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Who was the first vendor you booked for your wedding? Were you happy with your decision, or end up regretting it?
We booked our photog once we set a date. I don't think we even had a venue. I eventually dropped them and lost my deposit... I didn't do nearly enough research!
After we booked our venue- our next booking was the DJ. It was the same DJ who had done my cousin's wedding and my sister's wedding. They were awesome at both so I was desperate to be able to get them for mine. Thankfully they were available and I didn't regret it one bit!
After booking our venue, which was a City of Seattle Park District site (looking back it may have been more trouble then it was worth), we booked our photogragher.
I travelled to Seattle from where I live in Chicago in July to meet with all my vendors. The day I was to meet with the photographer, she realized that she had to produce an event the night of the wedding. So I was less than 3 months out from the wedding and had to find a new photographer!
In the end it all worked out. I was not able to meet our photographer until the day of but the photos turned out great and she was a peach. And to make up for the trouble, the original photographer is going to print our pictures for us and put together an album at no charge. Score!
We booked our church! It always fills up fast and I wanted to make sure I got the day and time I wanted and it was one of the most important pieces to the wedding because I didn't want to get married anywhere else. We booked our photog probably not long after, but I wish I had done more research. We met them at a friends wedding and that was that, didn't even interview anyone else, but we should have...oh we, my fault I guess.
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The first thing I booked was the ceremony venue!! I was desperate to get the ambiance I wanted, no matter the price. And I knew they book up quickly. I have never regretted it! i'm so excited!
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The Photographer was our first booking. We ended up choosing Mrs Toucan's photographer and the more recaps she posts the happier I am with our choice!
The ceremony/reception venue. We later wished we had booked our photog first because we loved someone who was taken, but we found someone even better in the end :) So no regrets!
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Wedding coordinator, Photographer... 23 month engagement means, waiting on venue for teh 12 month mark, have narrowed down, photobooth/videographer/chairs/rentals/Live Event Artist :)
Ceremony/reception venue. We got engaged May 2008, but had to wait until mid-October 2008 for the 2009 Chinese lunary calendar to be published so we could pick a lucky wedding date. It turned out to be May 2009....I had already done the research so started calling our top picks, but there were already booked! I was a bit worried/frantic, but in the end, we found an awesome venue.
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We booked our photographer first. We both loved everything we have seen from them. Unfortunately, I wish we would have waited. I don't love my engagement pictures (don't really like many of them for that matter), and they were super expensive. I wish I would have waited until I had attended a wedding show and had a chance to see all the others in the area. I'm hoping I'll be more photogenic in the actual wedding shots and trying not to regret our decision too much. Hind sight is 20/20 and in the end all that will matter is that I will be married!
reception venue. Our photog was a close second, but we weren't worried as they are long-time friends (who own a business) and were going to be invited to our wedding regardless!
venue - photog - caterer - dj - lion dance - chocolate fountain
sometimes
wow comment freaked out on me
to finish my thought:
sometimes i look back and wonder how the hell i managed to do so much work that required so much research. phew i'm glad it's over and amazed that it turned out well!
Reception Venue - Ceremony Venue - DJ and Photog at the same time...everyone else is friends...Florist next, Invites, and Hair/Makeup recently.
Only other outside vendor I think we need is costuming, lol
Venue --> DJ --> Photographer --> Stationery ... that's it so far, 12 more months to go, lots of vendors to book!
Our Baker!
I love cake and when I discovered Wendy Kromer (she does a one of takes for Martha's Wedding Magazine) was near our wedding location I JUMPED at the chance to have her do our cake. We did a tasting 2 months into our 16 month engagement. We don't have a huge budget but her prices are reasonable and having a fabulous cake was a must for me!
We book our reception venue first since competition tends to be really stiff in NYC.
venue --> band --> photographer --> videographer --> florist --> officiant -->DOC-->hair & makeup (Waited way too long on this one for NYC!)
Venue then caterer then photographer, I think.
Not a regret for any of them!
If not counting the reception venue, we booked our awesome band who generally got booked pretty quickly. I think it was literally the week after we put a deposit on the venue! We already had them in mind though.....
