Wedding Contracts and Wedding Agreements:

So why are wedding contracts and wedding agreements important?

A facebook post may read like this:  “Help, my vendor canceled on me and they won’t return my calls.  I’ve paid a deposit and I’m trying to get it back.”  Or, my vendor didn’t show up, what do I do now!?”

Disclaimers:  Here is my disclaimer, I’m not an attorney and don’t hold a legal degree.  So any advice on this blog post is from my experience.

Here are some things to consider;

Life Happens:  So what should you do if something goes wrong with your vendor? Since vendors are human people, there are times when life hits.  Maybe your vendor is sick or worse.  Maybe they have a family emergency and haven’t had a chance to get back to you this week.   So before panic sets in, communicate with them.  Call them, email them, Facebook message them, Instagram message them, have a face to face and so on.  If there isn’t any answer, reach out to another vendor that may know them, maybe that vendor was referred to you by the venue, photographer, DJ and so on.

Ways to alleviate your wedding stress.

• After booking your vendor, communicate, communicate and communicate some more.
• Send them emails, check-in with them, don’t wait till the week of your wedding to touch base with them.
• A wedding has a lot of moving parts and everyone needs to be on the same page.  This begins with communication. Someone needs to be putting all the pieces together.  This is one of the biggest reasons to hire a coordinator.
• If all else fails, go back to your agreement.  What does it say?  Does it cover any ‘Acts of God’ as we call them.  What happens now?

• Just remember, you should be hearing from your vendors off and on throughout the planning of your wedding. If not, then you need to check in with them.

Our wedding agreements are signed by both us and our clients.  That’s important to have. It is one of the most important forms of communication between you and your vendors. For example, maybe your photography contract has a start time of 2:00 p.m. and end time of 10:00 p.m. but your DJ has an end time of 9:00 p.m. You probably don’t want your photographer longer than your DJ, or maybe you do.  But having those wedding agreements in hand, is a good way to make sure everyone is on the same page.

So what about agreements?

Essentially you want to be comfortable with the agreement.  And if something does go wrong, you’ll want to try every way to communicate with that vendor.

As stated earlier, I’m not a lawyer and don’t have any legal advice.  A signed wedding agreement is a signal that your vendor is a professional. A business license and insurance are other signs your vendor is a professional. Having an agreement that will cover the event and take care of you if something happens can be comforting.  If your agreement is just a handshake, then it may be difficult to address issues if something happens. In our work, we consider wedding agreements or wedding contracts to be a step towards being a professional.

As the Disclaimer states above, I’m not an attorney and don’t hold a legal degree.  So any advice on this blog post is from my experience and without warranty.

Weddings are wonderful experiences! Your wedding should be nothing less than the day you hoped for.  But just like the weather changing, sometimes things happen.  So breathe a minute, and communicate with your vendor.

Our hope is that this information will help you have a wonderful wedding experience by being more comfortable with your wedding vendor choice. Just remember, if something happens, take a breath and communicate every way you can to resolve the issue.

For questions to ask vendors, check out our vendor question page.

For booking our services, contact us today.