I’m going to take the element of surprise off the table. Having your friends as vendors is a NAY in my book. While you might get a better price, there are a number of cons that far outweigh the price factor.
When choosing your vendor team, there are a few things you’ll want to consider. Do you work well together? Do you have similar design preferences? Do you trust this person to show up and give their best on your wedding day?
You may be thinking that your friend can do all of those things for you. However, over the years, I’ve learned that the strength of a friendship is not an indicator of the strength of a working relationship. After watching couples suffer disappointment at the hands of friends who are vendors, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just not a very good idea.
When you’re with your friends, you feel comfortable being your true self, flaws and all. You may show up to their house 20 minutes later than you said or cancel last minute. You may vent about your job or share secrets you don’t want anyone else to know. However, are these things you would do with someone you’ve hired to be an important part of an important day in your life?
The boundary between friend and vendor-client can easily get blurred. What happens most frequently is a lack in communication regarding contractual details - or a general lack in contract. Because this person is your friend, you think there’s nothing that could go wrong. However, the way your friend runs their business may not be what you would want from a vendor and you’ll be left disappointed.
Other things to keep in mind is that your friends want to celebrate your wedding with you. If they’re busy working it, they won’t have the option to do that or, they could spend more time celebrating than fulfilling their vendor duties. Additionally, a poor experience working together could lead to a strained or ruined friendship after the wedding.
At the end of the day, you may save a little bit of money but is the risk worth the savings when you consider the fact that you only have one chance to get this wedding right?
Photographer credit Kir2Ben Photography
About Sincerely Pete
Sincerely Pete is a full-service wedding planning and design company in Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, VA who believes in a personal, curated & customized approach to each wedding couple we work with, taking their values & personalities into account and keeping the relationship as the focus of the wedding. We plan Washington DC weddings, Virginia weddings, Maryland weddings and destination weddings all over the world.
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