How long is too long?

Maggie214624

Ladies, how long is too long to to wait for a  proposal from a vendor?  My FI and I met with a vendor on Wednesday evening and we still have not received the proposal.  I sent a follow up email yesterday, but I have yet to hear anything.

I am trying to be patient but I am starting to stress because I had hoped to have my major vendors secured by now.  My FI is telling me I need to relax, but unfortunately I tend to be a high stress type of personality.  Oh, how I wish I was  a little bit more breezy about all this! 

So what do you guys think?  Should I take a chill pill?

mlharbis

Ya I would give them a week before you start really wondering. I have a problem with waiting too!!! I am like you though, I expect they want my business and would be on top of things, but they are prob really busy, so I would give them a week to get back to you for all correspondance. Much longer than that and I personally wouldn't be able to deal with it.

Pretty Parula

I agree with MLH. It took Lee Forrest a few weeks to get a proposal to us, but he told us up front that it would be a while because it was right before Thanksgiving and he was going to be decorating a bunch of houses for Christmas. And this is mega-wedding season, so I would expect most vendors to be especially slammed right about now. Patience is a virtue - but it's never been mine! lol

Maggie214624

Thanks ladies for keeping me in check!  Now I am just hoping she doesn't think I am super annoying for having emailed her yesterday.  lol

mlharbis

no i def would have emailed her yesterday! haha but thats me! it just keeps you at the top of their list or as close to the top as possible!

Pretty Parula

Nah, definitely not. They've all probably dealt with some crazy helicopter brides, so checking in after half of a week shouldn't be a big deal. And if it were my cake lady, she would probably be grateful to you for checking in because she isn't the most organised person in the world and could use the reminder. lol

Spingchicken

I think you should wait a week or week and a 1/2 before you start to worry.  They have many clients they work with and they also need time off for themselves.  

ericak926

I disagree with a lot of people here. If I took a week to get back to someone I would lose their business. I give people 2 business days to respond before I send a follow up email or phone call. If they said it would take them X amount of days to respond then that is another story but seriously, a week?! I feel that if it takes them that long to respond they are not the vendor for me. I want someone who is good at what they do and eager to earn my business. In my opinion if they show up dragging their feet they might always be that way and I'm not going to hire someone and pay them good money so I can go chase them down.
Give it another two days since you did email them on Sunday.
Good luck!

meghanmcadams

I agree with Erica, my customers (residents) get upset if I don't get back to them ASAP. I hope at least the vendor replied and mentioned that they are working on the proposal. Otherwise I would send an email (in a coupls days)  at least verifying that they received your previous email. I know I am anal about it, so I feel your pain.

stardust21587

I have had the WORST time with some people getting back to me. I went to Special Occasions here in Melbourne (rental place for just about everything) and the lady was new...didn't know prices on anything, so she took down a detailed list of what I wanted priced out and said she would get it together THAT DAY and email it to me...I never heard from her again and this was like 3 weeks ago!!! So I went to Kirby instead in Orlando...and they rocked. 

Also, AnnaCakes took almost 2 months (not kidding) to get back to my first email! I had totally forgotten about her, haha. Although, I could've been in her Spam box ...or whatever.

But I def know what you mean...I like to have everything set up and ready to go ahead of time...takes the stress off!!

ericak926

Anna Cakes SUCKS at responding to emails Sarah. Her cakes are freaking amazing but holy crud, she is totally unprofessional with email. I called her out on it because I had to email her 2 times before she would respond and she replied with "yeah, I suck." No joke. I saved the email. If her cake wasn't so good and I already didn't sign a contract I would of gone with someone else. I can't stand that attitude. I mean, reallly, I wish I could use that as an excuse for not doing my job.

AileeneG

I agree with Erica as well. I need at least an acknowledgement of my communication within 2 or 3 days or I'm already on to the next vendor. When I was a sales rep, If I didnt' get answers to people the same day, they would get upset. At my current company, peopel usually want a response by the next day. So I don't like to wait a week or more to see if they will even respond at all.

Theresa626

depends on the vendor.  Usually they tell you upfront how long it will take them to give you a proposal.  That said, if they didn't, I would've expected a response by now.  Is it a florist?  those usually take longer.  If not, I might move on if I don't hear back from them soon. 

jmucheech21

I agree with Erica.  I say 2 full business days is plenty of time.  Unless they say upfront, "I'll get this to you in a week" or something like that.  But, otherwise, 2 days and then I have moved on.  There are SO MANY vendors and they should be grateful for your business.  

Maggie214624

Thankfully we got the proposal today.  She did apologize and explained the reason for the delay, which I appreciated.  Like some of you have said, getting responses timely or a response at all from vendors has been so frustrating. 

I used to work in event planning and these delays just never happened.  I realize our wedding is not going to be featured on Platinum Weddings, but seriously, the economy is not great people and you should be jumping on every lead!  At least that is what I would be doing.  I guess this how the wedding industry works, but it makes me CRAZY!!

x3Harmony534

I've found that by asking "When can we expect to hear back from you?" we have received much timelier responses. Perhaps the pressure of knowing you are expecting to hear back at a specific time helps... but I am not a good waiter & I'd much prefer to have a timeline in mind. It's worked pretty well so far, give it a shot. lol