website, this doesn’t mean that they are not a real or trustworthy vendor, you will just have to ask for more resources like instagram and Facebook pages to see their reviews
2. Ask about their business License and Insurance
I highly recommend booking vendors who are liscenced and insured! Insurance is not expensive and does not require a business liscnece to get, just a fictitious business name, so, If they don’t have either of these, it may be your first red flag! Alexandria’s Photography is both licensed and insured to make sure that there are no bumps in your booking process and to ensure your money is going to a real small business!
3. Ask to hop On a call or video call
One thing I ALWAYS do to make my clients feel comfortable is to hop on a Zoom call with them before they even send over their first payment to book me as their photographer! I do this to create trust, get to know each other, feel out each others vibes, and to more easily answer questions and show real examples through the screen sharing feature so that my clients know I am real, trustworthy, and worth their money!
4. Ask about hourly rates and minimums
Not every pre-made package is for every couple, and that’s okay! Many vendors, like myself, are always open to creating custom packages and catering to your unique needs, we often just have a minimum hourly or dollar point minimum to ensure that we are able to best serve you!
5. Ask about tolerance
This sounds really weird, but It is really important to get to know what each vendor supports, tolerates, or are allies of. If they are not respectful of your religion, culture, or even sexual preference, this may be problematic for your wedding day! And, just because your photographer is a different religion, ethnicity, culture, or color than you also doesn’t mean that they don’t support you or are not an ally to you! For example, I am a non-practicing christian and believe in God, But I am also a Gay and POC ally!
6. Bonus: Contracts and more
Contracts are incredibly important and as a wedding photographer for over 10 years and having worked with third party companies, I know how important contracts are, and I would never personally book a vendor of any kind without some sort of written agreement or contract.
Contracts protect everyone involved and lay out everything from service provided to price point and overtime pay and travel expenses. Every vendor will have different agreements or policies for their business and it is important that their policies align with your own.
It is also important to realize that these vendors do this for a living and need to charge a livable wage for themselves and if they have employees or freelancers working for them.
On top of that, these vendors should be able to clarify their policies to you and answer any questions you may have about them in a kind and professional manner.
My Preferred Vendors List
Click here to check out my preferred vendors list, serving all of California and beyond!
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