Why You Should Book Local Vendors For Your Wedding
You’re getting married! Congratulations!! Being engaged is such a special time, full of anticipation and excitement. But it’s also full of tons of decisions — when to get married? Where? How? Who to invite? What types of vendors do we want to book? There’s a whole decision tree that comes with planning a wedding. Whether you’re planning a wedding close to home or in a beautiful, far-off locale, and most especially if you’re eloping somewhere, you should always book as many local vendors as humanly possible. For some things, a destination vendor won’t make sense — live florals, for instance. Lots of vendors, like photographers, travel all over the world. Some have bucket list locations, others serve multiple markets where they have connections. I’m one of the latter! But the one place I’m most passionate about is the place I live, and that’s Montana. Let’s talk about why you should book local vendors for your wedding, and especially why you should book a local photographer.
First, we’ll go over the why you should book local vendors for your wedding. Last, we’ll go over the how to find local vendors for your wedding, and some things to consider when you go to vet them.
Why You Should Book Local Vendors
1. Investing in the Local Market
Now, I need to caveat this whole post because this is the internet and people get real mad about stuff when you don’t caveat for every human experience. This is not to say that traveling vendors don’t care about places, can’t put together an amazing day, and are somehow less than. The point of this post is to point out how and why you should book local vendors for your wedding. That’s it. There are many instances where a local vendor can give you a better experience than a traveling vendor.
So here’s reason number one why you should book local vendors for your wedding: you’re investing in the place you’re getting married.
This is especially close to my heart as, again, someone who lives in Montana full-time, been here for the better part of 20+ years, and has connections here back to the 70s. I know how beautiful this place is and how many people want to come here, not just to get married, but also to serve couples here. And that’s great! This place is for everyone whose heart brings them here. But I also see a lot of vendors undercutting local vendors. Part of the downside of this place being so popular is that Montana is growing increasingly expensive in every aspect.
Maybe your local vendor charges more than a traveling vendor. But your local vendor is just that — local. They live there. You’re helping them afford their home, send their kids to school, and investing in their communities.
2. Caring For and Being Accountable to the Locale
Local vendors don’t just work here some of the time, we live here all of the time. For photographers, not only does that mean we know the best time of year for wildflower photos, but we care about the wildflowers. We want to preserve those wildflowers for generations to come.
Let’s think about those wildflower photos you see everywhere in Glacier. I adore Glacier. Easily one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It’s also gotten incredibly popular, not just for weddings, but for tourism in general, since 2020. The National Parks service is doing their best to make sure everyone can access Glacier sustainably. One thing they do not play about is that you need to stay on the trails.
See, a lot of the beautiful wildflower meadows in Glacier are actually fragile Alpine ecosystems. Those wildflowers are fragile. Did you know that it takes 10 years for trillium to grow? If you go off-trail in your photos, you’re more likely to walk on those flowers. The more people who trample on them, the fewer wildflowers we have. Sure, you get amazing photos laying in a field of wildflowers. What about all the people behind you who won’t get to enjoy those same flowers?
Having a local vendor who understands Leave No Trace if you’re getting married or eloping in Glacier National Park is vital. Not only do we know more about the land where we live, we’re more invested in keeping it beautiful versus a vendor who traveled to your wedding for just the cost of travel.
3. Connections to the Local Market
We’ll go over this more in the next section but local vendors know one another. The longer you work in a market, the more of a working relationship you build with other local vendors. We’re all working for the same goals: to provide the best experience we possibly to can to each and every one of our couples. Not only are we accountable to you, our clients, we’re accountable to each other. Again, we’ll go over this more later, but it’s so much nicer working with people you know who you know share the same investment and accountability for the local market.
How to Find Local Vendors
This section will be a little shorter than the others but we’ll talk some about how you can find vendors. None of these is any better than the other, but they all come with their own caveats, which we’ll discuss a bit, too.
1. Recommendations From Other Vendors
A vendor who’s local and established should have a list of vendors whom they’d recommend. As I said above, we know other vendors and we know with whom we’ve enjoyed working. And we know who has a similar level of professionalism to us. Always ask your vendor when they send their recommendation list if there are certain vendors they would recommend above others.
2. Recommendations From Other Couples
Maybe your bestie got married in Bozeman. The easiest thing to do would be to ask her for recommendations on local vendors with whom she did and did not enjoy working. Maybe there was a florist whose work she loved but who didn’t have availability on their day. As people, we take the personal recommendations from others and weight them heavier when making decisions. It’s why vendors will always ask you for reviews — we know the words of people who’ve worked with us are so important for you, our future clients! Getting a feel for someone we don’t know through people we do know is something we do all the time.
