DC Wedding Planning - Choosing The Best Vendors

If you are planning a corporate party, wedding, anniversary, birthday, or holiday party in the Washington DC or Rockville MD area you’ll want a great team of professional vendors to help you pull off an amazing event!

Creating a killer party definitely requires a team. It is unlikely that you’ll find someone who plans parties, bakes cakes, caterers, shoots photo and video, creates floral arrangements, and entertains. If you could find such a person I doubt they would be great at all of those things.

So, what do you do when you need to assemble a team and this may be the very first time you have needed such a team? How do you find the best people for your event when you may not know exactly what they do?

You have come to the right place. In this blog, I have some tips and suggestions to help guide you in putting together an All-Star team of specialists that will remove the stress and anxiety and have your guests talking about how awesome your Washington DC area Wedding was!

Recommendations

Personal recommendations are always a good idea. This is especially true if the person that you speak with puts on or attends a lot of events. Ask your wedding venue, your wedding planner, and a wedding specialist you have already hired, or, why not, ask your family and friends too.

In terms of venues, keep in mind that they as well as DJs and Photographers are in the event industry. It is sometimes mentioned that there is favoritism or quid pro quo that takes place between some venues and vendors. This arrangement is said to put some vendors on the “preferred vendor list” and serve to keep other vendors off of it.

I can only speak to our business. We have no arrangements with any other vendors or venues. We are thrilled to make recommendations for other professionals that will do a superior job for you. You do not need to be our client to get our advice. We want everyone to have a fantastic event and to be honest, we can’t do every event.

Vendor Website

Your vendors’ websites can be extremely revealing. Take an attentive look at their portfolios and see if their style suits your event. Moreover, take a look at their blog too and see what type of content they publish there, as well as how frequently they do it. The more active they are on their blog, the more likely it is that they are actively searching for clients.

Some websites will definitely look glossier than others. I would not necessarily decide not to hire someone simply because of the appearance of their website but I would pass on someone based on their content.

If the website is filled with stock images, it is a sign that they are either new to the business or don’t work often. If the photos are dated it is a sign that they either don’t work often or don’t stay current. In those cases, the website matters and I would likely pass on them if putting a team together for an important event.

Their Reviews

Do they have reviews? If so, how many and how recent are the reviews. In my opinion, if their last review was four years ago it carries much less weight than one from four months ago.

The total number of reviews is not nearly as important to me as the date and the quality. Why? Because when was the last time you bought something on Amazon that you were happy with and then went to the site and left a review? My guess is you either have never done it or have rarely left a review.

People lead busy lives and getting reviews is tough. If the vendor has great reviews that is one positive indicator and it should factor into your decision.

Last, but not least, remember that a chat or “Zoom Meeting” with your vendors is also extremely important. Interview the short-listed specialists and see if you “click” with them. No matter how amazing a vendor maybe, if you cannot communicate with them or if you are simply incompatible with each other, it will eventually impact your event too.

I hope that you have enjoyed this article. If you have please share so that others may benefit as well. Our blog is dedicated to providing useful information and tips for anyone planning or thinking about planning an event.

At Perfect Harmony Entertainment, we provide exceptional DJ | Photo Booth | Lighting services to clients in the Washington DC area. Our dedicated team of DJs performs at events not only in DC and Northern Va but we also rock weddings in Harrisburg | York | Lancaster as well!

If you would like to learn more about our services or discuss your event in greater detail please reach out to us. We would love to hear your plans!