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Here are a few ways to make sure you are "hiring" the right vendor:
1. Check out their resume : What is their work experience, how many years do they have in the industry, how many events do they do per year/month/week? Do they have an event portfolio/website/blog where you can check out their work?
2. Interview the candidate: Make sure you have prepared a series of questions pertinent to your event and the event industry for your potential vendor. Again remember you are trying to find a good fit for your event so you want to get the right person for the job.
3. References (Personal and Professional) : Get information on past clients they have worked for as well as vendors in the industry; at least 3 each and make sure you follow up. Ask a couple of specific and direct questions and an open ended question that provides more qualitative feedback. Examples of some questions are: Was the vendor professional? Did they have a contract? Would you recommend/use this vendor again? Also try to limit your questions to between 3 and 5.
4. Background check: Hey I am not saying pull a credit report, but the web is a great resource of information on your proposed wedding vendor. You can check out the Better Business Bureau and see what complaints have been filed; if any, and also get business ratings for the company you are trying to do business with. Sometimes you won't find any information with the Better Business Bureau, because the business has no file with them but do check out other vendor sites such as The Knot, Project Weddings and Wedding Wire. These provide an outlet for past clients to leave reviews, comments, complaints or concerns regarding a wedding vendor.
5. Confirm the terms of employment: Make sure you secure everything in writing . Go over contracts, ensure a firm understanding of retainer, booking and cancellation fees. Do not leave anything up to chance. Most vendors will have addendums they can offer to their contract should you decide to add/remove services.
6. Trust your gut feeling: If it doesn't feel right, it probably ain't right. Enough said.
Again, these are just a few tips to help you pick the right vendor for your wedding day.
One more thing though, I would like to implore brides who have had their wedding to PLEASE provide honest reviews on your vendor: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Help other brides avoid those unscrupulous vendors. However make it easier for them to choose better vendors. For the vendors who did an excellent job, you want people to know so that they can build a client base. Ask your vendors where you can post their reviews, their blogs? Vendor sites? Review Form? etc.
Well, let us know what you think? Was this post helpful? Should we do more tips of the month? We want to hear from you.
Happy Blogging,
AJ Pin It Now!
4 comments:
Choosing the right vendors is the best path to having a beautiful event - and trust me, you don't want to find out the hard way!
Just got married not too long ago, and had an experience with choosing the right vendor. My advice is this makesure u save every document and paperwork from ur vendors, and research on their previous work, these are very important. The only thing that saved me from the vendor who disappointed me was all my receipts from our contract.
Thanks for this post...sometimes it hard to give a good review when you 'knew' the vendor before the wedding or because of family reasons...used my SIL as evnt decorator because mt mum insisted i shld and my husband was deadset against using his sister's business rival.. my sil did a very underwhelming job by my standard, the decor wasnt wow and she wasnt enthusiastic, she belittled/rejected my ideas and wouldnt think out of the box... sigh..i decided not to sweat the small stuff as i'm more focused on the quality of our marriage but gee...I really wish I had used BCG.sooooo much more creative and professional...the thing still pisses me off and my thing is dont always go for vendors you already know personally..i've told my husband I CAN'T/WON'T use his sister for any event in the futur..thank God we are not in close proximity to her so that's easy taken care of...sorry to rant on your blog especially as you know the party involved...
I am reading this post again and realizing it is imperative for couples to arm themselves with the right information and BCG Events is committed to help you with that. Outside of providing excellent services ourselves, we are going to be featuring excellent vendors on our website as well as partnering with some other amazing vendors to create the African version of "The Little Black Book", so look out!!!!
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