Even though I know this, sometimes other people aren’t as optimistic. I actually had one photographer who I contacted say, “Well, I hope your photography doesn’t suck, because with your budget, I can’t imagine you’ll find anyone good.” (My budget was less than $1000 for photography.)
Well, I did find a kick-a** photographer who was willing to work with my budget. But that’s not the point. This isn’t supposed to be a rant or a nanner-nanner style post. The point is, meeting with wedding vendors as a budget bride can be tough.
For me, there is a lot of anxiety involved from the moment I copy-paste a vendor’s email address into a new message. Thoughts flutter through my mind: ‘Is this a service I can afford?’ ‘Can I DIY this?’ ‘Will they think I’m being cheap?’ ‘Will I get the same service that a higher-budget bride would?’ etc., etc., etc.
The worst is meeting with them, though. I met with a wedding planner this week. I was so nervous about it that I almost cancelled. Maybe it was the fact that I had been checking out her blog all day and seeing all the beautiful weddings she’s done, and in my mind maybe beautiful = no budget. (I know, dumb. All one has to do is read MY BLOG to see that beautiful can be done on a budget!)
Maybe it’s my personality. I’ve never been the girl who is good about asking for prices. I’m the girl who talks her mom and/or fiance into calling the store to ask what their hours are, or to ask if they have my size jeans in stock.
Anyway, this lady ended up being really nice. We chatted for about an hour, and then went our separate ways. Budgets never came up. I breathed a sigh of relief.
For now, I really don’t have any tips to help on this issue. I’m still trying to work it out myself. My mom (a pretty intelligent lady) tells me that I’m in charge. I’m the employer, and they the employees.
I know that this is an old post, but I am going through that same thing right now. One wedding planner I contacted (about day of service) emailed me back before she knew my budget saying, "oh, we have PLENTY of experience working within a budget. What is yours? Most brides are on a budget so that shouldn't be a problem." I emailed her my budget and got a response that said "Oh, that is a small budget, not sure if you can afford our services." It wouldn't have been a big deal if they didn't make such a big deal about how much experience they had. Ugh. I hope I don't have to deal with this the whole wedding planning period.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, dear, I think I'm going to post on this more. Because I think I've come up with some tips. This, though, is BY FAR the hardest part of wedding planning. Don't let any of them get you down, though, because your wedding will be GORGEOUS!
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