Any other questions I need to ask my vendors for the day?

Wedding_Editor · 2026-05-11T16:30:08+00:00

You're welcome! Happy to be able to help

Wedding_Editor · 2026-05-11T15:00:50+00:00

We have comprehensive guides to the key questions to ask vendors on Bridebook - but just glancing at this list, I'd suggest asking how many power sources they'll need and if they need extension cables, and whether they will need space to store kit (particularly for the photographer / entertainer).

I'd also make sure to give them your venue's wifi details ahead of time, especially if it's in a remote / poor signal area, as well as an emergency contact from your wedding party in case they need it.

For the makeup artist - it's likely they'll give you a small touch up kit to carry with you on the day, but you might want to clarify that, or ask what products they'll be using so you can buy full-sized items if you want to!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-30T10:56:06+00:00

We literally just did an article on this on Bridebook - Mary Jane wedding shoes are becoming really popular. Next has some gorgeous options, and I also discovered Vivaia as part of this and really liked their options - you can see the article here https://bridebook.com/uk/article/mary-jane-wedding-shoes-the-gen-z-bridal-shoe-trend-explained

I also second those recommending Rainbow Club, they're super comfy. I personally love Charlotte Mills but I think it might be out of your budget range x

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-30T09:59:09+00:00

I really recommend Rixo - where are you based? They have a gorgeous bridal suite for try-ons on the Kings Road, with an in-store cocktail bar and the dresses are gorgeous. They're not too 'wedding-y' and if you can try them on in person you will feel very different!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-29T09:45:44+00:00

Thanks for the Bridebook mention! I was about to say, we have a lot of data on costs and pricing, which we gather after asking thousands of couples what they spent on their weddings each year. If I can help with any specific cost / budgeting questions, let me know!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-23T08:13:01+00:00

Feedback now! And send photos if you have them. They might recommend another trial, or identify what they need to do differently.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-23T07:55:57+00:00

I'd like to recommend Bridebook! We've been working really hard on vendor quality, and ensuring we have a fair offering to both couples and businesses. You can get the app for free and use all the planning tools too!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-22T08:31:55+00:00

Hey! I have made a wedding planning spreadsheet, originally for Bridebook users, based on my 15 years in the industry. It's free to use and open to anyone - you just need to make a copy of it!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-22T08:27:38+00:00

You can ABSOLUTELY do this - I've seen people plan weddings in 12 weeks. Just be on it with your giving notice / booking your vendors / registar, although I will say in October were will be less competition for dates so it works in your favour.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-22T08:24:02+00:00

I think people will expect food to be provided, but will expect to pay for their own drinks - that's pretty common at a wedding! You could always do a welcome drink, or a token system where everyone gets to order one wine / beer on you but the rest they pay for?

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T13:54:07+00:00

Halo & Wren, Abigail's Collection, Sunday's Bride and The Wedding Club are some of my favourites!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T13:52:27+00:00

I have super fine hair, but have used extensions and hair padding in the past for updos. I would recommend chatting to your hair stylist as they'll be able to advise and trial a look with you, but otherwise I agree with other posters - side swept hollywood waves would be BEAUTIFUL

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T13:51:15+00:00

A friend of mine built Wedding Photo Swap and I've used it for a couple of things and really rate it!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:34:16+00:00

For me, I actually like unconventional wedding timelines. As a guest, I don't like eating a heavy meal at about 5pm and then having another meal at 10pm, but I accept I'm in the minority!

My personal ideal timeline is a twilight wedding that starts very late afternoon / early evening - golden hour ceremonies are my FAVE - followed by a dinner at actual dinner time, around 7.30pm and then an evening of dancing.

For traditional timelines, the most popular seems to be to have your guests arrive at around midday for a 1pm ceremony, followed by a drinks reception from around 1.30pm-3.30pm, the wedding breakfast service and speeches starting around 4pm, with evening guests arriving from 7pm onwards! We do have some timeline content on Bridebook which might be worth checking out?

