Questions To Ask Potential Wedding Suppliers

Why is this so important? If you rush the process and book the first suppliers you see or who are recommended to you without researching or asking the right questions, you risk booking suppliers without knowing the full facts. This can lead to booking suppliers who aren’t necessarily the right fit for you, your budget, or your wedding style. This could result in more work, unnecessary worry, and potential issues later on.

Pulling together your dream team of wedding suppliers takes time. Firstly, there’s the endless hours of internet research, followed by the even more protracted process of checking out potential supplier websites, social media accounts, features, reviews and testimonials.

After all of that, you’re still only halfway there. Although you may better understand a supplier’s style, portfolio and suitability, the online information will only tell you half what you need to know.

Thankfully, today’s feature—Questions to Ask Potential Wedding Suppliers—covers the other half to make things as easy as possible for you!

Of course, the following questions are just a guide, and whether you choose to ask them all or just a couple will depend entirely on the supplier, product, or service you’re researching, how much information you’ve already gathered, and how much time you have at your disposal.

Think of it as a pick-n-mix menu for finding, fully understanding, and booking your dream team of suppliers!

The Questions

• Do you have availability on our wedding date? It’s a no-brainer, BUT you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget to ask this question! This should be your first question; you don’t want to waste anyone’s time, especially your own if they’re not free.

• Can you send us a copy of your brochure and price list? If you’ve started researching suppliers, you’ll already know that many suppliers only provide an overview of their services on their websites, with prices either being guideline costs or absent entirely. This makes requesting brochures, price lists, lists of services or bespoke quotations essential. Once you receive these, they should provide you with a more detailed picture of what’s included, helping you in turn with the decision of whether or not the products or services are exactly what you’re looking for, are within budget and whether or not the supplier is the right fit for you. The feasibility of this and how much information varies between suppliers and services. For example, a florist can only offer guideline costs as the specifics are entirely dependent on a whole host of factors and questions, answers of which you may not yet know, i.e. types of flowers, style of arrangements, number of tables, size of wedding party, etc. 

• Are your prices plus or inclusive of VAT? Some venues and suppliers are VAT registered, while others aren’t. Some make these costs clear in initial quotations and invoices, and others only add them on at a later stage of the planning process. As VAT can make a huge difference to the total cost, the safest option is to ask this question from the outset and check/double-check contracts before signing on the dotted line.

• What are your deposit and payment terms? Payment terms are always helpful as they allow you to plan and manage your budget and outgoing expenses. If you’re currently saving for your wedding, a supplier requesting a large deposit payment or even full/upfront payment may not be the right supplier for your budget and cash flow. Alternatively, if a supplier doesn’t require a deposit payment, this also needs to be considered; after all, PAYING A DEPOSIT = SECURITY & PEACE OF MIND.

• Do you travel, and if so, do you charge extra for travel and accommodation? I love to travel and, as a result, plan weddings throughout the UK. The same applies to a whole host of different wedding suppliers, so if you love a supplier’s work but know they’re not local to you or your wedding, then you’ll need to ask this question, including how far they’re willing to travel, to understand the total costs. 

• Are there any other additional fees or costs we need to know? Travel and accommodation are just one example of extra expenses that need to be considered when researching and comparing suppliers. Other examples include on-the-day subsistence, damages, and hire deposits, all of which will impact your budget. If you ask the question from the outset, you’re much more likely to be able to compare like-for-like, and there’s also less risk of surprises later down the line. 

• Do you have insurance? You must check that potential suppliers have their own insurance (public and employer’s liability) to cover the work they do for you and any errors they make or accidents they or their staff may cause. Any reputable supplier should have their own insurance and it’s OK to ask to see a copy of it.

• What happens if you cannot provide the product/service we’ve booked you for? Think about the importance of key suppliers such as photographers and videographers and carry out due diligence by asking them what would happen if they could not provide the product or service you booked, i.e. due to illness. If they plan to cover all eventualities, then at least you know. If they don’t, do you want to run the risk of booking that supplier?

• How long have you worked in the wedding industry? If you want to work with a trusted and experienced team, then wedding-specific experience is a must! You can generally gauge the level from a supplier’s website and portfolio, but if you can’t, then it’s 100% worth asking the question. You might also want to ask for some examples of recent, real weddings and corresponding testimonials.

• Have you planned any other weddings at our venue/site? This question isn’t necessarily essential, as most professional suppliers can easily adapt to any venue, site or environment! However, where a venue requires you to work with one of their recommended suppliers this is a must! And where wedding set-up/turn-around timings are tight, experience is preferable as it means that the supplier in question is much more familiar with layout and logistics, which can help things go more smoothly and ensure everything runs according to plan.

• Will we be working directly with you, including on the day itself? When working with any supplier, it’s important to know upfront who your main point of contact will be in the lead-up to your wedding, especially on the day itself.

• Are you full-time? Personally, I think this is a crucial question to know the answer to. It might not necessarily sway your decision, but if, for example, you’re booking a wedding planner and you’d prefer to have day meetings, then a planner who has another job and can only meet consult me in the evenings or at weekends might not be the right fit for you.

• Can we meet or arrange a video call before we book you? For key suppliers, especially those that are a significant investment and will work with you very closely throughout the planning process, it’s always nice to put a face to a name! Additionally, arranging a meeting or video call will allow you to ask more questions and gauge suitability.

• Will ours be the only wedding that day? Some suppliers, such as caterers, will work on multiple weddings on the same day, while others should focus solely on you and your wedding. Depending on the response you receive, you can always dig a little deeper and ask further questions. For example, if a cake designer has more than one booking on the day of your wedding, do they have a delivery time slot that works with your schedule or separate delivery teams to manage multiple deliveries?

With some tweaking and careful selection, this pick ‘n’ mix menu of questions should cover most of your suppliers. The answers will allow you to make more informed decisions.