Today’s post is all about how to email wedding vendors … but first, a quick story:

“Wait, you’re telling me I need to actually contact this place just to get a base price!?” That was my reaction when I learned that many wedding vendors don’t include prices on their websites.

There was no way around it – so I started to call and email wedding vendors. I’d say something like, “Hi! Umm…I’m getting married. I saw your website and I’d like to get some pricing information please.”

And then I’d get bombarded with a million questions that I didn’t have the answers to, like:

• What’s the date?
• What’s the duration?
• How many guests?
• Do you need equipment or will you bring your own?

I knew these were all very legit questions. But I felt like a total loser because I couldn’t even answer basic questions about our big day! I’d sheepishly say, “Ah, we’re not sure, still deciding …” At that point, the vendor would refer me back to their website and then call back when I had the details. Great. Now I’m back where I started.

We quickly realized that we needed to do some light research, get an idea of what we wanted, and only THEN start to email wedding vendors.

But still. We had to contact a bunch of vendors because there was virtually zero pricing information online.

Thankfully, I came up with a three-part email template to save time, stay organized, and get accurate estimates (and I’ll show you how to use it so that you can email wedding vendors too).

Plus, I no longer felt like a clueless loser!

The three-part template to email wedding vendors

PART ONE: Give basic facts about the wedding.

• In this section, you should include (at a minimum): the date, time, location, and headcount.
• If you’re in the early stages of planning and haven’t nailed down the exact details, you can include tentative information here. For example, if you’re not sure about the number of guests, it’s better to give a ballpark estimate than nothing at all. The point is to give the vendor a general idea of the event. For example, if you don’t have an exact headcount, you can give a range, “75-100 guests” or if you don’t have a date, you can say, “the date isn’t confirmed, but it will be on a Saturday in July-September 2018.”
• You might need to provide additional details, depending on the service you’re shopping for. For example, if you’re contacting a florist, it might help to include your theme colors.

PART TWO: Tell them what you want.

• In this section, you’ll give the vendor a general idea of what you need them to do. Make sure to visit the vendor’s website to get familiar with their scope of work. Browse their service offerings, work samples, and photos to get a better idea of what you can request from this vendor.
• If you’re not 100% sure about what you want, you can let them know that. For example, if you’re contacting a caterer, you can say, “We haven’t decided on plated or buffet style, so we’d like to see an estimate for each option.”
• If you have any strong preferences or non-negotiable requests, you’ll want to make that clear in this section. In the catering example, this might be something like, “We plan to serve vegetarian dishes only.”

PART THREE: Ask the right questions.

• In this section, you’ll ask about pricing, level of service, package customizations, etc. If you saw something on the website that you’re interested in or if something was unclear, ask about it.
• WARNING: If the answers to all your questions can be found online, the vendor will probably refer back to their website!  So make sure to review the website!
• At this point, you don’t need to ask about everything. You can always ask more questions later when you have a better idea of which vendors you’re interested in hiring. For now, your goal is to gather enough information to decide which vendors to keep on your radar and which ones to drop.

There you have it! My three-part template that will save you time as you shop for the right vendors.  Next, I’ll show you a sample email to a caterer.

You can tweak this email template to contact wedding vendors in every category. (Actually, I’ve already done that for you – at the end of this post, sign up to download templates for each vendor type!)

Sample Email to a Wedding Vendor

Hi,

I browsed your website and your food looks amazing! We’d like to request a quote for our wedding.

Here’s some information about the event: [PART 1: GIVE BASIC FACTS ABOUT YOUR WEDDING]

• Date: Friday, August 31, 2018
• Location: Venue-Name in Los Angeles, CA
• Headcount: 150
• Schedule (tentative): cocktail hour at 4:30 pm, dinner at 6 pm, event ends at 11 pm

Here’s what we’re looking for: [PART 2: TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT]

• Dish types: for cocktail hour, we’d like to serve light appetizers (either passed or stationary), for dinner we’d like to have a starter course (soup or salad), with 2-3 entree options (2 meat, 1 vegetarian) served with a side of starch and/or vegetables.
• Cuisine: We don’t have any strong preferences, but we’re interested in serving Latin cuisine.
• Style of service: plated preferred, but we’re open to other styles of service 
• Bar service: We’d like to have a champagne toast and serve alcohol for the entire length of the event (4:30pm-11pm). 

We have a few questions for you: [PART 3: ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS]

• Would you please send an estimate based on our requests listed above?
• Do you rent equipment like linens, dishes, flatware, glassware, etc? If so, would you please send pricing information?
• I didn’t see any cakes on your website – do you provide cakes and/or other desserts?
• What types of wines, beers, and/or liquors do you serve?
• May we bring our own alcohol (for you to serve)?
• What’s the process of booking a tasting?

I hope to hear from you soon.

Many thanks!
Katie

Give it a try!

Do you have a wedding vendor that you’ve been meaning to contact? Take the next two minutes to copy-paste, edit, and send! And when you’re done, post a comment below to let me know how it goes!

I’ve modified this template for each of the following vendor types:

• Venue
• Catering
• Photography & Videography
• Hair and Makeup
• Wedding Cake