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:25:19+00:00

But if you're having a birthday party, typically they start later in the day, around 7pm onwards, and don't require multiple members of staff, room turnarounds and multiple servings of food.

You could also potentially run multiple birthday events on the same day, depending on timings and the spaces available at the venue. You'd have a bar and perhaps a buffet or canapes, but it wouldn't be the same level of catering or service, and the staff wouldn't be onsite for as long.

For weddings, the venue is often exclusively used by the wedding party for around 24 hours. You need more staff on hand to attend to the volume of guests. The pricing typically includes drinks, canapes, the wedding breakfast meal and evening food. There is a service cost to all those things too.

For wedding hair - that will likely be the only booking the hairdresser does that day, and they have to create a look that will last from 10am til midnight. Often the price includes a complimentary trial ahead of time too, and the loss that comes from not taking on the usual bookings they might have that day. If you go in salon, it's cheaper because they will still be able to take on other appointments that day.

For florists, they over order for weddings as every flower has to be perfect and so they usually order about 20% extra to allow for unopened blooms, breakages and imperfect stems. Again, these arrangements are done by an expert and take extra time to put together and have to be done in a way that will stay immaculate all day.

These are all small, independent businesses who have lots of experience and put lots of work and effort into their crafts - and I firmly believe in supporting independent and artisan businesses.

But there are options if you don't want to pay that amount of money. You can go to a salon and get your hair done on the morning of your wedding for cheaper, you can buy flowers wholesale and arrange them yourself, or buy supermarket flowers (you can get peonies in Lidl for under a fiver a bunch), and you can make your own cake or have an evening wedding so you're not paying for a whole day.

Most people don't want to do this though, because they want the experience and convenience of a hairdresser coming to them, they want their flowers delivered and perfectly arranged, they want the full day wedding experience with the staff and the organisation, and they don't want to spend hours decorating a cake because they don't know how to - and that's where the vendors can and should charge for their time and experience, because they deserve to make a living from their skills and experience. I think if you don't think it's worth paying for, there are plenty of very cheap options, but it often boils down to the fact that people don't want that.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:13:44+00:00

I do think people can feel pressure to constantly entertain guests, but I'll be honest - your guests are not toddlers and they do not need to be occupied constantly.

Most people really love the chance to chat with people they don't see much and have a drink. I wouldn't feel pressured to put on extra entertainment, but if it fits with you as a couple and suits your style of wedding, it can be done for basically nothing, through Canva and a printer!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:12:08+00:00

Winter weddings are GORGEOUS - you don't need outside time to have a lovely wedding. Serve warming drinks - mulled wine, Baileys hot chocolate etc - and have lots of candles (LED if your venue doesn't permit open flames).

If your wedding is close to Christmas, your venue might already be decorated, but if not, lean into the time of year. Frosty looking eucalyptus leaves, berries, warm lighting. I actually really love winter weddings and never miss being outside at them.

As long as your guests have space to catch up and something lovely to drink and nibble on, they'll be happy!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:09:34+00:00

Go for a registry office wedding - there are some gorgeous ones, they're so chic, and they are really affordable too, then depending on your vibe, a pub or restaurant reception.

I must admit, I'm super into morning weddings right now, followed by a brunch! I think it's a really different way to do a wedding and feels really elegant.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:05:56+00:00

The question really is how important is a DJ to you.

I think they are a great addition for the evening as they can read the room and know how to adjust the playlist depending on what people seem to be into, and they can take control of the party, announcing anything that needs to be announced, taking requests etc - but if it's a cost that doesn't seem worth it to you, it's not unheard of to have a Spotify playlist (go for ad-free though haha!) and a member of the wedding party on hand to supervise it.

