Welcome back friends and to everyone that’s new, welcome to my wedding film blog!

Today, I want to share with you some great information when you’re starting to plan out the wedding and it has to do with booking everything early, there are some great benefits when it come to doing that and I want to explain why in my post today.

It Locks YOU in and Keeps Other Couples Out

Believe it or not, when you enter the world of wedding planning, you’re actually competing against other couples in the area. As I’ve stated before on the blog, approximately 2,200,000 couples get married each year in the United States and of that, about 55,000 are in Virginia.

When we break things down even further, Southwestern Virginia has roughly 16,000 couples of the 55k that are getting married, about 29% of the state.

With so many couples out there, chances are many couples are going to have your wedding date.

In fact, with 52 weekends a year, that averages to about 288 couples a given weekend and consider the roller coaster of a wedding season we have, that swells to 412 couples during the summer month.

Either way, having a few hundred other couples with your wedding date creates an issue and that’s with wedding vendors. Some vendors, such as wedding photographers are easy to choose from because it’s over saturated in our market place (and many around us too) but take officiant’s, florists, catering, dress makers, filmmakers, DJ’s and even venues, there is a limited number of vendors that operate in a given area.

Locking in your wedding date as early as possible prevents one of those other couples from taking your wedding date with the vendors that you really want to hire. As a wedding videographer myself, I run into this several times a year, especially with popular dates, in 2020 it’s 10-24-2020. That date has been asked for so many times this year, it’s crazy.

My advice, once you have a budget, a venue with a wedding date, strike fast with everything else. Once you have the date and location, you can line everything else up and I highly suggest that you do within a month’s time if you want to have as many options as possible for your wedding vendors.

If you don’t, you will start to limit your options as time gets closer to your wedding date and that’s the last thing you want, to pick from the leftovers if you will.

The BEST Time to Plan Your Wedding

Believe it or not, the best time to plan for your wedding is during any off-season but not all areas have one. For example, here in SWVA, we have an off-season that’s October through late March but places like Orlando have warm temps all year, so there really isn’t an off-season there.

If you happen to live in an off-season area, I suggest that you take advantage of booking vendors like myself during this time.

Why?

Because off-seasons tend to be dry for vendors and they rely on income. More times than none, they will offer an enticement, usually a discount, to help get deposits and booking for the next year or two.

Many companies will discount services 5-25% depending on the vendor type and how much they want to discount.

While saving 10% for example might not seem like much on a small vendor that costs $500, when you look at the grand scheme of things, that’s a big number when you start thinking $15,000 or $20,000 for a wedding.

That Last Minute Decision Will Cost You

If you wait until the last minute to book a vendor, such as a wedding videographer for example, expect to pay full cost. I’ve seen so many couples come in last minute, normally a couple of months from their own wedding seeking a wedding video.

Well, don’t expect any discounts here, that’s because vendors know that your looking for a video and something cheap price wise.

The issue though, more times than none, is that you’re looking to spend a little bit of money while most of the companies in the region are starting out at $1,500.

The other major issue, most of us are going to be booked two months out, so you’re going to have a hard time finding someone with great experience and provides good films at a great price point too.

What you’re left with is the low hanging wedding vendors and it’s not just videographers, it’s anyone that you’re seeking last minute within the industry.

This is a simple supply and demand scenario, a common business practice within the business world, after all, weddings and the wedding industry is really a business. I highly recommend that you book 9-12 months if not more for the wedding. The longer the wedding is out, the better your chances of getting the BEST vendors in the region along with much better pricing too.

Buy Bundled Packages

One of the best things you can do is purchased from places that offer bundle deals. For example, we have an exclusive agreement with Silver Hearth Lodge on Bent Mountain, it’s a mountain top wedding venue in the mountains of the Blue Ridge.

In a nutshell, we offer a discounted package to couples that book at the venue and you can save quite a bit of money when you book us for your photos and video.

Some venues are starting to offer what’s called in the business, Wedding Grouping Deals.

This is where a venue will offer a flat rate for all their preferred wedding vendors and there is some good savings to be found here.

For example, the venue has already done the negotiations for you on a discounted price and the venue is also telling you something when you see a Wedding Grouping Deal.

The message is this , “We love working with these people and they will not steer you wrong”.

So when you see that, keep it in mind.

Hire a Wedding Planner for the Long Haul

Listen, Carole and I have seen this happen year-after-year, you decide to skip a planner and do everything yourselves, then hire a wedding planner for the day of your wedding.

That’s a BIG mistake.

Hire a planner for the duration of the wedding planning process. Yes, they will be more expensive, BUT they will save you more money in the long run.

Think of it this way. They are going to know the in’s and out’s of the wedding industry, more so than you. They will be able to negotiate on your behalf and more times than none, they can get vendors cheaper than you can.

This is how it works. Say you want to hire a DJ for a wedding and the one that you really want is $850 for the day.

You come along and try to ask for a discount and they will say no to that so your rate is $850.

A planner can come along and say something like “Hey DJ, I loved working with you at the last wedding and I’m hoping to work together again soon, in fact I have a client that is looking for a DJ but they only have $700 to spend. Think you could work them into your service for that rate?”

Chances are, they will be able to get that cheaper rate because they work together, the planner brings the DJ a lot of business and in return, he will typically lower the rate for being able to take the business. And it’s win-win-win for both.

The planner just saved you $150 on one vendor and the DJ got a job without having to advertise and spend that money to do so.

You win because you get the DJ at the cheaper rate.

Planners can shave enough money off the wedding to not only cover their cost but to save you money in the long run too.

Additionally, planners will be able to better communicate to vendors like Carole and I at the wedding day. We HIGHLY recommend that you have one if you’re serious about saving the most money you can when it comes to your budget.

Stick to the Budget

One of the worst things that happens to couples is that they most times tend to go over budget. I recently asked a couple of questions on the Roanoke Something Old Something Borrowed wedding group on Facebook and I found that most couples had been over budget.

When I asked them by how much, most said $1,000-$3,000 but a good majority of couples went over by $5,000-$8,000!

Even-still, thats a LOT of money when you look at it.

If you don’t have a budget or don’t know where to start, I recommend that you check out our wedding budget tool.

The Takeaway

Here are the keynotes to take away from today’s blog:

·         You’re competing against many other couples for your wedding vendors. A given Saturday, there are 300-400 couples with the same date looking for the same services you are in our region of SWVA

·         Best time to book everything is the wedding off season and that’s to get the best rates possible on most vendors. There are some that offer discounts which can help you save more money

·         Don’t wait until the last minute to book a vendor, if you do, expect to pay full price on their services.

·         Also, the longer you wait to book a vendor, the harder it will be to find someone to do the services and do them well. Good wedding vendors tend to fill up their year 9-12 months out or more.