Vendors

Ehhhhhhh no.. we have it so it’s all paid deposits obviously and then the remainder plus tip and everything separately to give to each vendor when the time comes. To be honest- I’ve never heard of a horror story happening from laying it all upfront BUT my mind races and I think of like worst of the worst lol like something happening to the venue or one of your vendors (not you guys!!! God no I didn’t mean it in like a relationship way I mean paying full and getting flaked on or not what you expected) that’s just me though!! I would personally wait !

We have been making payments to our DJ for the last few months. I think we owe him about 250 out of 1100 we did at first. Our photographer asked that we wait to make payments to her till after the 1st of the year for tax purposes. Which is totally understandable.

I think that would depend on how far out your wedding is. We're getting ready to pay all our balances off and have about three months until our wedding. However, if you have an extended amount of time, you're better off holding onto your money. Put it in a high interest savings account until your due date gets closer. You won't become a millionaire on the interest, but it might give you a couple hundred dollars for those unexpected costs.

The only thing we paid in full early was the photographer. He offered a SUBSTANTIAL discount for full payment on booking (33%). He had been the photographer for one of daughter's best friend's weddings, so she was very familiar with him and his work. When she booked him, he'd shot over 400 weddings and had absolutely nothing but rave reviews (not just online, daughter called several of his past clients). His contract also clearly outlined all the provisions if something were to happen and he couldn't cover the wedding. We wouldn't have done that with every vendor, but felt like it was very low risk with him.

I paid each vendor in full immediately (with the exception of bar/catering as I obviously need head counts but out large deposits down) I read each contract in detail and felt comfortable doing this with each vendor. I actually had my venue paid in full nearly 2 years ahead of time and they cancelled on us a few months ago - I was able to get every penny back. For me personally I absolutely hate having debts and didn’t want to shell out thousands of dollars a few weeks prior to the wedding.

I understand the risks but we paid all vendors off (with the exception of the final venue payment - since menu choices dictated the amount) about 6 months before the wedding.

I do not recommend doing this. There are too many risks paying someone in full, yet, basically no risks setting that money aside in a savings account and paying closer to your wedding date. There have been a few stories on here from brides who have paid in full with nothing to show for it.

We've only so far got two of our vendors fully paid off that's hair and make-up and then our Videographer. We still owe money towards our photographer and wedding planner and our DJ. I still owe money towards my wedding dress but I have till April to pay on that also doesn't include atlernations either😱


A lot of vendors give you a deadline on when your balance is due. I would suggest looking at what vendors still need to be pay off and which one still has the biggest balance due and pay half of that off and then each week or two start paying each vendor a amount of $$.

I wanted to but my FH was against it. The only people we have paid out right is our photographer b/c she is a family friend and she's doing 9 hours with us for only $500, and our bartender (also a family friend). All of our other vendors we paid the deposit, made the payments (if there were any set up between them and us) and the rest is due the day of. The only thing for us, with the exception of our photographer & bartender, that will be paid prior to the wedding is the venue and the alcohol b/c we are supplying that ourselves from Total Wine.

No. If you pay the vendor outright, why would they bother to provide a service if they already have your money? Follow the vendors payment schedule. All of our vendors with the exception of the venue had a deposit up front, then we made small payments (if the vendor had specific payment dates in contract), otherwise all the vendors just had a deposit up front and then remaining balance due the day of wedding. Our venue had specific dates as to what was due when according to the contract, and the final balance was do the Wednesday before our Saturday wedding.

Thanks for the feed back everyone!!!

I would be worried about this in case something went wrong. I'd be scared that I wouldn't get any of my money back. FH and I created a savings account just for the wedding. That way we know we have the money, but we also get (very small amounts) of interest on it as well.

No. I kept the money in a savings account until we needed to make the payments. 2 reasons— earning interest, and keeping vendors accountable. We had a number of vendors
that had a deposit and remainder due upon delivery of services. If we’d already paid them ahead of time, I’d worry that they wouldn’t necessarily do as good of a job/be prompt/show up, because they already have their money.