Attn All Knotties: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR!

sloanfisher

I have a secret observer of these boards for about 3 months now and have learned a great deal about weddings, vendors, DIY projects,  all the wonderful and tragic things that goes into planning a wedding. After countless hours researching, talking to my married friends and become secretly obsessed by theknot boards, I can say without hesitation, you really do get what you paid for. 

For those knotties who ask for a delicious, pretty cake for $200, a $1500 photography package that includes two photogs, unlimited hours, a flush-mount album, engagement session and free prints or a florist who charges
$20/centerpiece- please manage your expectations. After comparing/contrasting both expensive and inexpensive vendors, there usually is a reason why a vendor is more expensive than another. Are there exceptions?  Yes. But not in most cases. Please know that your $200 cake will most likely be a sheet cake (unless you live in Chicago suburbs) from a chain grocery store and your $1500 photographer will not be one who has worked in the business for 5-10 years and gives you unique images.

Like everyone, I totally understand budgets and DIY projects.  And I have seen some pretty awesome DIY decor and some really busted DIY decor. If you have the time, energy and savvy for the craft stuff-good for you!  I tried doing wedding invitations by myself and almost had a nervous breakdown and I wasted a ton of time.

I invite you all to argue with me if you think I am out of line or wrong in any way. And I am not asking you all to bump up your wedding budgets. Just priortize and manage your expectations and know it's pretty hard to find an inexpensive, and absolutely fabulous vendor in this city.

kthame

What is your point?!

sloanfisher

Sorry if I wasn't clear. My point is that you get what you pay for.

raeyn

I agree that in many cases you get what you pay for, but I too don't quite understand the purpose of your post. Okay, so your point is that you get what you pay for. But what was the purpose of telling us this? Quite honestly, I found your words of wisdom to be rather depressing and not helpful at all.

If you are indeed getting married next July, congrats on your engagement and welcome to the boards. I suggest that you spend a little more time observing and maybe introduce yourself or reply to more posts with friendly words of encouragement, like you did in Cirrus's married bio thread. Let us get to know you a little before bursting our bubbles without providing any real context for your advice.

sloanfisher

Apologize for not being clearer in my post, I did join today, but have been observing your boards because I did just get engaged and wanted to give you my experiences and see if any of you had any of the same experiences. My post was not made to offend anyone, just wanted to see if if your planning and observations were different than mine.  I wish I could find more budget conscious vendors in Chicago, but have had a tough time and it's looking like I will have to go over-budget. And honestly, I have seen differences in vendors across the board and just wanted to get those who have been planniing to see if they had the same experiences.

rhodesign

Hi there--
Are you bride offering advice, or representing a vendor/company?
If you are the latter, please refrain from posting on the message boards. This is a forum for brides to give and share advice, recommendations, etc.

duckie1905

Despite the fact that to an extent I agree with "you get what you pay for" I think there are many quality vendors that provide an excellent service in the city and suburbs for the budget conscious bride.  My best vendors (photog, florist, and DOC) were the most cost-effective while our limo company (one of the most expensive vendors) was the biggest screw up.  You just have to be willing to put in the work to find them, research, and haggle with them.

I think that you should follow another one of my favorite mantras "think before you speak."

Just because YOU are having trouble finding cost-effective, great vendors in the city doesn't mean you need to issue a warning to all those brides that are working within their budgets and not complaining about it.

Also, I'd like to know how you have gained all this knowledge when you are still so far away from your own wedding.  I'm pretty sure that until you have experienced the services that vendors have to offer you aren't really qualified to give vendor reviews and to speak about quality and its (according to you) direct relationship to price.

TatiMarie

 I do agree "you get what you pay for" and that's why I decided I would "splurge" on things like photographer and make-up artist BUT honestly, just because someone's wedding was a minimal budget does not mean the bride was unhappy because she spent so little or did DIY.  The thing is, while yes, maybe spending $120 per centerpiece means having WAY nicer flowers than the $20 price you used as an example, but maybe some brides really don't care.  Everyone has different priorities on what they would like to spend their money on, but at the end of the day, it's about marrying the person you love.  Plus, I have seen some AMAZING DIY on this boards--even from brides who had extravagant venues/dresses/flowers! Sometimes it's about adding your personal touch.

I guess I'm left scratching my head after this post.  What WAS the point? If you are a bride (and not some vendor/researcher) I do wish you luck and I'm sure you will see you will get some great advice from these ladies.

Da0419

Wow people get really riled up...

I will respectfully disagree with your comment regarding the photographer.  I booked ours as a result of several friends' recommendations and after seeing their full wedding albums and the digital negatives from their respective weddings.  The pricetag for the entire day of photography is significantly less than $1500, and the quality of photos is amazing.

I also think that if you are budget conscious it doesn't mean that you have to necessarily sacrifice anything.  I do agree with other posters that you have to prioritize the elements of your wedding and get creative with the rest.

Lastly, I have to say that I sort of love it when people come on the boards and shake things up a little because, quite frankly, even though it's nice to hear about people's progress and choices (Lord knows I post my fair share), it's nice to see a post every once in a while that elicits such a great reaction from people.

Good luck wit the planning, ladies!

Da0419

Oh, PS, "secret observer" means that you're a lurker, and being a lurker for 3 months makes me rather suspicious.

marafaye

Inexpensive doesn't necessarily mean crappy. What a waste of posting space.

tonyandstef

No offense, but I don't see the point to this post.  This site is useful to us all-- especially to those who are looking for great vendors at reasonable prices... because THEY ARE out there.

My photographer charges around $1500 and she's fabulous.  I've already gotten my engagment pics and they are unique, and fun, and she's been "in the business" long enough... Not everyone charges an arm and a leg for quality.  Not to mention she's completely booked through 2010.

