Budget Weddings Forum

Drawbacks to paying vendors in full?

chicky1988chicky1988 member
First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
edited October 2014 in Budget Weddings Forum
My fiancé and I are getting married September 12th, 2015 and are doing most of it ourselves and have hired a DOC to implement everything.  One thing that makes us nervous is our budget.  Not the amount but more managing it.  I was thinking one way that we could feel more secure is to pay vendors upfront rather than a deposit now and the rest the day of the wedding.  Are there any drawbacks to this plan?  Has paying in advance bit anyone in the a**?  My biggest concern is paying upfront then between now and the wedding something coming up on the vendors end.  Would we be out the whole amt or would they be expected to pay that back?

TIA!

*Edited for spelling*
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Re: Drawbacks to paying vendors in full?

  • I don't think there is any harm in paying in full, in fact I've known a few people that did.  The only thing I would recommend is reading the contracts and making sure EVERYTHING is spelled out to your liking.  Don't be afraid to offer changes/additions if you don't like something.  The Contract is meant to protect the both you and the vendor in case something happens.

    Good luck!!!

  • Depends on the wording of the contract. I suppose you could add a clause that says something like, "If either party cancels the event before X date, $Y will be refunded."
  • I'd worry about cancellation clauses so make sure if you have to back out that a certain refund is available that would match what you would lose for cancelling and losing a deposit


    Is this jst for DJ and Photograher?  I know with my venue I wont know the final price until we have final headcount (# of chairs and tables etc factor in).

    not sure If this would help but could you set up a wedding account kind of like how people do it for Christmas or vacation where you can't withdraw the $$ until a certain date.  Would that help you manage it better?


  • Worst case, the vendor goes out of business or otherwise flakes before delivering. Then you're not out of a deposit, but the full amount. That final payment is almost a guarantee that they're showing up and doing good work.
  • I contributed payments to all vendors... Paid them in full, close to, but before the wedding. I had absolutely no problems, but I would not have paid everyone in full way in advance...
  • I would not pay in full much in advance of your wedding or final product delivery (as is sometimes the case with photographers).  Not only is that final payment a guarantee of service, it is also leverage of sorts to ensure you get a good quality product. 

    If you are concerned about your budget and not taking a financial hit all at once, I recommend opening a savings or checking account specifically for wedding expenses.  When you know how much a service will cost, you can always move money into that account to be held until payments are due.  This way, your wedding funds are secure but also separate from the funds you use for day-to-day expenses.  Then, after the wedding the account could be converted for a new purpose.
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    Anniversary


  • In the wedding industry, many vendors go out of business or change hands.  The coordinator I interviewed quit the day after I hired her.  Imagine if I had given her the money up front?  I have read of several brides who found their photographer had skipped town, or the bakery had closed without notice.  Just put the money in a savings account, and pay when the bills are due.
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  • From my experience, I feel better about only paying the deposit up front. We paid our photog a 50% deposit for wedding and engagement photo package. She did a terrible job on our e-photos, so we ended up letting her go and hiring someone else for the wedding. It hurt but it was easier to forfeit the 50% deposit than if we had paid the entire fee upfront.

    What happens if a vendor cancels or goes out of business is something you need to ask before hiring, and make sure it's spelled out in your contract. But I don't think you're any more likely to have a vendor bail on you just because you've paid the deposit instead of the full fee. Once a vendor has your contract and deposit, they are legally obligated to fulfill the contract.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker



  • Instead of paying them in full now, can you move the money you will need to pay them to a separate account so you're not tempted to spend it ?
  • Ditto everyone suggesting you make a special account to keep the money in.
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • my fi and i are making a seperate account that both of us can use but only use the money on our wedding. easier that way. i would not give the full money only a deposit. i would be scared they would go out of business or be a shitty place. 
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  • I wanted to pay my photog in full to get a 10% discount, but my mom talked me out of it. "What if something happens on either end?" she said. 

    She was right. When we cancelled the wedding, the photog offered a $200 refund of the $500 deposit we'd paid. Four months later we haven't seen it. We'd be out $2,500 had we paid in full .

    Moral of the story is that you never know what could happen. Either make sure the contracts are written well or just keep wedding money in a separate account. We had the separate account and it was easy to keep track. 
    Image result for someecard betting someone half your shit youll love them forever
  • Instead of paying them in full now, can you move the money you will need to pay them to a separate account so you're not tempted to spend it ?

    This was going to be my suggestion also. Put it in an account where you can forget about it until you need it. You may want to even start two wedding accounts, one for saving & one for putting money you need to finish paying off vendors later.
  • My vendors requested that we not pay in full.  They actually didn't even want us to pay for over half of our owed amount before we hit the 6 month mark.  

    You and your fiance should set up an Ally checking account (you earn interest) and make payments to your vendors from there.  This way you may make a little money, but you won't have easy access to it.

    I also like this because I was able to use my credit card to make some payments to vendors and pay for our save the dates and other items (yay- points!) but I just reimbursed myself from our joint checking account.  It's nice having the separate account for our "savings" so we don't have to worry about that money going anywhere.  We each just deposit a portion of our paycheck on automatic debit twice a month and use the account for our rent and wedding/house savings.  
  • Keep the money somewhere you'll earn a few bucks interest and DON'T LOOK AT IT. 

    All our vendors required full payment anywhere from a day to 2 weeks before the wedding. Our contracts protected us from that point until the actual wedding - we didn't have to dangle a check like a carrot to get them to show up.

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  • Thank you ladies!! We opened up a checking and savings account and anything that is for a vendor we are moving it to our wedding savings so that the promised $ is separate.  Ya'll convinced me :) Thank you!
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  • A lot of our vendors need to be paid in full before our wedding (most need to be paid 30 days before) - our photographer, the venue's final payment, the videographer, the DJ, the ceremony musicians, the florist....I don't think its a problem to pay them up front!
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