Why Couples Fail at Booking the Right Wedding Vendor
Booking a wedding vendor should be a fun and exciting process, after all, you are getting married! YAY!
But the truth is that many couples are not educated when it comes to them finding the right wedding vendor for their wedding needs as everything revolves around one certain thing.
The Wedding Budget.
Today on the blog, Carole and I will explore the common errors couples make and we’ll should you what you should be doing instead.
The Budget is Your Best Friend
When you started your wedding planning you most likely sat down and created a wedding budget, how much you want to completely spend on the wedding.
If you didn’t do that, you need to stop and head over to our wedding budget tool.
If you do have a budget, great! You’re a step in the right direction!
In Budget vs. Over Budget
When it comes to weddings, roughly 60% of couples went over their wedding budget, underestimating what they actually spent.
“I wanted to stay under $30,000 but we ended up spending around $50,000. This was partially due to the location, the number of guests and our taste since we didn’t go ‘cheap’ on things.” - Katy
“I feel like wedding costs is not the best way to measure the actual costs. I think ‘cost per person’ would be a more helpful way to give brides an idea of what the average amount spent on a wedding actually is. For me, I knew we would have a rather large guest list, which meant I had to cut costs in a lot of other ways.”
“I ended up spending about $25,000 for 175 guests ($143 per person). This included everything from my dress to the alcohol. It does not include the honeymoon.” -Jenna
Some of the best ways that you can trim the wedding budget isn’t trimming the value from the budget and the vendor, but trimming the guest list and what you will be providing with food and alcohol.
If you have a budget for a select vendor and that that number is for example $1,000, then spread the number out 10% and use a range of $900-$1,100 instead.
Why?
Ranges are better to use when trying to find the right wedding vendor for you. It also allows you to use on social media when you’re looking for the right vendors that best meet your budget. it also masks exactly how much you have to work with in the process.
Using Social Media the Right Way To Seek Vendors
We see it too many time, mostly with brides online, they spin their questions the wrong way.
Look at the statements in the image above, which one do you think appeals to you more so?
Well its the one on the right and that’s because they have defined the word affordable.
When you use the word ‘cheap’, ‘affordable’ or ‘reasonable’, what you are saying to wedding vendors and others out there is this:
“I have a price in mind but I’m not going to share it with you, so give me anything you got no matter the price.”
And its true. Lets look at the Facebook post from the first statement.
This person gave a pretty generalized statement with about 100 comments, lets take a look at a few and get some price ranges from them if we can.
Most people didn’t give any pricing, only contact information but those that did give prices right off the bat were easy to find.
Out of the 100 comments just two had prices up front, $1,400 and under $2,000, respectively. For the others, we actually dove into their websites and got their lowest price point if they had it posted. These were the results.
Did They Answer the Question?
14 of the posts had websites with pricing on their ‘investment’ or pricing page. The others either had Facebook page, Instagram pages or sample images and no pricing direct.
Looking at the pricing we collected the average price was $1,635 on the left post. There is a low of $800 and a high of $2,800.
So, was her Facebook post answered?
Not really because we don’t know the price-point she is seeking.
It could be $1,600, could be $3,000, it may be $600, who knows?
If we look at the same for the right post, that average price was $2,370. So, was that Facebook post answered?
Yes, more so than the left post because the right post has a price range.
If you look at the data, there is a more defined range with the low being $1,800 and a high of $3,200. It’s still a spread, but the costs are more in sync with the requested range that’s on the graph.
Don’t Copy What Other Couples Are Doing and Here’s Why
Part of the issue is that not every couple has the same wedding budget that you do.
When someone recommends a vendor such as us for example, that’s great marketing, but they may or may not be giving a recommendation to a couple with a similar budget in what we offer.
And that’s an issue for some couples.
Our best advice, just because another couple is using vendors, doesn’t always mean you should use the same ones.
Every couple has different needs, different budgets and different expectations.
The truth is we’re not meant for $500 wedding photography and we’re also not meant for $5,000 wedding photography either. We cater to couples with wedding budgets in the $15,000-$27,000 range.
Our Typical Client Budget Range
Sure, we do work with couples outside that normal too, but we’re geared for certain types of couples, just like all the competition out there is geared for specific clientele as well.
Most Couples Don’t Stay within the Budget, They Should
Back in February, I asked on the local Roanoke Wedding Facebook Group that I administer about couples own wedding budgets and how much, if any, they went over.
We found that most couples went over budget by $1,000-$3,000 followed by those than went over by $5,000-$8,000 which is an incredible amount.
That only re-enforces what a recent article by CNBC talked about, saying a roughly 60% of Americans underestimate the cost of a wedding.
Why do couples tend to go over budget?
Well, it’s two fold.
First, they don’t truly have an understanding of what it takes cost-wise to have a wedding with everything that they want. It’s just a lack of education and believing they can take on the wedding planning process themselves.
It’s not the couples fault, it’s just no one has educated them on the process.
In fact, nearly 77% of couples getting married have had no education navigating the waters of the wedding industry.
Second, it’s an emotional industry.
Couples are drawn to the emotion of what a vendor creates or offers and they can envision themselves with that vendor. Hey, we completely get it, daydreaming about having the BEST possible wedding you can have.
36% of couples getting married will impulse buy based off emotion and not with the budget in mind.
How Couples Book Wedding Vendors
BUT that doesn’t mean you need to overspend in one area and skimp out on another or simply have the wedding altogether.
This is our advice:
If you can afford to have a vendor that is priced out of your budget, just know that there is someone else that should be able to offer similar results for less in the wedding industry.
We’re not saying to choose the cheapest or most expensive out there, what we’re saying is to make smart decisions with your wedding money.
Takeaway
The takeaway from today’s blog is simple:
Define your budget
Stick to it within 10% +/- for each vendor
Try to take the emotion out of booking with vendors until after you booked them
Educate yourself on how to plan a wedding or hire a planner
No matter what, make sure you are comfortable paying the prices that you do and have an expectation that comes with them too. A $5,000 vendor will not be the same as a $1,000 vendor offering similar services.