Weddings · 5 min read
The questions to ask your wedding vendors
Most wedding regrets are not about the flowers or the band. They are about the thing nobody asked before the deposit went through: what happens if it rains, who is actually shooting on the day, whether the quote covers the tax. This post lists the questions worth asking each vendor before you book, and shows how to keep the answers somewhere you will find them again.
Ask before you pay, and get it in writing
A verbal yes at a venue walk-through is easy to forget and impossible to hold anyone to. The questions below matter most before money changes hands, because that is the point where you still have leverage and choice. Once a deposit is paid, a surprise cost or a missing service is your problem to absorb.
Write the answers down as you go. The Wedding Planner has a Questions to Ask section with 30-plus questions preloaded across Venue, Photographer, Caterer, Florist, Music and General. You tick each one as it is answered and add a note with the actual reply, so you are comparing what vendors said rather than what you half-remember.
Venue, catering and photography
Venue and catering are usually the biggest line items, and both scale with your guest count, so pin the numbers down first. For the venue, ask what is included in the hire fee, what the wet-weather plan is, when you get access to set up, and whether there is a curfew or noise limit. For the caterer, ask about price per head, whether tastings are included, how dietary requirements are handled, and what staffing and service charges sit on top.
For the photographer, the questions people skip are the ones that hurt later. Ask who is actually shooting your wedding, how many hours of coverage the quote buys, when you will receive the images and in what form, and what the backup plan is if they fall ill. You can carry the coverage-hours and shot detail straight into the Photo Plan section once booked.
Florist, music and the general contract questions
For the florist, confirm what the quote covers, whether setup and pack-down are included, and what happens to arrangements after the ceremony. For music or a DJ, ask how long they play, what equipment they bring, whether they take requests and do-not-play lists, and what they need from the venue in terms of power and space.
The General questions apply to every vendor and are the ones most likely to save you money. Ask the deposit amount and when the balance is due, the cancellation and refund terms, whether they carry insurance, and whether the quote includes tax. Record each vendor's deposit, final-payment date and whether the contract is signed in the Vendors section so nothing slips.
The app that helps
Wedding Planner
Everything you need to plan your wedding, in one place.
- Questions to Ask gives you 30-plus preloaded questions across venue, photographer, caterer, florist, music and general, which you tick off and annotate with each vendor's answer.
- The Vendors section records every supplier's quote, deposit, final-payment due date and whether the contract is signed, so you can compare offers side by side.
- Venue Comparison lets you line up your shortlisted venues against each other on the details that matter.
Common questions
When should I ask these questions, before or after I get a quote?
Before you commit. A quote tells you the price but not the terms, so ask about inclusions, deposits and cancellation before you pay anything. That is when you can still walk away or negotiate.
Can I add my own questions to the list?
Yes. The Questions to Ask section comes with 30-plus questions preloaded, and you can add your own, tick each as answered and note the reply alongside it.
A quick note
This is based on our own wedding and what worked for us, shared as general information rather than professional advice. Costs and customs vary a lot by location and vendor, so treat any numbers as a starting point and get your own quotes.