- Know your budget (of course), and whether or not you want to allot more or less to a particular vendor’s area. This will depend on what is important to you. Want awesome photos? Allot a little more of your budget to photography, because we all know good photography usually isn’t cheap.
 
- Know what style of wedding you want to have. Elegant, fun, outdoors, ballroom, etc etc. If you’re at a loss, try looking through the {ELD} Style Dictionary for some insight. All vendors have different styles themselves, so some may be a better fit for you than others.
 
- Research, research, research. If you hire a wedding planner or event designer, they should have a recommended vendor list. These lists are usually comprised of vendors that they have personally worked with before and produced exceptional work. Ask other vendors if they recommend any other vendors (not in their same area of course) for your wedding. If you liked your friend’s wedding, ask your friend for referrals. (It doesn’t meant that you have to have the same exact wedding as her.) Compose a list of vendors and jot down notes if you need to. Compare and contrast, weigh your options, put photos side-by-side, do whatever you need to do to decide.
 
- Choosing your vendors off of your venue’s “preferred vendor” list? Some venues charge vendors to be on these lists, so it’s really just like a magazine advertisement. Just about anyone can be on these types of lists, so still be sure to do your research! Just because “So-And-So Studio” is listed as a preferred vendor does not mean that they’re awesome. They could be not-so-awesome, but have splurged on the “listing” with your venue so it seems like they’re awesome.
 
- Read vendor blogs. (Definitely falls under the above “research, research, research”, but I felt it deserved it’s own explanation) This doesn’t just pertain to photographers, but all vendors. If a vendor has a blog, they will showcase recent events, write about new trends or designs, or write about upcoming events. Blogs are excellent ways to get a deeper look into the style and personality of a vendor. Personally, if I could go back, I wouldn’t have hired any of my vendors without looking at their blogs first. And if they didn’t have a blog, they would have been a bit lower on my list of potential vendors. Editor’s note: This is my own opinion and by far does not have to be a requirement for hiring vendors. The way I see it, a vendor will have the absolute best photos on their website. The majority of their work may not look like those photos, or they may not even be their work (I’ve seen it several times). Blogs just help.
 
- Meet with potential vendors. This is by far the best thing to do when choosing your vendors. You’re going to be working fairly closely with these people for quite some time. You want to get along with them. Because let’s face it, not all personalities mesh well together. Meeting a vendor also allows you to see their portfolio in hard copy. Sometimes it just helps to be able to physically flip through a book.