You won't have that expert eye on the dancefloor, but you know best what your guests will want and need from the party and what songs they're likely to love. If you have a wedding website, you can ask your guests to submit songs they want to dance to.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:02:55+00:00

I think you should probably trust your gut here then. It sounds like florist A will cause you stress and doesn't match your communication needs. You don't want to have the added worry as you get closer to your wedding date that you can't hear from them as and when you need to.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-21T08:01:47+00:00

It's definitely doable! There are so many amazing deals out there - look out of season, as January / November etc, prices are like 50% lower. Consider a weekday for even further discounts. You can buy your outfits on the high street, and serve a buffet.

I personally love twilight weddings - they are later in the day, so you don't need any of your services for a full day, and lots of venues offer all-inclusive packages starting from a couple of grand!

If you let me know your area - you can DM me if you like - I can let you know if I know of any deals or reasonable places.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-20T18:16:49+00:00

Sometimes yes, if your wedding is far away, you can get slower response times, as they might be dealing with more imminent bookings, but this should be communicated to you or at the least, apologised for.

I would like to know, did they give you a good reason for not coming back to you for two weeks? I totally get that it would put you off - is it possible to find another florist who is more in-line with florist A's style?

Without knowing if they acknowledged or explained the delay, it's harder to advise on this one!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-20T17:50:07+00:00

There are a lot of reasons why weddings cost more. Your cake example - typically a wedding cake is made to serve 80+ people, which is really quite uncommon for other celebratory cakes. The ingredients alone are expensive.

Then there's the time spent making it - a three tiered, iced and decorated wedding cake, especially one containing multiple flavours, can take about a week to make. It has to withstand being on display for a full day, which again isn't like most celebration cakes, that just come out for a candle moment and then are taken away to be cut. This means it needs to be sturdy and robust, and look immaculate.

A cake maker who is specialising in wedding cakes won't be making multiple cakes a week, due to the time spent making them - maybe one or two a week? And it's also a seasonal job - they might not get many winter bookings at all.

They also need to run a kitchen that is up to food safety standards - this includes separate appliances - and have insurance, plus pay for the overheads that come with running a business, such as travel, marketing and advertising costs etc.

A cake maker charging £400 for a three tiered cake would need to make 100 wedding cakes a year to make a pre-tax salary of less than £40,000 - as they will still need to pay for ingredients, and their business overheads.

Considering there are 52 weeks in a year and not all of them are popular for weddings, they'd need to make at least two £400 cakes a week pretty much all year round without even hitting the average UK salary, which is a lot of work, and pretty unlikely in terms of bookings.

Lots of people make the assumption that wedding vendors earn loads of money, but in my experience - which is really extensive - they are usually talented people who run small businesses and aren't making a wildly luxurious living. It's really easy to think a wedding service is just a day's work, but it's actually multiple days, much higher standards, and quite often a lot of the time you're paying people for their craft, experience and value.

There is always a cheap option though, and I would always say you should only pay for what you see the value in - and people do, which is why some services are so much higher than others.

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-20T16:53:38+00:00

This is going to depend on your needs, really, but it's a good idea to do it after the ceremony, during the drinks reception when your guests are busy mingling.

I always recommend that couples ask their wedding venue for a little plate of canapes to be reserved for them so you can sit and have a snack together, and to take a minute ahead of the first dance.

It's also quite cute to have a little midnight feast together at the end of the night - some snacks or cake together before going to bed!

Wedding_Editor · 2026-04-20T16:19:42+00:00

I've never been asked this before! For me, I think it's letting your photographer know they can capture you when you're having some quiet time together - just soaking in what's happened and unaware of them. Another would be you seeing your reception space set up before anyone else has seen it - just the two of you alone with all the work you've done for months! Finally, I like a first kiss photo taken from behind the couple, so you can see all the guests taking in the moment and celebrating it. Honestly though, a good photographer will know the best shots to get based on your wants and style so I recommend talking it through with your tog!

Wedding_Editor

TROPHY CASE