It’s funny, with a team of us all blogging, and two of the team recently engaged- guest blogging was something we never really thought about….

I’m really excited to have my friend Susan Southerland of Just Marry! as our first blogger – We’ve followed her work, seen her on TV, became Face Book friends and finally Susan and I were in Las Vegas speaking at Catersource together this past March….

Then Susan was here recently speaking for Perfect Wedding Guide and we got to hang out in Chinatown for Peking Duck, a quick tour of the city and a trip to Capogiro for gelato…

We’re really thrilled she agreed to guest blog for us!

I am so thrilled that Mark let me guest blog on his site.  I have so much respect for him and his work, so Mark, thank you.

Today’s blog is about wedding professional relationships.  I speak with thousands of brides across the country when I do my presentations.  Many of them share with me that they find the wedding-planning process intimidating mostly because they are insecure about interviewing wedding professionals.  I am disheartened by hearing that because good wedding professionals love the interviewing process.  Believe me, we love to talk about what we do and we are anxious to show you how we can help you achieve your wedding vision.

 Here are some tips to finding a wedding-vendor team that is perfect for you:

 Be prepared to share your vision.  When you go to meet a potential wedding professional he is going to want to hear what your dream is for your wedding day.  Make sure you have a story to tell.

 Know your budget.   You don’t want to waste your time speaking with a wedding professional  who is out of your price range, so make sure you know what you can spend on each service before you go for your meeting.  

 Share your budget with the wedding professional.  A good wedding professional will want to help you achieve your vision within your price range, so don’t be afraid to share your spending goals.

Make sure the wedding professional  is listening to you.  A good wedding professional wants to listen to your vision and ideas.  If he spends the majority of your appointment telling you how wonderful he is, he may not be willing to work with you the way you want him to.

Follow your instincts.  If you are uncomfortable during the interview, move on.  There are so many wonderful wedding professionals out there, don’t settle!

If you want to make the interviewing process a breeze, your first interview should be with a wedding planner.  When you have a great rapport with a professional planner, he can direct you to the best wedding professionals for your budget and style.  Of course, the wedding planner interview is really important.  Make sure that you are comfortable with whichever planner your choose.  He is going to be responsible for guiding you through everything surrounding your wedding, so you must be in sync.

If you would like to follow along with more of my secrets and advice, check out my wedding blog at www.PerfectWeddingGuide.com/wedding-blog.

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