Why Great Wedding Vendors Should Be Your Best Friends

If you photograph weddings, chances are you can quickly think of other wedding vendors you love to work with … and a few you hope you never see again.

We worked at one wedding where the videographer completely monopolized the bride and groom. He would follow us around to use all of our ideas, or jump in and start videoing as we were photographing intimate portraits with the worlds largest and most obnoxious light source. After a couple hours of this at the wedding location, the bride and groom had had enough. So we found ways to “sneak” off at the reception to allow the bride and groom some time alone, while capturing images the way they are meant to be captured.Why Great Wedding Vendors Should Be Your Best Friends

Likewise we have worked with many great vendors that we would gladly work with again and again. We referred each other because we knew what to expect from each other. The quality was always top notch. The service was always extraordinary. And we knew the bride and groom would be happy from beginning to end. They have been friends for many years and remain friends to this day.

If you are new to the wedding industry, building a relationship with your client may seem like the most important thing to do. And it is. Yet the relationships you build with vendors is what will build your business over time. You will only see a bride and groom once – at their wedding. Okay, maybe several times if you do other family members and friends. But if you become friends with other wedding vendors, you may work with each other a dozen times or more each year.

How do you build those relationships?

1. Start with your clients

What vendors will your current clients be using at their upcoming events? This is a great starting point for building relationships. A month or so before a client’s wedding, ask them for their list of top vendors: coordinators, videographers, caterers, florists, musicians, etc. Get points of contacts, and find out who you will be working with at the event itself. For instance, you may be working with a DJ service who employees 6 different DJs. Its great to know the owner of the company, just as its equally important to know who the DJ will be at your event. [Read more…]