NER: What to book next?

CallaLily25

So, we're in the process of finalizing our contract with the venue. Even though I've read numerous lists as to what to do next, I thought it may be helpful to ask those who've done this before and could give firsthand input as to which type of vendors book up fast, which can wait, etc.

After booking the venue, which vendors would you suggest booking next? I.e. DJ, Photographer, Videographer, etc.

Thank you!

AddieCake

We used a very popular florist and photographer who booked up fast, so I would definitely start looking at those as soon as you can. 

Jager1219

It also probably depends on your priorities.  For me, the photog and band were really important.  I didn't care about the flowers.

LisaA2014

I'd be wary of booking anything else until your closer to your date. Your almost 3 years out, that's alot of time for people to "disappear" with your deposits.

allychase

3 years out? I got engaged 10 months before our date, in April, and had no problems. Wait two years before doing anything else. Seems like overkill to even be planning this far out

Jager1219

3 years is early, but we had to change our date 1 year prior.  Due to this, we lost our band which we booked a year and 1/2 out.  They told us that they had to turn away 3 other people who wanted to book them but we had already.  We lost them because when we changed our date, they were already booked for our new date.  It really depends on the vendor and like anything, the good ones tend to get booked the quickest (and by good, it's not always the most expensive vendors).

AddieCake

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_ner-what-to-book-next?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:f31b8b05-527e-43e0-a347-0fccb2908b33Post:79355385-0c19-4560-aaad-aa7a754d7732">Re: NER: What to book next?</a>:
[QUOTE]I'd be wary of booking anything else until your closer to your date. Your almost 3 years out, that's alot of time for people to "disappear" with your deposits.
Posted by LisaA2014[/QUOTE]

<div>3 years out?!  I didn't even see that. Yeah, you've got plenty of time for most things. The venue would be the only thing you would possibly need to book over a year out, and you've already done that. </div>

CallaLily25

It's saying my wedding is 3 years out? I will change that as soon as I get home as I can't seem to figure out how to do it on my phone. I had just put in a random date when I first got engaged and joined, but I thought I changed it to the real date the other day. We're a little over a year out. Sorry for the confusion!

GypsySoul01

I would book your photographer. Mine tends to book up 12-18 months in advance and I know many of the others that I was considering do as well. Photography was a priority so I made sure to book early.

KatWAG

I began by booking things that can only accomodate one wedding per date. (I dont know if that really makes sense)

For example, I booked our band really early on because a band cant be at two places at once. I waited on the florist because a florist can handle more than one wedding in a day.

So I would book the band/ DJ and your photgrapher first then move on to your cater and florist.

mlg78

I've been engaged just five weeks and I've managed to book everything.  Just start searching for all the vendors you need and it'll all fall into place.  Also, if you're on a budget, just plan out who needs bigger deposits and whatnot and work around that way.

Maggie0829

Photographer/videographer and DJ are your next vendors you should book.  You shouldn't even talk to a florist until you have decided on a BM dress color because then that will tell them that you have finalized your color scheme for your wedding.

mlg78

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_ner-what-to-book-next?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:f31b8b05-527e-43e0-a347-0fccb2908b33Post:ba4a5f05-1c13-40c2-90fe-830d0b69d3f1">Re: NER: What to book next?</a>:
[QUOTE]Photographer/videographer and DJ are your next vendors you should book.  You shouldn't even talk to a florist until you have decided on a BM dress color because then that will tell them that you have finalized your color scheme for your wedding.
Posted by Maggie0829[/QUOTE]

<div>I agree that this is the most logical step.  The order I did things was:</div><div>Venue</div><div>Church (we weren't members so I wanted to nail them down)</div><div>Dresses for me and the girls (only at this point because DB was having their sale in January)</div><div>DJ</div><div>Photographer</div><div>Limo</div><div>Videographer</div><div>Florist</div><div>Bakery</div><div>Honeymoon</div>

CallaLily25

Thank you for all of the advice! This is so helpful!

Also, I updated my date in my profile, so it should be correct and say 2014 now.

Vireyda

The very first thing I booked once FI and I finally set a date was my photographer, but I had been stalking my photographer's blog and website for the previous four years and knew absolutley that I wanted them and that they do book up early.

Xanax4breakfast

I got engaged last month and my FI and I were shocked that venues in our area were already booked through the Spring of 2014. :-S So like you, our venue was our very first priority (which includes the church). 

Then we made a list of the vendors for which we wanted the absolute best/we didn't want to compromise on, and booked those next. For us, those were the photographer, videographer and dj. (Like the above poster, there is a photographer and videographer that I've been secretly stalking for a couple years!)

The rest we weren't in such a panic about - we're flexible on flowers, cake and ceremony musicians so I'm scoping those out at a more leisurly rate.  Although considering how quickly things book up around here, I'll most likely have contracs with all my vendors within 5 weeks of getting engaged.  

Best of luck! I've had a ton of fun setting up the vendors, although it can be pretty stressful as well. 

maddynamite

We had about 1 year to plan our wedding for this June. Our order is/was:

1. Venue (Last July)
2. Photographer(August)
3. Caterer (October)
4. Florist (January)
5. DJ (we booked him this week)