Having good friends to turn to when life gets difficult can be a breath of fresh air. Of course, there are also times when close friendships can make things a bit more complicated. This is especially true when the time comes to select your wedding vendors. Should a good friend or family member offer to be a vendor for your wedding, your first thought might be to agree. In order to know whether or not this is a good idea, you need to do a bit of preliminary work.
Give yourself a moment to explore these pros and cons of asking a friend to act as your wedding vendor. Weighing out your options will help you find the best possible solution and avoid any uncomfortable conversations along the way.
Getting Things Started
Right away, you might think that hiring a friend or family member as a wedding vendor is a huge benefit. When the vendor is someone you know, it means you’re likely to get all kinds of exclusive discounts and offers on the services. This can make a huge difference to your budget, especially if you already feel like you’re keeping a tight leash on your finances. While you don’t want to come right out and ask about a discount, you can feel confident that using a friend will make the costs more manageable.
Of course, you also need to do your own research. Your friend might claim to be an expert in his or her field, but you need to see their portfolio for yourself. Take time to research your friend’s work. Look at his or her website, the same way you would with any wedding vendor you are considering, and see if you actually enjoy the type of services provided. Agreeing to use your friend as a vendor before you see what he or she is capable of can easily create a lot of problems down the line.
Ironing Out Details
There are also some considerations you need to take that might have a bit of an impact on your friendship. For one, you need a contract of some variety in order to use your friend as a wedding vendor. This might make things somewhat awkward, especially if your friend doesn’t understand why you need the contract to cover yourself in the event of an issue. If you anticipate this is going to be a problem for your friend, then you might want to find a different vendor for the job.
Beyond the contract, you also need to think about some of the details. If your friend is acting as a vendor, he or she might not be able to actually enjoy your wedding. This is especially true if your friend owns a small business without additional employees to help during the reception. Be sure to talk this out with your friend in advance and mention that you want him or her to be able to enjoy the event without having to work the entire night. An open conversation can make a world of difference to the outcome.
Discussing Payment
Finally, the topic of payment can always make things uncomfortable. You want to pay your friend for his or her services, but you also may feel weird trying to haggle or work with prices. If you foresee any uncomfortable conversations about payment, then it could be in your best interest to not use a close friend or relative as a vendor. Still, paying friends through apps like Venmo has become quite commonplace, so you might not even bat an eyelash at the prospect of paying a friend for his or her work.
Using a friend as a wedding vendor can be a great idea, but there are many considerations to take. Be sure to think through your options and iron out all the details before setting anything in stone.
Add Your Comment