You’re looking for vendors, narrowing down your choices, and now it’s time to meet with them face-to-face. Who goes with you? Do you go alone? Do you bring your fiance, mother-in-law, maid of honor, mom and Aunt Carol?

The answer is: it depends. And it really does depend on several factors. If you’re paying for everything yourself, you can just have your fiance accompany you. If your getting a little help from family, have one or two of them come with you to help answer any money questions. Some vendors will start off by asking what your budget is for that particular element. If you can’t answer that question or give an estimate, the meeting probably won’t be as productive as you would like.

If your mom wants to pay for the cake as your wedding present, have her go with you. If your dad wants to make sure the rehearsal dinner is taken care of, include him. If you’re not comfortable bringing people to your meetings, that’s OK too!

When you schedule a meeting with a vendor that has to do with food, always tell them the correct amount of people that will be attending the tasting. The caterer needs to know how much of each option to prepare for you and your guests. Honestly, we would recommend keeping the number to 2 or 3 people for tastings and meetings. If you have too many people telling you their opinions, it will stop being your wedding. It will be a mish mosh of everyone else’s idea of your wedding. Opinions aren’t bad, but they shouldn’t override what you want.

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Now that you’ve hired all of your vendors, you may be wondering how much you should tip each vendor. That’s a tricky question, and sometimes it’s a touchy subject.

It is bad protocol for any vendor to assume and/or ask you for a tip at the end of the night. If that happens, make sure to tell the company about the incident. It’s bad form, a little rude, and it also makes you feel awkward.

Here’s what we tell our clients: tipping is your choice. It’s not an obligation. If you feel like your vendors did a great job or went above and beyond your expectations, it would be appropriate to tip them. If you feel they did a horrible job, then it’s perfectly fine if you don’t tip them.

The best way to tip your vendors is to label envelopes with their names or company names on them. Include cash and a little note and distribute the tips at the end of the night. This is the job of the Day of Wedding Coordinator if you hired one. If not, you can designate a bridesmaid or groomsman to hand out the envelopes.

So what are the appropriate amounts to tip each vendor? Honestly, it’s up to you! We’ve gathered a few percentages and amounts to help you get started if you want to prepare for tipping the day of your wedding.

Makeup and Hair Stylist:15%-25% depending on quality of service and how happy you are with the end results. Also, they may accomodate special requests and that’s another thing to take into account when tipping.

Officiate:$50-$100+. This can be given as a donation to the church or religious organization.

Deliveries/Setup: $5-$10+ per person. This can be someone delivering your cake, setting up your tent, delivering flowers, or setting up any special items you may have ordered. You can have someone examine the quality of their work, and how efficiently the job gets done.

Photographer: $50-$200+ depending on service and how accomodating and efficient they are.

Musicians: $15-$20+ depending on quality. Any musician that is required to play (like anyone from a church), you usually don’t tip.

Bartenders: $50-$100+ depending on service and drink quality. You also want to see how they interact with the guests – if they’re friendly, cordial, and polite.

Wait Staff:$15-$20 per person. Again, you want to make sure the wait staff is friendly and accomodating to your guests.

DJ/Band:For a band, you can usually do $15-$20+ per person, and for a DJ, it can range from $50-$150+. Watch how they interact with guests, how involved they get with the music, and watch their temprament.

Transportation: 15%-20% of the bill. You can adjust the tip based on punctuality, politeness, and cleanliness of the vehicle. Make sure the air conditioner and/or heater works!

Planner/Coordinator: As planners and coordinators, we do not expect tips. We’re there to help you. If you do feel like an exceptional job was done by your planner or coordinator, you may tip them. The amount really does vary, and it can be anywhere from $50-$200+. 

Remember, these are just guidelines! You don’t have to tip if you feel the service was poor and not up to your expectations. Tipping is your choice! Do you have any tipping horror stories? Leave us a comment and tell us about it.

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Now that you’ve carefully interviewed and chosen your weddings vendors, it’s time to pay the deposit and sign the contract. Make sure you read the contract and ask any questions that you’re concerned about. An hour before walking down the aisle, you don’t need to find out that your soloist needed you to rent a sound system. The little things matter – trust us! Remember, we want to eliminate any “day of” surprises to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Once you read the contract and pay the deposit, you’re good to go, right? Nope! You need to make sure you know when to pay your vendors, and how you should pay them. Some may only accept cash or check, while others may prefer certain credit cards. They may want you to call in with a credit card number or mail a check. Find out who you need to send your payments to and where you need to send them. Always pay your vendors on time (or maybe even a little early) to avoid any late fees or charges mentioned in the contract.

For some services, you may ask to pay the final amount the day of the wedding. This may apply to bands, DJs or musicians. They are providing a service, and you need to make sure they perform the service with working equipment before you pay your remaining balance.

Next, we’ll talk about tipping your vendors: who to tip, how much, and when it’s appropriate. Check back Monday!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

October is Vendor month! We’ll explain how to choose your vendors, how much and when to tip your vendors, questions to ask, how to avoid uncomfortable money issues, and much more!

