Vendor deposits

rglasgow

hi ladies!  ok so I have not secured my venue yet as it will be at an event home and we have to wait til the week we want it this year to arrive to make sure we can have it!(ugh!!! annoying!). However, I was wondering if anyone is doing an event home and if so, if they put deposits down with other vendors prior to signing a contract with the rental home? 
I want to make sure the other vendors I am interested in will still be available for my date but I'm nervous that something will fall through with the date of the rental home and will have issues moving the dates secured with the other vendors.
Any help?!?!

Why can't the rental place just say sure.. you can have the house that week!

keb2482

At least they will let  you rent it.  Some companies won't let you reserve the house until they get the contract back from the owners and the new rate.

JAK33

Heyy, what week are you looking to book?  I would hold off on depositing vendors until you are positive on your venue and date.  If you are more than a year out, you will likely be ok with securing your vendors for your ideal date when you book your house, especially if it is not a Saturday you are looking at.  Once you deposit and sign a contract for that date with a vendor, if something changes, they can legally take your deposit and not end up doing anything.

If you have your heart set on a certain vendor, you may let them know of your situation and they could maybe pencil you in for that date, but if they get a bride that is willing to deposit, may have to let it go.

What vendors do you have your eye on you want to lock down can I ask?  The only issue I have had so far was with Rev Jay who seems to be booked over a year in advance for popular dates.  The caters, djs, coordinator, photographers I have all found are mostly open right now that far in advance. 

OBX2011

Agreed JAK....very much agreed!

And like Keb said, the reason you can't book the house now is b/c they wait until October to send out the contracts in case the owner changes the rates.  This happened to me and I was just devastated....the owner raised the price by $2000 and that was waaayyyy out of our budget for a house to use.  Everything happens for a reason though and I'm glad it did b/c I am just as happy with our new house  

You should be able to put down a $50 pre-reservation fee and they will hold the house for you until the contracts go out.  If the price is raised, they will refund you back the $50.  Which company are you using?  Call and ask if you can do the pre-reservation fee.....

ms_teach

We had our vendors "pencil us in" for our date while we were waiting to get our date  and details confirmed.  Only one of them (our photographers) called to let us know someone else wanted our date.  They gave us the chance to put down a deposit first since we had already been talking with them, and we did.

I'd talk with your vendors and get the date from your rental company for when they'll have contracts locked in.

rglasgow

I definitely want Rev Jay for our ceremony and he said since we will be doing it on a Tuesday that he should be available, he also said that as soon as we know the venue to let him know.   I am looking to secure Sugar Snap for the 18th of Sept next year, but don't want to jump on anything and lose a deposit or wait and lose the vendor! 
As for photography I am still searching and found a few and so far what I've heard from a lot of vendors is that they are pretty much open and available for my date so far.  So I'll have to keep my fingers crossed!!

JAK- thanks for the input I'll def see if anyone can pencil us in and keep us posted if someone else is interested in that date. 
OBX- also gona look into the prereservation fee!!  what house were you looking at that they raised soo much?? we are looking at one house through Carolina Designs and another through Village Realty as a backup plan but if they raise them as much as you said yours was raised its going way over our budget! so then I guess its back to the drawing board!