Dealing with vendors and knowing what you want

I think most would agree that choosing the vendors for your wedding is so critical and can make or break the experience of planning your wedding. I've said before that choosing a designer is so important and you will be so happy when you've made the right choice. But once you have made the decision about who to work with will it be smooth sailing through the entire process? I would like to think so.

Something occurred to me recently while meeting with a bride & groom. While I'm considered the "expert" when it comes to the design and decor, it is still their wedding. I think it's so important to keep that in mind and for us, as vendors, to be reminded of it once in awhile.

I think its worth bringing up the subject to remind couples that while planning your wedding you will be told over and over again what you should do, what will look best etc but in the end you should feel that you have control over the final decisions.

Your vendors should definitely offer you their opinion and guidance based on their experience (it's the reason you hired them in the first place!) but you should never feel strong armed into doing or not doing something because they said so. Let them know what you like, why you like it and why it's important for you to include in the wedding...then allow them to use their skill to make it work.

If they are the "expert" then they should be able to include most of your requests and ideas seamlessly. And of course I say all of this with the assumption that we are talking about requests that are within the realm of reasonable possibility.

So in the end, know what you want and make sure you love what you are getting while at the same time trusting in your vendors and knowing that they always have your best interest in mind.