Our first post will help with choosing your vendors. You’ve just gotten engaged, and your mind is in overdrive with everyone you want to use for your perfect wedding. You want cousin Sally’s cake person, Aunt Jane’s caterer, and your best friend’s wedding florist.

Let me stop you right there.

This is YOUR wedding, right? It’s not a culmination of everyone else’s wedding day. Choosing vendors based on referrals alone can be disastrous. I’ll explain why:

Your friends and family chose their wedding vendors based on a few key elements: price, style, availability, and personal reasons. Aunt Jane’s caterer may specialize in southern comfort food and was chosen for a more casual wedding. She may have also known the caterer and gotten a great deal. You need to figure out which vendor fits your budget, your style, and your personal preferences.

We have brides come to meetings saying that they want a certain photographer because their friend used them. Then they meet with the photographer and realize they’re out of their price range, they don’t like their style, or they don’t work well together on a personal level. This is what you want to avoid.

Make your wedding about you. We’re not saying you can’t use your best friend’s florist, but take the time to interview a few different ones. That way, you’ll know your options.

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Photo by Studio J Photography

Invitations can be tricky because they’re usually one of the last things you do in the planning process. You need to know a time and place for your wedding. That doesn’t sound so hard does it? Let me explain:

When you decide on a time a place for your wedding, you need to make sure that all of you other vendors are available for that time. This includes  your photographer, caterer, band or DJ, and videographer. You also have to make sure that the location and officiate are available too. Once they’re all on the same page about location, date, and time, then your invitations can be printed, stamped, and sent!

Hello wonderful readers!

We just did the drawing at Random.org and our contest winner is:

DABNEY!

Congratulations! She won some really cute wine glasses. Thanks so much to those who participated. We’ll have more contests in the future, so keep reading and checking back!

Up next: a post about invitations.

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Anniversaries aren’t just for married couples. We celebrate them too! In celebration of our blogging anniversary, we’re having a contest. Yes, that’s right…with prizes!

The contest is open to United States residents only. We will ship the winner’s prizes, so anyone in the continental US can participate. Here are the details:

1. Our contest opens now. It will run until 11:59pm on September 23, 2009. You have exactly one week to complete the challenge.

2. At the end of this post, there are five (5) trivia questions. Answer all of the questions correctly, and you will be entered in the drawing. We will respond to you and let you know if you have the answers right or wrong. You may submit answers until you answer all five (5) questions correctly or until 11:59pm on September 23, 2009. Correct submissions will count as one (1) entry.

3. All entries must be submitted by e-mail. That way, no one can see the submitted answers. The e-mail address to submit answers to is: weddings@southerneventplanners.com.

4. We will use Random.org to determine the winner. We will post a screenshot to verify the winner, and we will contact the winner within 72 hours after the contest closes.

5. The winner will need to submit a name, address, and phone number so we may ship the prize. The contest is only open to United States residents.

6. Any submissions are strictly for the use of the contest. We will not resell, distribute, or abuse submitted information, including name, e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number.

7. One (1) winner will be randomly chosen. He or she will receive one (1) Bride Wine Glass and up to four (4) Bridesmaids wine glasses. They are pictured below:

If you have any questions, you can always leave a comment or e-mail us at weddings@southerneventplanners.com.

On to the fun part! Here are the questions. The answers will be found in our blog posts. Good luck!

1. Who was Angela’s favorite bridal designer from Paris?

2. What is our favorite cupcake from Muddy’s Bakery?

3. How many magazine cover weddings did Southern Event Planners have in 2008? How many weddings did we have featured in magazines?

4.  Who writes the “What’s Up With That” series on our blog? The name must be spelled correctly.

5. During the holidays, we always have a sample of this product for our customers to try. What is it? You must answer with the product’s full name.

We get a lot of comments from clients and people we meet. They mostly tell us that they could never do what we do. They could never be in the wedding industry because of the coordination and stress. When you’re planning your wedding, just do what we do: be organized!

Organization is the building block for any event. We create spreadsheets, time lines, and lists galore to make sure we have all of our bases covered. Here are a few things for which you may want to create spreadsheets or lists:

• Deposits and Payments - Deposits are one of the most important things you will need to keep up with during your planning phase. When you find a vendor you like (photographer, baker, caterer, etc.), you need to get a deposit and signed contract to them as soon as you can. This will ensure that they will hold your wedding date and no one else can book them. A lot of brides lose their favorite vendors because they keep putting off paying the deposit. Don’t risk it…send them in ASAP! You also don’t want to fall behind on payments. You may incur extra fees or penalty charges. Make a list with the vendors name, deposit due date and amount, payment due dates and amounts, vendor address, vendor phone number, and payment methods they accept. If you have an agenda book or daily planner, put the payment amounts on the due dates to remind yourself.
• Vendors and Contact Information – Keep track of all of the vendors you hire. This means addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers (if needed), and main contact person’s name. Add any other notes that you feel are important for your big day.
• To-Do Lists – Make lists for gifts you need to buy with an expected amount spent on each one (to stay in line with your budget). Make a list of the “homework” given to you by vendors (picking favorite designs or colors) and when you need to have that done. You can also make a list for things you need to buy for the wedding: guestbook, pen, ring bearer pillow, flower girl basket, unity candle and two tapered candles, and anything else you may want to include in the ceremony. Make lists for anything and everything you can think of.

