Vendor responsiveness

I have to agree – before the pandemic most of my vendors would respond really quickly. Post-pandemic, some of them are taking a bit longer. It probably has to do with the fact that a lot of people are not working from an office, or are only working a limited schedule. I have heard a lot of self employed vendors (like photographers, videographers, etc. ) have been picking up other jobs or part-time jobs to pay their bills because the pandemic has killed their income. As long as they ARE getting back to you, I wouldn’t worry and I’d probably cut them some slack. (I know how hard that can be sometimes- I am an incredibly organized person and tend not to be the most patient either LOL)

View Quoted Comment Thanks Chrysta. That makes perfect sense. I know and am honest about my shortcomings and patience is one of them. I just needed to make sure I wasn’t imagining things and someone to talk me off the ledge. Most times it’s my fiancé, but when it comes to wedding stuff, he acts like it’s a game of hot potato and doesn’t want to touch it. Lol!

I think a lot of it is pandemic side effect.

We just had a meeting with our florist on Monday and she said they are insanely busy right now. Fall is already the busiest season, on top of a lot of couples postponing from earlier in the year til now.

She had been incredibly responsive up until last week. We obviously still got in touch with her, but you can just tell she's dealing with a lot.

My venue coordinator is also super busy, but is great about responding with a "hey, we've got a wedding today but I'll respond to you on Tuesday" or something similar.

I agree that it's likely because of the pandemic. I booked my hair/makeup artist for my July 2020 wedding back in January this year, and she was super responsive. Once the pandemic started/stay at home orders issued/etc, she has been really difficult to reach. Either it took 1-2 weeks to get a reply, or I got no reply at all and had to reach out again. It's frustrating, but I'm also considering that since hair/makeup salons were closed during the shut down, she likely wasn't checking her email often, or had a backlog of emails from other people postponing their weddings, etc. Many vendors are likely in this scenario. Or, like Chrysta said, maybe they had to pick up extra jobs to make money and available time is an issue. I would suggest being extra patient with them for the rest of this year, as long as they are ultimately responding to you.

I've had it go both ways pre / post pandemic. Our first sales manager at our venue rarely responded pre-pandemic. And it was definitely always a week or so. Our new sales manager responds within 72 business hours, a little frustrating, but it's OK. Overall, I've noticed slower response times in every area of business post pandemic, it's kinda sad, but in a lot of businesses, employees have changed, your initial contacts may be laid off and new ones are slow to get to speed, then of course a lot of businesses are just coming back online and to life so they are scrambling to get their new procedures in place. Sadly post pandemic there are so many variables.

I've been ready since I booked our venue to finalize details and yet, they want to wait until 3-weeks prior. Kinda crazy, but OK. I have everything ready all my questions ready to go so they can be answered.

Throughout the pandemic, I did take the time to reach out with each vendor if for no other reason than to do a pulse check. Make sure they were still up and running and find out if they and families were doing well.

Your wedding is in January, I'd write all your questions down and just send an email and they will probably respond within a week. I wouldn't worry too much, I know it's frustrating. Welcome to the world post pandemic.

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Thanks Eri. That makes sense. I just need to back away from the ledge and be more patient.

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Those are points I had not thought about, but you're right. Everyone is living and trying to survive in this alternative universe, so I will do my best to be more patient and extend a little grace under the circumstances.

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I know right?!! This pandemic has changed the way we operate and do things. I think the key for me is to be more patient . . . and in the meantime, have my follow up questions ready to go. Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

View Quoted Comment Patience is definitely the key in all this. It does get better and easier.