As announced here this week is going to be wedding week! Jan 2nd through the 8th were going to cover all sorts of fun wedding things from photographers (of course that had to be in there:) ), diy, Knoxville weddings, etc. Lots of fun for those Knoxville brides getting ready to plan their 2010 wedding! Today its all about finding the right vendors for you! There are so many choices that a bride faces as she plans her wedding…here is how to make sure you are paired up with the perfect vendor
How to find the right vendors for you!
-Find your style! This is one of the first basic things that will make all the other decisions a little easier. Have you dreamed of a small vintage garden wedding your whole life or do you want the princess wedding dress with a large church wedding and reception? Knowing things you definitely want or don’t want make life a little easier. Need some help in finding your style? Here are a few ideas
- Take a quiz! Go here to take it and see what it says about you and your style. This one is a little more simpler to take and quite fun as well:)
- Make an inspiration board. LOVE this idea! Gather items for a few days of things that inspire you. They don’t have to be wedding items. They can be textures, pictures, magazine clippings. Something that you see and think “this is so me!” Then put it all together on a poster board, paper. Lay it all out and look any themes that pop out, take inspiration from those things.
-Finding vendors that match your style. This is the hard part. There are several ways that you can find wedding vendors now. One is the lovely internet (or if you are like my mom and still rely on a phone book you can go that route!), through marketing or ads, or through word of mouth. A few things to keep in mind..
- Word of mouth is a great tool. You can gain valuable knowledge on the quality of the vendor through people who have already used them. This is also a good way to gauge style because if you friend had a similar style wedding and loved this vendor then that takes out the first initial guess work.
- Google and other search engines have transformed how we can search and look up local businesses. It’s also made it a little harder to find the right one. Just type in knoxville wedding photographers and you get 609,000 results. What!? So search away but be sure to check the vendors work. If they are a good reputable vendor they should have a good website with their info on it and photographers should have their work displayed.
- The nice thing about websites is that it allows you to see their style. If you are searching for a artistic knoxville wedding photographer, for instance, and you go to a photographers site that is very traditional and posed then you know they aren’t for you.
- After you have narrowed it down and have your couple vendors who you want to look more into, give them a phone call or email. This will save you some time instead of meeting with them all. Then once you chat with them and feel this may be the one, schedule a time to sit down and get to know them. Yes, you want to see the wedding photographer’s portfolio and know what their pricing is but also see how you mesh. Do you get along? Photographers are probably one of the more important vendors to make sure you have a good relationship with and can trust. They will be with you the whole day and also be in charge of capturing your wedding.
- Head on over to Onewed.com or Project Wedding to search for vendors in your city. These sites have lots of vendors that you can search for with most having pictures, reviews, and info on collections and pricing. Yay for efficiency:)
Are you a bride or any photographers that have any other ideas or what worked for you in finding the right vendor? Feel free to leave comments!
and thought we needed some picture love on the blog:) I’ve been madly working on some albums and this is a page from one. Love fun wedding albums!
Shannon Kelley Photography | Shannon Kelley Photography Blog | Knoxville wedding photographers