My florist was only charging me like $35 for centerpieces, and once again... She's been in the business and has come highly recommended.

Perhaps I just wanted to research long enough and find the best deal, yet with quality.

We have enough snarky people posting, and I'm sorry, but I don't get your point, but it comes off in a negative manner.  If you have thousands to spend on vendors, great for you.  I'm glad you can pick the best of the best.  I simply couldn't afford my every desire.  Hence, the greatness of Knotties, and all their help.

Good luck to you and all your planning.  These girls ARE a great help, if you ever need it.

chosen175

So you've supposedly done all this lurking, your wedding is over a year away, and your "intro post" is to tell other brides to spend more on vendors?  You sound like a vendor yourself and if you are, and you're pretending to be a bride to gain access to the boards - know that you aren't welcome.  And if you ARE a bride-to-be, you haven't done a very good job at introducing yourself.  If all you're bringing is negativity and a bad attitude, take it somewhere else.

I have a MINISCULE budget and am managing to have GREAT vendors.  I have, personally, seen their work in the past - so I know it's good work.  I've done a ton of research and the knotties here have been invaluable with their recommendations.  Have you ever posted to ASK any of us for recommendations or are you just trashing the few low-budget vendors you've contacted?  Sure, some of them can be awful but there ARE good ones out there if you look a little harder.

sloanfisher

I am going to say this for the second time, I apologize if my post offended anyone, that was not my intention. However, I posted my honest opinions and experiences with wedding planning and was just seeing if anyone had the same problems. I have anticipated my wedding for quite some time and have been looking at this board for ideas.  This is a public forum and non-brides do have access to the boards. And I really don't feel that looking at posts in antcipation of your wedding is lurking nor do I look at members who post 100+ posts as obsessive. I just look at that as good planning. Again, I have seen some amazing, reasonably priced DIY projects, photography, florals, invitations and so on. However, at this point, my experience has been the opposite and maybe I have not researched the market enough. And, I have absolutely no talent when it comes to DIY. I probably should have worded my post differently, but I cant' change the post.

Thanks for the people who did give me some advice. And for those who think I am a vendor, I really don't know what exactly I would be trying to sell-photography, florals, stationary, invitations and DIY projects? All of the above? 

Good luck with your planning and thanks again for some of your advice and suggestions.

chosen175

The thing is, you didn't actually ASK for advice.  What exactly are you looking for?  Recommendations?  Experiences with certain vendors?  Not once did your posts ask for any sort of help with choosing vendors.  This seems to be the only thing you asked for in your initial post:
I invite you all to argue with me if you think I am out of line or wrong in any way.
So how on earth do you expect people to give you advice when THAT is all you gave us to work with?  How about an intro post like "Hi, my name is Sloanfisher.  I just got engaged and am looking for a photographer and florist who would be willing to come to Bucktown for our wedding next June."

Personally, I'd be happy to steer you towards some more affordable (yet amazing) vendors who WILL work with any location in the city - you just have to ASK, not just post about how everyone needs to either settle for garbage or up their budgets.  As far as I know, none of the knotties here are mind-readers.

duckie1905

ditto chosen.  You didn't ask for any advice.  You issued a warning about staying away from budget vendors, which I actually found pretty ridiculous considering the amount of time you claim to have been lurking.  If you were, in fact, following the board for a while you'd know that many of the brides here had beautiful weddings on small budgets.  While I understand you might be frustrated with trying to find good vendors at good prices, all you had to do was ask for recs.  The ladies on this board would've been happy to give you some names.  Instead, you came out guns-blazing, attacking the idea that you could have quality vendors for a good price which is insulting to those of us that did research and booked weddings with vendors that do exactly that.

jbll326

You did invite everyone to argue with you in your initial post, so I guess you get what you ask for as well.

With that said, I agree that it is difficult to find quality vendors in Chicago at budget friendly prices, but this really shouldn't surprise anyone since the cost of living here is higher than most places in the country.

However, I have been very successful with finding amazing, budget-friendly vendors and I can attribute that to being very resourceful, very patient, doing tons of research beyond the Knot message boards, and a willingness to compromise. Things do not come easy or free; you have to be willing to take the time to really research (not just lurk), reach out to people you know for their help, advice, and referrals, and be willing to compromise some aspects to get what you want for the important stuff (we're having a Friday wedding in March which allows us to practically have our pick of vendors at a much reduced price).

My favorite vendor so far that I think is very reasonably priced is my photographer - a company I had never heard of and no one on the Knot had either. However, I did my research, I met with them, I asked good questions, and ended up with an "up and coming" photographer who does incredible work. I didn't find him on the Knot, or through a referral from a friend, or any other traditional wedding planning resource - I found him on Facebook.

I picture wedding planning to be a graph with "Ease of Planning" on the X axis and "Cost" on the Y axis - and your wedding is the diagonal line cutting through the chart. What I"m saying is - if you want a budget friendly wedding, you have to work for it. If you want it to be easy to plan your wedding, your going to need a big budget. Notice I don't have quality of vendors here, because I strongly believe you can find quality vendors at any price range, you just have to be willing to look. 

I would politely suggest that if you want constructive feedback, to not word future posts in such a stand-offish way, and to be more specific about what your asking. Good luck with planning!

bdklatt

All I have to say is....wow!  This is not normal for the chicago boards......

I had some big ticket vendors and some well priced vendors and I have to say I was happy with ALL of them!!!  Including my lower costing vendors. 

I'm just going to leave it at that....a lot of other pp had good points and there's no need to repeat them. 

principessareale

i disagree with your post. someone posted a while back that their expensive florist was 2 hours late and threw off their day. so no, you don't always get what you pay for in all instances.

kthame

Another observation; she hasn't posted anything other than this and a comment on circus's married bio post.