Hello my beautiful newly engaged friends! Just starting your wedding planning adventures & wondering the #1 thing you can do to ensure the wedding of your dreams? Nope, it’s not a budget or a wedding vision (though you should have both). It’s way easier than that.
Here it is, my friends: Don’t get married on a Saturday.
What? Laura, seriously that’s the number 1 thing? Hear me out.
Unless you’re planning on a 14-18 month long engagement, there is a very strong chance that your dream vendor is already booked for that June, July, August, or September Saturday that looks so aesthetically convenient on your calendar. It’s because you & about a thousand other sweet couples all saw it & thought “Yeah, that seems like a good date!”
Even if you shop around & your dream venue is still free, you run a huge chance that your first choice photographer, florist, caterer, makeup artist or some combination of those will already be booked. Because it happens, to all vendors, every year, all the time. If I had to guess, I would say close to 50 times a year we receive a wonderful inquiry for a Saturday date that we’re already booked for.
This past year, we had fifteen inquiries for just ONE Saturday in June (and I know a ton of other photographers with similar stories!). We would have loved to work with those couples, they would have loved to work with us! A lot of them had no idea they’d need to plan so far ahead.
Particularly here in the PNW, when those warm weather months are all crammed between June & October, everyone gets married in about a 5 month period, and Saturdays book out like crazy.
If just FIVE of those duplicate date couples who inquired this year had gotten married on a different day, like a Sunday or a Friday, we would be fully booked for the year. Literally just 5 couples out of the 50! Instead, we had to turn all of them away. It sucked, hardcore. It sucks for us, turning away couples we loved & wanted to work with, and it sucked for those couples, who had to start their search for a photographer who fit their wedding day all over again.
So if you’re like me, you know what you want, you put a lot of research into decisions, you’ve got a list of dream vendors & a vision: Get married on a Friday. Or a Sunday, or even a Thursday, like we did! You’ll have a much higher rate of success booking the vendors that you really want, you won’t be settling for second fiddle, and as a bonus, all of your vendors will love you for it.
P.S. still have your heart set on a Saturday wedding? Ask your dream vendors what Saturday dates they still have available first, then go set a date with your venue. 😉
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