You are a person planning a wedding. That makes you the boss of many people. Some of these are people you love. Some of them are people you hire.
Whatever the situation, the feeling of being the boss of your own wedding can be an uncomfortable fit and likely, an unexpected one. You already have a job. You weren’t really looking to take on another!
To help, here are the top questions I, a professional wedding planner, recommend you ask any wedding vendor as you interview them for the job.
This list is a baseline that you can customize depending on what type of vendor you’re talking to (i.e. what do you ask a DJ vs. a florist vs. [insert other vendor]?). For those vendor-specific questions, please check out the “Questions I Always Ask Vendors” article on this list of free wedding planning resources.
What do you like best about your job? Interesting one to start with, right? Trust me: It’s a great way to know if you all click.
Is there anything you’d like to know about us that would be useful for your work? When hiring someone for your wedding, it can feel like you have to explain EVERYTHING about you and your partner when really, a wedding vendor usually only needs a few key details. Use this question to save yourself some wasted effort.
When will our work together start? There’s a chance you might hire this person and not hear from them until four or six weeks before your wedding. That’s not unexpected — and often works very well depending on the scale of service and the vendor type we’re talking about. Still, it’s useful to know when they start so you’re not like, “Um, what ever happened to so-and-so?”
How many hours would we be hiring you for? Many vendors work a specific shift of hours (you know, like a lot of people do). Make sure that shift aligns with the services you need done.
What do you charge and why? Quality vendors have quality answers. If the number surprises you, ask for clarification. People are often surprised to learn that I spend 40 hours on a wedding and at $50 an hour, that’s why my base rate is what it is.
What is one way that you use your business to improve the world? Don’t let this question intimidate you. It’s important! Many vendors use their small businesses to support nonprofits, create safe spaces for all types of consensual love, and make the wedding industry — and the world — a little less gross.
Do you serve people who don’t look like you? Do you serve people who don’t love like you? These questions apply whatever you look like and whomever you love because we do our best to not support businesses that hurt other humans.
Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? And if you prefer not to share, would you instead tell us how you will prioritize health and safety at the wedding? This question is only as weird as we make it. Also, vendors are often much more willing to talk about safety because they’ve literally had to think about it everyday of the pandemic. Read this for more pandemic wedding planning resources. (As a note, another way to word the first question is: Were you able to get vaccinated against COVID-19? That can be a useful phrasing to leave space for the can’t — so not won’t but can’t — situations.)
Is there anything that we didn’t ask that we should have? A favorite question of mine from my previous life as a magazine editor. I’m always amazed at the answers I get.
Bonus question: If someone you interviewed isn’t the right fit, ask the vendor for referrals of other people who do what they do. Wedding vendors love to share referrals because they are heart-centered people who don’t want to be a dead end for any couple, even if that couple didn’t hire them. Asking for their help can save you a lot of Googling!