Wedding Milestones: First Vendors!

The first vendor I booked after was my dj and photo booth person and that made me feel so good cause it was one vendor who did both so it felt like I knocked off more on my list aha

We hired our photographer first too because that was really important to me. Our photographer specializes in mountain elopements at sunset, and since we originally planned a sunset wedding at a group campground in the Rocky Mountains, we knew he would be perfect. He was also willing to work with us on budget, which really helped.

The first vendor that I booked after the venue was our dj! We knew exactly who we wanted so we put our deposit down ASAP. The photographer/videographer was what we booked next

Our second was also our photographer. They were important to me and also a big expense. I wanted to make sure I got my big expense items out of the way before i started booking others. Catering was next after photography.

We actually booked our photographer first, even before our venue - our venue was holding our date for us while we were working on putting together the deposit and such, but we technically booked our photographer first. Photography was the most important thing for me, so once we found a photographer we both liked, we wanted to immediately book them.

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Yeah! Two for one! That definitely helps when you've got a long list!

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Ooo! I LOVE landscape photographers who know how to use light! (That's part of why I love our photographers so much). What's his name/social media? I'd love to drool over more amazing photography!

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Yes! Have to make sure you have the right person to get the party started and keep it going all night long!

Our first vendor after the venue was our DJ. We actually picked our wedding date based on his and our venue’s availability! He is local but has also traveled a good bit to dj. While very expensive, we decided this was something we were willing to splurge on!

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Very smart! It's good to know how much you'll be spending on the big ticket vendors so you can budget and save what you need to!

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Nice! What drew you to the photographers you chose?

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I love that you knew who you wanted and made it happen! What made you know he was the DJ you wanted?

View Quoted Comment Definitely! We knew exactly who we wanted and we were stuck between 2 photographers so we figured why not get 1 vendor out the way

View Quoted Comment We had met with two different photographers, and both had beautiful pictures in their portfolios. The first one we met with, we left with a few minor concerns, though felt that they could do a good job and that we'd most likely be happy with the pictures we'd receive if we hired them. We didn't feel strongly one way or another. When we met with the photographer we ultimately hired, we both felt at ease and had zero concerns. They are super creative, easy to work with, and their pictures show natural emotion and don't feel overly posed (which all matched exactly what we were looking for), so we knew we had to hire them.

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The good ones always seem to find their way to the top! I'm so glad you guys ended up with a photographer who not only will deliver amazing pictures, but will put you at ease throughout the day as well!

View Quoted Comment Dylan Burr @dylanburr_weddings on Instagram

View Quoted Comment He does beautiful work! You and I have very similar taste in photographers.

Our first vendor was the photographer. The photographer was the most important vendor to me because those pictures will last forever. I l contacted her to set up a Zoom meeting the same day we booked our venue. Three days later, we had her booked! I had been following her on Facebook for months, and I had a gut feeling about it. Our meeting just solidified that she was the one for us.
That was back at the end of June. We have one last vendor to book, and our meeting for that is on Wednesday!

I think we booked our DJ before we actually booked our venue.

We knew which DJ we wanted, so we reached out to her early, and started talking dates and availability.

We didn't sign a contract with her until we'd actually set the venue and date in stone, but I remember her penciling us in before that. She had done our friends' wedding, and when we told her we were theatre people from their circle (and about the swordfight), she all but cleared her schedule for us.

View Quoted Comment Don’t you love it when you get to book someone you’ve been following for a while? Congratulations on almost being at the vendor finish line!