Choosing Wedding Vendors

My daughter is getting married next year, so like many of my readers I'm interviewing vendors along with my daughter and having to make those crucial decisions of who to hire to make her wedding day 'her' special day.

After interviewing about a dozen venues I've found the ones we like all have one thing in common, the person we've talked to is personable, gets back to us if we leave a message with questions, and they are the people we feel as though we've built a good rapport with.  In short, someone we trust to make her wedding an occasion to remember and treasure.

We've talked to venues with price points from high to low, and the two things we find make us 'sign on the dotted line' are vendors who work to build a rapport with us and our vision, and who we trust to execute it.

Often as we get back in our car after a meeting the first question is "Did you like them?" THEM.  Not the venue, not the price, not the location.  The point person who showed us the venue and provided the details is critical in our decision to cross them off our list or keep them on and moving toward the top.

Trust, rapport, and likability.  We actually have a check list that rates vendors we interview.  We each fill out our own and then head home to discuss the vendor.  So if you are a vendor selling a venue, photography package, dress, flowers, or any other wedding product think about where you'd land on the list.  And work to improve your Like-ability Quotient.  As you talk to brides are you working toward building a feeling of trust and rapport with them? If you aren't you're losing customers.  I'm speaking as the mother of the bride not the wedding blogger here.

We signed our contract with her venue a few weeks ago.  For anyone interested we chose a venue called The Ballrooms at Boothwyn run by Lia's Catering.  Why was this our first choice?  It wasn't just price, it wasn't location, it was the people we spoke to at the venue.  Tim Mehl and his brothers Mark and Howard can make any bride feel confident that her wedding day will be their top priority. We talked with Tim the first time we visited the venue and later with his brother on the phone.  Professionals to their fingertips. But it wasn't just the professionalism that sold us, although that certainly helped, it was those feelings of trust, the building of rapport.  And yes, the old LQ (Like-ability Quotient.)  So if you're looking to build your wedding sales, follow the example of the people at Lia's Catering and make every bride feel like a queen (and make her mother happy as well!) If you're interested in booking a wedding with them tell Tim that Carly Vecchione and her blogging mom sent you! They have several different venues available, be sure to check them all out.