You know the feeling, you announce your engagement either on social media, the newspaper, or by going to a bridal show. You are then inundated with marketing materials and emails from vendors in the area of all sorts. How do you go through them all? How do you narrow down your list of vendors you would like to contact?
I recently conducted an experiment. There was a very large wedding expo in my area in which I thought of paying for a table as a wedding cake baker and designer. I decided against it and thought I would try something. I signed up for the event (free ticket) as a guest instead of a vendor. I wanted to walk around the expo freely and get an idea of what it was like on the other side. What it felt like for the bride. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the expo due to another event that day, however, I did experience the aftermath of being on their guest list.
Suddenly I was receiving many emails in my inbox from vendors who attended the expo. Interestingly, so far, none of the emails I received were personalized. They were just canned automated emails introducing their business. I was super disappointed to see this. As a wedding business owner myself, I feel it is so important to add a personal touch to each and every email that goes out to clients and potential clients. The canned emails felt cold and made me feel like I was just a number, not a person. If I felt that way, I can imagine how brides feel when they receive those types of emails. Turned off by the business, maybe?
On the other hand, putting myself in those vendor’s shoes, if they are a very large or busy business, they probably receive hundreds of inquiries every month and just send out the same automated email to everyone. Ok, that’s fine, but at least your name should be in the salutation to make it feel somewhat personalized. No one wants to receive an email that says, “Hey there! Thank you for contacting my business. Here is what we can offer you.” I just shake my head every time I receive one of those.
What you can do ~ I’m big on using spreadsheets. Whether you use Excel or Google sheets or any other spreadsheet program, these are super handy in keeping your vendor list organized. Follow these steps and you will be on your way to minimizing your stress when narrowing down your vendors.
✨ Create a new spreadsheet. Divide the sheet into categories such as venues, wedding planners, bakeries, photographers, officiants, florists, etc. Leave space in between to add rows. Bold them or color code them so they stand out.
✨ Create columns across for name of company, address, phone, contact email, website, what interests you about them, etc. Then add a column for notes.
✨ Each vendor that sends you an email, if you feel you may want to contact them, add them to your spreadsheet in the category they fall under.
✨ Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many for each category. Keep it manageable whether it’s ten, fifteen, twenty or more; whatever you feel comfortable with. I wouldn’t go any less than ten.
✨ Once you have filled your spreadsheet with your chosen limit, start checking out their websites, Instagram and/or Facebook pages. Get a feel of their business values and if you feel they resonate with you and you would like to learn more.
✨ At this time, start contacting the vendors and venues you are most interested in. Be sure to write in the notes section of your spreadsheet anything that would help you remember them and whether or not you want to go forward with them.
✨ Now, you want to narrow your list down to your favorite five and go from there.
This step-by-step plan will help you stay organized with the overwhelming influx of emails from vendors and venues. I use this plan in many areas of my life to stay organized so it’s not just for wedding planning! Now, to completely avoid this whole situation, you can hire a wedding planner to do all of the weeding out for you! You just have to weed out the wedding planners to find the right one for you. 😅
I hope these steps help you get your wedding vendor list organized! Leave me a comment and let me know how this is working for you.
Have a great day!
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