So, your big day is fast-approaching and you suddenly realise you haven’t asked whether the entrée is paleo. Then, you remember you’ve got to check with the florist that your bridal arch is being made using ethically-sourced local flowers. Finally, it occurs to you that no-one’s confirmed with the venue that you can light those soy candles you had specially created to smell of rose and sandalwood.
Like any bride-to-be, you leave a voicemail, email and then text each of your suppliers to try and get a response to these urgent questions (because it’s not called stalking if you’re paying them, amiright?). When you haven’t heard back in 24 hours, you start to get concerned. When a few days pass, you notice that you’re developing worry lines and you spot a few extra grey hairs (which, for any woman, means you’re officially in crisis mode).
Why isn’t anyone responding? Don’t they understand this is about the BIGGEST DAY OF MY LIFE?
We often get asked by our fairies what the best way to contact suppliers is, so we passed the question along to our community and this is what they recommended!
“My wedding is in 2 months and suppliers aren’t responding. What’s the best way to get in contact?”
Rebecca Landers Email with specifics of your request/inquiry and a follow-up call 24 hrs later, if you have not heard anything. You want to ensure that you have as much info in a paper trail as possible! Also: I ended up using vendors that other people I know had used in the past. So I would mention that I came as a referral from a past bride. That way I knew that they were reputable. But also that they knew I would be likely to recommend their services onto another bride.
Alisha Filmer Try and consolidate questions into one email, so you are minimising back and forth. And follow up with a call.
Alexsandra Stella Masi Emailing and writing back in the email trail. I also CC my partner in everything. People are hopeless and don’t know how to use the CC function, it’s frustrating. I’ll also call after 48 hours. I’ll do whatever it takes because you don’t have time to sit around and wait.
Lillian Khalil Yes the wedding industry is massive. Email with a follow up call
Hayley Morris I’ve worked for venues and am now a supplier- please believe we have seen your email and generally have a respond period of 2-24hrs. Definitely asking all your questions in 1 email is really helpful- and last names and dates are also greatly appreciated! We may just have 5 Jessicas that all go by Jess! Lol at one point I had 4 Lauras, 4 Laurens and a couple of Lisas!!
Just remember, if your wedding is a while away we might have 5,10,20+ weddings prior to yours and sometimes have to prioritse things that are happening right now. But it doesn’t mean you are less important, just that we have a little more time up our sleeves to help you. If you haven’t had any kind of response after 2 – 3 working days, then a quick follow up doesn’t hurt…we all work very hard in the wedding industry to make your dream day come true! Good luck fairies!!
Priya Singh I had the worst experience with a local florist who I had engaged to do three of my wedding events – my engagement party, and two weddings. She had the jobs and just failed to communicate with me on all accounts. A month out from our first event she wasn’t retuning calls or emails and hadn’t even given me a written firm quote, so I didn’t want to get stung in the end with a huge unexpected bill. My partner tried to get in touch and she was so rude to him saying she had done this and that and was soo busy. We made a decision to cut her loose. We didn’t need the stress. Sometimes as much as some vendors might be good at something, it means nothing if they don’t communicate effectively. Poor communication can break your business and ruin a brides day.
Annette Vetrano I email or Facebook inbox suppliers that seem good and have good reviews and images. Then I go with the one that communicates the best. I hate waiting more than 2 days for a reply.
RollupinaRolls At Roll Up in a Rolls, we aim to be contactable at all times. I give our brides a mobile number for urgent inquiries, because we know that leading up to the wedding question or issue expands and becomes more stressful. If we aren’t available on the mobile, we have an answering service and call back within 24 hours.
John Alten I’m a wedding MC based in Sydney, so can give a supplier’s perspective. When a bride initially contacts a supplier, it’s generally more than a year before her wedding date, so I recommend they expect responses within 2-3 weeks. This is because suppliers are usually in-demand and have their days booked up with weddings. Once you’ve booked a supplier, the supplier should give you a black-and-white agreement as to how many meetings and consultations the bride and groom can expect. If a bride has questions in between these consults, I would ask them to email me and I’ll generally respond within 48-72 hours.
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