Logan Walker Photography

While I was wedding planning, finding and deciding on vendors was one of the hardest tasks. I didn’t know which ones were the most important and I was pretty shocked by the price tags these vendors put in front of me. Don’t miss this important step: Look at your budget and prioritize your vendors before you get started looking for them. If you have a specific venue that you want to get married at and a specific bakery you want to use, make sure they are accounted for in your budget. What can you do without or find a more economic option for? Find those vendors last. 

Every couple has different priorities, but here’s how I would prioritize vendors:

1. Venue
2. Photographer
3. Videographer
4. Officiant
5. Attire 
6. Florist
7. Bakery
8. Caterer
9. HMU
10. DJ/musicians 
11. Bartender

Your higher priority vendors will often be a deciding factor in the date you choose for your wedding day. Some venues are booked out for an entire year, so if you have a specific date in mind, I would encourage you to start there. 

Wedding photographers and videographers are similar to a venue in the fact that they can book up super fast. You can find these vendors in a variety of ways, but most photographers can be found on Instagram. Go to search and type in your location and wedding photographers. You can also Google and look up photographers and videographers on Facebook. There are some wedding planning apps that also list these vendors for you. And, of course, I would love for you to consider me to be your photographer, especially if you’re in Arkansas!

Finding your officiant can be a little harder than you think. My husband and I really wanted our preacher to do our wedding for us. Some officiants will require you to do premarital counseling. Our counseling took about two months to complete, but each officiant has their own process. This vendor was super important to us, so I placed it up higher on the priority list. Plus, you need to make sure they’re available on your date. If you don’t have an officiant in mind, you might consider having someone you know to do the service. They would have to get licensed for your marriage to be legally official, but that license doesn’t take long to get. 

Next is the attire. You need to go dress shopping early! My dress took four months to come in. Four months! If you find THE dress and have to order it, keep this in mind. There are several bridal shops in Arkansas that have really good sales at certain times of the year, so if you think you may need to check out those sales, make sure to plan your date far enough out to get your dress in time. For bridesmaids, time may also be a concern. Depending on where your girls get their dresses from, the wait time on orders can be a few months. We had to order one for some extra length and it took right around that same four month range. You also have to keep in mind that the dresses may need alterations. That could potentially add another month of waiting time. Now, on to the men. We had the guys rent their suits. This vendor was more lenient, and the guys just had to place their order at least one month in advance. The suits came in a week before the wedding, with plenty of time for the guys to try the suits on and get any alterations needed, as the store did alterations in house. Note: Be sure to look through all of the suits when they come in! I’ve seen situations where the suit company did not send the right sizes and that was a minor issue in that experience. However, this could lead to big problems so catch them with enough time to correct it!

I really debated on where I wanted to put florals on the priority list. Florals are super important, but if it came down to it, you could get flowers through a big box store and make the arrangements yourself. I encourage you to meet with a few florists to make sure you book someone who has the style you’re looking for. I was price shocked when we went into finding flowers. I really wanted to do a floral installation on the arch for our wedding, but our budget didn’t allow for it. It was well over $1,500 for the smallest installation, my bouquet, two bridesmaid bouquets, a few corsages, and a handful of boutonnieres. We cut that price in half by leaving out the installation.

Let’s talk about food. I’d say your wedding cake is going to be a little more important than catering. Worst case scenario, you may be able to talk someone into helping you guys out by cooking. A wedding cake can be harder to take over, as it will be in photos and it needs to look presentable. Doing cupcakes can help save a little money, as lots of bakeries charge a cutting fee if they have someone there to help with that. With catering, expect about $10-15 per person. We looked and looked for something a little more affordable than that, and we found a barbeque place that would take care of food for about $9 per person. Your venue and catering will most likely be the most expensive vendors for your wedding day. 

My hair and makeup were on the list of things I was willing to do myself, but luckily, I have a sweet friend who agreed to do it for me as a gift. Like I mentioned before, everybody’s priorities are going to be different, so if you want a look that you don’t think you can do, book a hair and makeup stylist. My friends that do hair and makeup do tend to stay pretty booked up, so look into that sooner rather than later. You should also keep in mind that you need to do a trial run to make sure the artist can provide the look you are trying to achieve. Hair and makeup artists usually charge less for the trial, but it could be somewhere between $50-100. Trust me, though. You do not want to be a hot mess on your day. Do the trial run. You could use this as an opportunity to do a final fitting so you know exactly what you’ll look like on the special day. Ask your photographer if you can do bridals on this day too if you would like those photos!

A good DJ will keep the party going. If that is something that you find important for your wedding day, do some research and make sure to look at reviews. Again, availability is key for lots of DJ’s. Lastly, if you plan on serving alcohol, you need a bartender. They need to be licensed and most of the time, your venue will require the bartending company to have insurance, or they will require you to have it. 

There are things you need to look for in every vendor, and I plan to make a post for each one. For now, I hope this post will help you prioritize your vendors and make it easier for you to decide which vendors you want to go with. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

Happy Planning!
– Logan