I Just Got Engaged! Which Wedding Vendors Should I Hire First?

Even if you’ve been dreaming about getting married for a long time, when it’s made official and when you start planning your wedding it can be overwhelming. Where do you start? Who do you hire first? Here are some insights into which wedding vendors you should hire first after you get engaged.

1. Wedding Photographer
Any vendor who cannot do more than one event per day should be considered a priority vendor. While a cake baker and a florist can often book many weddings on a day (depending on the size of their staff) photographers often are often solo operators, and once your date is booked, they can’t take on any other work. For this reason, if you are in love with a photographer’s portfolio, book them as soon as possible. We recommend that for wedding photographers that you start your search early, so you can compare the different stylings, price points, and offerings. Many couples book their photographers 12 months in advance, but it’s not unusual for some to book 18 months or more out.

2. Wedding Planners
Some people love to plan, while others find it stressful and complicated. If you’re more of the latter, then you might consider hiring a wedding planner to help you navigate through your wedding planning. Wedding planners can have many different packages that range from just helping you set a budget and hire vendors, to a full-service wedding planner who will help with every aspect of the planning and execution of your wedding day. One of the advantages of using a planner is that they are usually familiar with local vendors and venues and can help you refine your vision for your wedding quickly and help you stay on track with your budget.

3. Venue
Some venues have multiple rooms they can rent out, and some only have a few. If the venue you love only has one room to rent out, treat them as a priority vendor and book quickly. There are only so many prime weddings dates and 

4. Online Only Vendors
If you are purchasing anything online, make sure you are doing so well in advance of your wedding day, and be sure to read the fine print on returns. You want to have ample time to get the items in and make sure everything looks or fits correctly.

Once you have your date, your venue, and your priority vendors booked, you can breathe a little easier as you begin to fine-tune the details of your day. 

Is it time for you to find a wedding photographer? You’ll find the best of the best here on ISPWP! Take some time to look through our wedding contest galleries and the photographer portfolios in your area. You can be sure that when you hire an ISPWP wedding photographer, you’re hiring a highly qualified, professional and skilled photographer for your wedding day.

Photo by Junpo Liu, Ningbo, China