3. Wedding Magazines
People who say print media is dying have never seen the wedding magazine industry. Vendors invest a lot in advertising in local magazines like Montana Bride. There’s less of a personal connection here but it can certainly be useful in understanding who’s out there and what services they offer.
4. Wedding Fairs
If you’re local or even if you’re on a trip to your chosen locale and there happens to be a wedding fair that weekend, you can meet vendors who buy booth space. Now, are you meeting everyone? Of course not. But this is true for any medium through which you choose a local vendor.
5 Social Media
Facebook is, inexplicably, still a thing. Instagram and, for now, TikTok are still things. There’s tons of local groups out there for whatever locale you’re seeking. The good thing is anyone can join those groups. The bad thing is also that anyone can join those groups. We’ll go over this more in the next section in how you vet your vendors. You can also find lots of vendors posting on Pinterest. Wherever you are, we are, too. Because as local vendors, we know how many people are also advertising to come to the places we are, and how easy it is to do so.
How to Choose Local Vendors
1. Chat With Them
The best way to get a feel for someone is, and always will be, to chat with them. Maybe your friend recommended that florist to you. Reach out and talk to them. Email is great, but chatting on the phone or over Zoom/FaceTime is even better. How personable is this person? How competent do they seem? Ask them questions about the weddings they’ve worked. Everyone starts somewhere, but you should be able to get a feel for how competent they are and, most importantly, how well you think you’d work together. Because remember, this whole wedding day thing is a collaboration between not just you and this vendor, but you and every vendor, and every vendor and one another. Everyone is working together to make sure your day is one you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
Also, make sure they have a business license issued by their city and state, where applicable. Montana doesn’t require businesses to have state-issued licenses, but my city, Missoula, does. But I also have an LLC registered in the State of Montana. I previously had a business license issued both through the State of Washington and the City of Seattle. Always ensure that you’re working with a legitimate business. Anyone can make a Facebook page and post on Al Gore’s Internet. Not everyone goes through the process of making their business legally legit.
2. Go Over Contracts
If your vendor does not have a contract, run. If your vendor cannot explain their contract to you, run. The most legit vendors will not only have a rock-solid contract that protects both you and them, but it will have been drafted by a lawyer and explained to them. They need to know what is in their contract and why. And they need to be able to explain to you what is in their contract that protects you and guarantees the highest level of service.
For me, when I do consult calls with clients, a good chunk of our time is spent going over contracts. I don’t just send a contract and expect that you’re going to read and understand every word of it. I want to ensure we’re all on the same page, understanding the expectations you have of me and what I guarantee to you.
A rock-solid contract that’s been drafted by a lawyer and adheres to the laws of their state is the most important thing when choosing a vendor. Even more than price, or how much you like them. Make sure their contract protects all of you and that you understand what’s in it.
Even if you do book, say, a travelling photographer, make sure their contract is set up for destination weddings and has been drafted by a lawyer. Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER book a vendor without a contract. Not even if they’re your very best friend in the whole world. Not even for your own sister.
3. Pay Your Deposit, Set Up A Payment Plan
Every (legally legit) vendor will tell you that your date is never secure until you pay your deposit. So you’ve made sure your vendor is a licensed business, you’ve enjoyed your chats with them, and you’ve gone over and understood what the contract says. Make sure to sign your deposit and, where applicable, set up a payment plan. This makes sure your vendor is set for your date. This also lets them set up any travel they may need to do across the state (like going from Missoula to Yellowstone, for example), securing childcare (making sure I get extra hands on deck here if I need to be gone for longer than a day).
Most importantly, it means we can all start planning your day in earnest! If you’re traveling from out of state, we can keep you up to date on, say when Going-to-the-Sun Road is gonna open.
In Closing
The age in which we live in so cool for so many reasons. One of which is that it’s so much easier to find wedding vendors through so many avenues. There’s no shortage of vendors and there’s no shortage of people who’d love to work with you making your wedding day absolutely unforgettable.
In addition to all the reasons above, the number one reason why you should book local vendors for your wedding is that we want to show you the beauty of where we live. We want you to experience how fun and friendly our fellow Montanans are. We can recommend a great place to grab a quick bite to eat between final meetings with vendors, or where to take your parents for a nice dinner when you all get into town. Ask me why you should get in on a Thursday for your wedding in Missoula and go to Out To Dinner in Caras Park (or even better, come on a Wednesday, go hike the M, and then hit Out to Lunch).
