Vendors Will Drive you Crazy – Expect it and Plan to Deal with it: One of the most challenging areas of wedding planning is the managing of the different vendors and suppliers – some of them have very bad work ethics and so require following up per-second-per-second, to ensure that you are not disappointed. We’ve seen weddings where the cake arrived 30 minutes after the reception party had started; we even saw weddings where the venue decoration was far from what the bride requested; we have seen weddings where the caterer made less food than the couple paid for. And, in the middle of all these, the bride was noticeably worried or occasionally passing messages to vendors (from where she was seated).
You can find tried and tested wedding vendors that won’t stress you if you follow our tips on where and how to find good Nigerian wedding vendors.
As you know, stress is quick to show on pictures, so do something to minimize the wedding planning stress showing all over you – because you’re not the only one planning a wedding. Especially when planning a wedding on short-notice, the bride that is busy with following up all her vendors and venue people, there is little or no time to relax or go for pampering sessions. I’ve seen brides who were still fully busy, stressed up and jumping from pillar to post the night before their wedding – and even making their hair into the night. That’s not cool at all. Follow our tips on how to deal with wedding stress and anxiety.
#5. Involve Other People Early in Your Wedding Planning
You can’t plan a wedding alone. You need vendors. You also need other people to assist you with the pre-wedding planning and day-of-wedding coordination. And, you need to tell them early, many months before the wedding day. You’ll need someone to coordinate the entire pre-wedding planning process (sort of like the ‘project manager), and that could be you (if you have the time), a wedding planner, a close friend, bridesmaids, groomsmen or close family members.
Your wedding party members have specific roles and responsibilities beyond posing beside you to snap pictures on the wedding day. Involve some of your bridesmaids and groomsmen in helping you execute some of your wedding planning tasks. However, know your boundaries so that you do not offend them.
- Bridesmaids’ Roles and Responsibilities Checklist (print out and share this with your bridesmaids)
THE SCENARIO: The day of the wedding is when people will know whether you truly planned the wedding well. Even if you have the best quality vendors and venue, but no solid day of wedding coordination plan, there will be chaos. On the day of the wedding, you need someone at the venue early enough to check that things are in place. The caterer, decorator and cake baker needs to have set up long before guests arrive. If those vendors are late, who will be calling and following up on them? Who will the baker and caterer call to ask for where to set up the food and cake? If the live music band people arrive, who will they ask for whee to setup or where to find extension cables? In short, who will be your main person on the ground to COORDINATE the plans you have been making since the past months?
HERE’S WHAT TO DO: Have a plan, in advance, on how your wedding day will be coordinated. We have already made the plan for you to follow, so no need to worry. Use our day-of wedding coordination checklist for Nigerian weddings and hand over a printed copy to someone you trust and know is capable to oversee the event on your behalf. If you hired a wedding planner, they’ll do this for you. Be aware that some wedding planners offer the service to coordinate and oversee your day of the wedding if you have planned the wedding yourself. Just ask around – it costs less than a full-service wedding planning.
#6. Learn How to Get a “Yes” When You Ask Others to Help Plan Your Wedding
Finally, if you want people to say yes when you ask them to join you in planning your wedding, ask them early. Don’t assume that they will pack up their own planned things just for you – respect that they’ll have to make out time for you – even if the person is your mother or a sibling or close friend. Even the good wedding planners get fully booked from 6 months upfront, so start looking for a wedding planner at least 6 months before your wedding.
BONUS Tips for Making it Easy for Other People to Help You Plan Your Wedding
Once anyone accepts to help out in your wedding plans, don’t just think they know what to do or how and when to help you – you have to tell them because they are waiting for you to tell them your expectations and also direct them on what to do.
- Do you simply want someone to give you moral support?
- Do you want them to follow up on some tasks in your wedding checklist, such as sourcing for vendors, addressing wedding invitations, packing the souvenirs and wedding favors?
- Do you want them only for a certain period?
- Do you expect them to be there with you through every to-do list and decision-making,
Just so there’s no confusion or assumption, tell them! Let your wedding planner or planning team (friends and family) know in advance what you expect of them so that you don’t end up getting frustrated with an innocent friend who simply didn’t know or understand what you wanted them to do.
Treat Your Wedding like a Project and It Will Be Super-Successful
Like every other wedding, yours is a project – one of the most important projects of your life, and so deserves to be treated as what it is (a project) – that is if you care for it to be successful and wow your guests.
Successful projects (including weddings) were successful because they had these three things: (1) plans, (2) the right people (team) executing the plans, and (3) a masterplan (with checklists and timeline) to follow. That’s the principle behind how successful weddings are planned.
Final Tip to Guarantee a Hitch-Free and Perfect Nigerian Wedding
Oh, I forgot this last but vital tip – the best way to get others to know how to help you plan your wedding is to share your wedding planning checklist with them. Delegate some tasks in your planning checklist to different but few close pals. Do a regular follow-up with them to see how far they’ve gone, if they have issues and agree on how to make progress. Finally, on your wedding day or after, don’t forget to reward your helpers with small ‘thank you’ gifts – they’ll think you’re cool:)
So, it’s your turn to talk back to me. Tell me in the comments below – have you thought about who will be your ‘wedding planner’ and ‘day-of-wedding coordinator? If not, have you set up a team of the other people who will help you plan and coordinate your wedding?
Sania Jogarr says
Such an informative article. Making a checklist is very important so we don’t forget things. Also, we should be planning our budget as well which is vital 🙂
Mercy says
I like your write up. My white wedding is coming up in few months time. Almost everything I read here happened on my day of Traditional Wedding, disappointments from all corner, ranging from committee to vendors, even the band came very late, the venue decoration was far from what we requested and paid for, despite all our follow-up. In fact, I can’t say all. I pray to get the right vendors for the white wedding.
Stella Anokam says
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience with horrible wedding service providers/ vendors. As they say, ‘experience is the best teacher’ -that experience better equips you to know what and what types of vendors to avoid, how to choose right and the importance of starting early to look for vendors. Be sure to vet them first and if you’re not satisfied, move on to vet the next, and next, UNTIL you find the right one.