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We booked out church first then reception venue. Our church fills up fast so we wanted to make sure our date was reserved for us early!!
Our venue... followed shortly after by our photographer. :)
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Well, the day after I got engaged my mom called our photographer (he did my sister's wedding and I swear my mom makes commissions off referring him). We sort of worked with dates that he was free. Technically we booked our venue, church, band, and photographer (if you could booking as signing the contract...)
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Our venue. We booked two years pre-wedding, one week after our engagement. I hope we don't regret it, we have a year and a half to go, but I think it is perfect and don't see any reason why I may regret it.
We booked our venue first. I wanted to lock in our date and get the best value for our money, so we thought the venue was most important. After that, we booked the photographer.
Photographer first (who is a friend)... and then he forced me to hurry up and book a venue to make it official so that I don't change the date on him since he was getting a few requests for the same date. I am thankful he did because I would have put it off for a long time. I love both of our picks so far!
We booked the venue.. then found out my FHs family's Rabbi books up even faster and wasn't available (2 years out!). So our venue graciously switched our date for us. Now we have our venue and Rabbi... still seeking a Priest who will co-officiate, but I'm happy where we are so far.
Same as Mrs. Penguin, we booked our photographer right away then regretted it later on.
There was one particular photog that I loved, but she was out of budget so I went with one who was just okay, but within our budget. I still stalked our dream photog's blog as the months passed and her pricing went up. Eventually, my DH couldn't take it anymore and said we should book her, rather than have regrets.
We, too, ended up letting our first photographer go and lost our deposit. However, changing photographers was the best wedding related decision we made, for sure.
The first thing we booked was our wedding planner!!
I knew from the beginning that I wanted a planner to help me out, as I have witnessed a number of close friends go off the deep end as their weddings neared and so many things were left to do. I have never regretted hiring my planner once...she's already reduced immense amounts of stress!!!
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We booked our Venue first! We never regretted it one bit. The only thing we may have second guessed afterwards, was just having a destination wedding once the economy went to fluff. We didn't want any $ hardships with our family and friends flying in, making hotel reservations etc. That is the only thing we may have changed on. Then the next thing after that we booked was our wedding coordinator, followed by a caterer, followed by the officiant and guitarist during our ceremony... Now we are working on choosing some form of musical entertainment for the reception. =o) Just check, check, checking off our to-do list!
I booked the venue because no other details could be selected until we set the date. I'm so happy we went with the place we did. I couldn't have imagined our wedding anywhere else.
The first deposit that I dropped was for our photographer. We had our reception and ceremony venues penciled in, but nothing in stone.
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Our first deposit was for our reception venue. I'm still happy with our choice, but I wish I would have thought a little more about our budget at the time. The venue we chose upped the ante, so to speak, for our entire wedding. We had originally wanted something very laid back and fairly casual, but then we FELL IN LOVE with a museum for our reception site. A laid back, casual reception wouldn't quite work in the museum, so all of a sudden everything needed to be bumped up a notch on the formality scale. This, of course, meant that everything would cost more money than we originally anticipated.
We booked the venue for the reception and then the photographer recommended by Mrs. Cupcake.
I went w/ dress first (opps!), then venue then photographer... I found a lot rested on the availability of the venue for date/food/etc.. but now that I think about it, I guess it all comes down to priorities because other people may very well go with the photogs availability first! hmm, I've never thought of that...
The church was first for us. The day after we got back from our engagement trip I called and booked our date. They only do a limited number of weddings per season and we wanted the church long before we were engaged!
Location and Venue-- we had to figure out which state to get married in: FI and I are in FL and our families are in MD and NJ. After we picked FL we scoped the area for the best venue for us! =) Then Photographer, DJ, and officiant!
Venue was the first thing that we booked. It's the only thing so far as it is popular and books up quickly. We probably could have held off for a while as we ended up booking a Sunday (as opposed to the original plan of Saturday) but as it's a holiday weekend so I'd rather have it booked and not have to worry!
We're still over two years out so we can take it easy for a while now. Probably looking at photographer, band and celebrant within the next 6 months or so.
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