Interviewing Wedding Vendors
What questions should I ask the site manager for a prospective wedding location?
When you go to look at a venue for your wedding, you want to ask the site manager what hours you can have the space. Perhaps it's a very busy place and they're going to rent it in the morning for a morning wedding and in the afternoon or the evening for an evening wedding, so that could become a problem for you. You might not have enough time. Find out what hours the site is available, and if there are any restrictions with noise or with decor or with load-in. Maybe you can't bring things in and set them up early enough. Find out what time you have to end the evening. Perhaps the ending time is too late or too early for your wedding for some reason. Try to ask all the questions that would affect the way you want your wedding day to run. That's really just a brief overview of some of the questions you might ask. When I go to visit a venue I have a ten-page form that I use and I ask the people at the venue all those different questions about the site and about the facilities that they have available, etc. Those are the questions that you'll want to work your way through with your wedding planner. You should have a wedding planner go with you to help ask the questions because you can't think of them all yourself.
What should I look for and ask when interviewing wedding photographers?
When you are interviewing wedding photographers, you are looking for three things in particular. First and foremost, of course, is whether you like their work. Maybe you've looked at their website. You see that you like the pictures and what they are producing. You like the books that they produced, and the way they put them together. Chances are you are going to be ordering a full wedding album. The second consideration when interviewing a wedding photographer is going to be budget. They have to fall within your budget. There is no point going to interview a photographer that's going to be a million dollar deal if that's not where your budget is. Finally, a really important factor is personality. This is one of those cases where you don't say, "I love the guy's work but if I don't like him so much, but it doesn't matter." It does matter. You may have been in a situation where someone is saying to you, "Pose, smile" and you hate the way they are doing it, so in the back of your mind you are thinking, 'Get this over with. I hate this.' If that's what you are thinking, it is going to show in your pictures. You are not going to look good. You have got to like the photographer's personality, and then you will have a beautiful relationship with them and have beautiful wedding pictures.
What should I look for and ask when interviewing wedding videographers?
When you're interviewing wedding videographers, the first thing you're going to do is look at their work. Make sure you like it. Is it a documentary style? Do they have smooth transitions from one place to another in their work and their samples? Think about music selections in the background, etc. You want to be sure you like the videographer's work. Secondly, you want to look at the quality of the video. See that you think that their cameras are good, and they're using good equipment. Thirdly, talk to them about their personal presence at your wedding. A videographer is somebody you actually want to fade into the background. You don't want the guests to notice this person. You don't want him to be in your face taking the video or shooting the pictures. You want to make sure that person's pretty unobtrusive and they're just working on the fringes but getting the shots.
What should I look for and ask when interviewing and auditioning bands?
When you go to interview a band for your wedding reception, one of the first things you're going to do is talk to either the band leader or the person who's representing the band. They're going to tell you about that band, about their style and what they do. You want to be sure that's what you like. You should see a video of them in action. Most of the time, these days, they don't invite you to see the band in action. Most people today are very leery about having strangers drop in at their parties. If the party is in a very public place like a hotel, you might get permission to drop in and see the band. If it's somewhere more private, like a country club or a private home, this won't happen. Most of your selection for the wedding band is going to be done in an office where you're looking at a videotape. What you're looking for is the style of music and the way the band performs onstage. Some bands are a little more subdued. Some are a little more performance oriented. There may be a minor dance routine as they do the songs. You want to look at that kind of thing, see what you like and see about their energy. What kind of energy does that band have? Is it the kind of energy that you want for your wedding party?
What questions should I ask a prospective wedding officiant?
When you're interviewing a wedding officiant, you want to ask them a couple of different things. First of all, if it's clergy, if it's a church person, is the wedding a set ceremony? Do you have any personalization? Do you get to pick anything or choose anything? If the wedding is standard and set, is that okay with you? A lot of couples go want a traditional, out-of-the-book wedding ceremony. If that's what it is and you want choices, you might need to look somewhere else. You want to ask those questions: Can we write our own vows? How many meetings are we going to have before the wedding? Do you want to have a lot of meetings with this officiant? Are they going to do pre-marital counseling? Are they going to be talking to you more about the content of the ceremony? You also want to find out what the officiant's fees are. If you're hiring someone where you are not a member of a church of synagogue, which is where that would be included as a part of your membership, then there's going to be a fee for their service at your wedding. That can make a big difference to you. There can be a very wide range of fees for clergy. These are all things that you want to consider. One of the first things you want to think about is personality. How are you connecting to this person? How does this feel? Is it a warm, fuzzy feeling? Is that what you want from the person who's marrying you? Do you feel as though they're going to produce a beautiful wedding ceremony for you? That's very important.
Should I make a photography list for my wedding photographer?
Your wedding photographer is going to need to know what combinations you want. Do you want bride and groom separately with the mother of the groom and then together with the mother and the father of the groom? Maybe they're divorced, so you need to have separate kinds of pictures, etc. What about extended family, relatives, aunts and uncles, etc.? By making a complete list, you will be reminded of who you want to tell to be there for pictures, and what time they're going to be there for pictures, so that you can make sure that everybody gets organized properly and you get the right groups of people in the pictures that are being taken by the wedding photographer.