Once you have your spreadsheets and lists done, you need to keep them all together. Buy a binder and tab inserts or file folder to keep the papers organized if you print them out. You may choose to leave them on your computer for easy editing. You might want to keep a small journal handy in your purse or car for ideas or things you need to do. That way, you don’t have to lug around a huge binder everywhere.

Have any organization tips? Let us know!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis Wedding Planners

If you’re a DIY bride without a planner, here’s a little tip in case there are any “Uh-Oh” moments that need to be fixed:

Get contact names, numbers, and arrival times for ALL of your vendors, even if your vendors are your friends. Cake, DJ, Photographer, Videographer, Caterer, Ceremony Location, Reception Location, Transportation, etc. I’m not talking office phone numbers. Cell phone numbers are needed for at least one person from each company. You can ask your ceremony and reception locations for the information of those who will be on-site the day of your wedding.

Make a spreadsheet or timeline of when your vendors will arrive, followed by the names and phone numbers. If you don’t have a day of coordinator then select a friend or family member that you will not need with you at the ceremony. That chosen person can be on site when your vendors start arriving to ensure that everything is delivered and setup for your wedding. 

Too much information is never enough. Share that list with all your vendors in case they need to call to coordinate between themselves. Oh, and try to make two copies. One for your friend or family member, and one to leave in an easily accessible place (someone’s car, for instance). The list could get lost, smudged by rain, or torn. But again, no worries! You have a handy dandy backup list!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners

Our weekend was absolutely crazy (but a good crazy!), so this post wasn’t completely ready to go live. We don’t want sub-par posts, do we?! Nope! Here is your regularly scheduled (semi-late) blog post:

There are a few ways for a bride and groom to choose a wedding date. Here are a few things you need to consider when nabbing your nuptial date:

1. If time is a factor: If you or your hubby-to-be is a student, you know how hard it is to juggle work and school. Now add another job on top of that: planning! Be sure to find a time when you have a long break from school or wait until you’re done with school. You don’t want to get married, go on your honeymoon, and have a final exam the next week. Not a good scenario!

You also need to think about your job. If you’re past the student phase of life and you have a 9 to 5 workday, find a time during the year where you can schedule time off of work.  The majority of vendors will do after-hour appointments, so you can save those appointment days for your actual wedding.

If you or your love is in the armed services (Military, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Army…), then you need to find out when you’ll be stationed at which location. You can plan accordingly. Sometimes, your wedding will need to happen a little faster than most before you get assigned, so be sure to take that into consideration when choosing a date.

2. If money is a factor: When brides are on a strict budget but they fall in love with a venue that is out of their price range, adjustments can be made. You can save a lot of money by having your wedding on a Friday night or a Sunday. Vendors may offer great discounts for those days since they aren’t the typical wedding days. Plus, they usually aren’t booked on Fridays and Sundays. You’ll have a wonderfully affordable wedding with all of the vendors you picked!

3. If location is a factor: Destination weddings are more popular than ever, especially beach weddings. If you have your heart set on a specific venue in a certain city, you’ll want to pick your wedding date according to the availability of the ceremony and reception site(s). Call and verify the dates that they have open and choose one that will work with your schedule. Flexibility is key when picking a date based on venue availability. Remember to get your deposit to them as soon as you can! You don’t want to plan everything and have a last minute couple steal your date because you didn’t have the deposit ready.

4. If the length of the engagement is a factor: This factor can go two ways. You can either have a long engagement, or a super short engagement. If you have a long engagement, sit back and enjoy the planning process. Take your time choosing the elements of your wedding – but not too much time! If you find a vendor you like working with, make sure you get the deposit and contract to them ASAP so they’ll hold your wedding date. Once you have the vendors locked in, then you can have fun choosing your details.

If your engagement is really short and you want your wedding anytime during April through August, you can expect most vendors and venues to be booked. This means there will be slim pickings. If your wedding date is from September through March, you may have a better chance of getting your preferred venues and vendors.

5. If emotion is a factor: There may be a certain date that just stands out to you, whether it be an old friend’s birthday, the day of your first kiss or first date, or a fun number like 11/11/11. Fun numbers book quickly, so make your move! 7/7/07 was madness, but seven is also considered lucky. You make a wish when it’s 11:11, and 11/11/11 is on a Friday, so expect that to book fast too! It’s rare when fun numbers fall on weekends!

6. If religion is a factor: You may have your heart set on being married by the minister you’ve known ever since you were baptized, or you may want to get married at a church you absolutely love. These factors also require flexibility. You will need to call and verify the days that the minister and/or the church is available. Once you find out a few dates that aren’t taken, you can choose from those.

How did you choose your wedding date? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Happy Planning!
Southern Event Planners
Memphis, TN Wedding Planners