A white floral arch draped in fabric over a round table with a black cloth, against a brick wall

The vendor guide

From proposal to I do.

Every vendor you will hire, roughly in the order you will hire them. What each usually costs, and what to ask before you sign.

Start at the venue Budget calculator

How to read this

Each share is cents on the dollar. Each question changes the quote.

The budget shares are the thirteen lines the planning guide’s calculator uses, drawn from The Knot’s published breakdowns. The questions are short on purpose.

Ask before you book

The venue, the caterer, the bar and the photographs.

Four of our own weddings. Each photograph links to the vendor section it belongs to.

A server in black setting a green napkin basket on a long wooden table under white drapes and a chandelier
Setting a long table before the doors open.
A server offering a tray of passed hors d’oeuvres to a laughing guest at a wedding reception
Passed hors d’oeuvres, cocktail hour
A server in a black polo pouring water from a silver pitcher into a stemmed glass in a room with a brass chandelier
Pouring water before service
A bride and groom smiling at their head table with plates in front of them and a floral arch behind
Photography and video

First, because everything else waits on it

The venue.

Book the venue before anything else: the date does not exist until it is signed. Tour with your rough guest count in hand and ask what the rental fee buys. Some venues include tables, chairs, linens and a coordinator; others hand you an empty room. That missing list is where two similar quotes stop matching.

Ask the venue before you sign

  • What does the rental fee include, and what is the full list of extra fees: cake cutting, corkage, overtime, security, cleaning?
  • What is the real capacity for a seated dinner with a dance floor, not the standing number?
  • Must we use your caterer, bar or vendor list, or is it open?
  • What time can vendors get in, what time must music stop, and what time must everyone be out?
  • How many restrooms are there? Four per hundred guests is a common rule of thumb.
  • What is the rain plan, and who decides when to call it?
A server in black setting a green napkin basket on a long wooden table under white drapes and a chandelier
Setting a long table before the doors open.
A basket of bread on a white tablecloth beside water glasses and a pillar candle
Bread down before the first course

Second, and it books early

The caterer.

All seven caterer questions are on the planning guide; the five that change the quote are below.

Ask the caterer before you sign

  • Where is the food cooked, and how long does it hold between cooking and serving?
  • What is the service charge, what does it cover, and is any of it a gratuity to staff?
  • Who is actually in charge on the day, by name?
  • What is the final headcount deadline, and what does a change cost after it?
  • What is not in this number: linens, china, glassware, cake cutting, travel, overtime?

Priced separately

The bar.

There are two ways to pay for a bar: per head for a fixed number of hours, or by what is actually poured. Per head is predictable and usually costs more.

Consumption is cheaper for a crowd that does not drink much, and dangerous for one that does. Decide which crowd you have before the venue decides for you.

Ask the bar before you sign

  • Is the bar priced per head or by consumption, and can we see both numbers?
  • How many bartenders for our headcount? One per seventy-five guests is a common rule of thumb.
  • Can we bring our own alcohol, and what is the corkage fee if we can?
  • What time is last call, and what does an extra hour cost?
  • What do the non-drinkers get, and is coffee service included or extra?
A server in a black polo pouring water from a silver pitcher into a stemmed glass in a room with a brass chandelier
Pouring water before service

The one line that survives the day

Photography and video.

Everything else is gone by midnight. The photographs are what you have in thirty years. Look at a full wedding gallery, not the highlight reel, because the highlight reel is the twenty best frames of a nine-hour day and you are buying the rest of the day too.

Ask the photographer before you sign

  • Can we see one complete wedding from start to finish, not a portfolio?
  • How many hours are in the package, and what does an extra hour cost on the day?
  • Is there a second shooter, and who is the backup if you are ill?
  • When do we get the photographs, and do we own the files or license them?
  • Have you shot at our venue, and if not, will you visit it before the day?

DJ or band

Music and entertainment.

A good DJ is also your MC: the timeline that night runs through their microphone. Ask how they read a room that is not dancing, because that is the job. A band is louder, later and more expensive, and whether that is worth it is your call.

Ask the DJ or band before you sign

  • Who exactly is playing our wedding? The person we meet, or whoever is free that night?
  • How do you handle a room that is not dancing?
  • Will you act as MC, and can we hear you announce something?
  • What is the backup if equipment fails or you are ill?
  • How long do you need to set up, and does the venue allow it?

Not a relative, not a guest

Planner or day-of coordinator.

A day-of coordinator tells the DJ the toasts moved, finds the florist’s van and keeps the timeline while you are in photographs. Whether you need full planning depends on how much of the year you want to spend on this. Either way, the person you meet should be the one there on the day.

Ask the planner before you sign

  • Will you be there on the day yourself, or one of your team?
  • How many weddings do you take on the same weekend?
  • When does day-of actually start: the week before, the day before, or that morning?
  • How do you work with vendors we have already booked?
  • What happens when something goes wrong that is nobody’s fault?
A round table with a black cloth, sage napkins, white flowers and candles, brick wall and gold chairs behind
A centerpiece set, room still empty

Buy in season, use them twice

Flowers and decor.

Flowers in season cost less and look better. Ceremony flowers can be carried to the reception and used again, which halves one bill. Ask for a mock-up of the centerpiece before you sign off on the order, because a photograph of somebody else’s centerpiece is not yours.

Ask the florist before you sign

  • What is in season on our date, and what would you build with it?
  • Can the ceremony flowers be moved to the reception, and who moves them?
  • Can we see a mock-up of one centerpiece before the order is placed?
  • How long do you need for set-up, and does that fit the venue’s access time?
  • Who takes it all away at the end of the night, and is that included?

Start earlier than feels necessary

Attire, hair and beauty.

Order attire early and put the fittings on the calendar, because alterations take longer than anyone plans for. Book hair and makeup trials with the same person who will be there that morning, and time the trial so you can live with the result for a day before you decide.

Ask the shop before you sign

  • How long from ordering to delivery, and how long do alterations take after that?
  • Is the person doing the trial the person coming that morning?
  • How long does hair and makeup take for the whole party, and what time does that mean we start?
  • What is the total with alterations, not the ticket price?

So nobody in your party drives

Transport.

If your guests are at a hotel and your venue is not, somebody has to move them, and the cheapest way to move a hundred people is one bus running more than once. We run shuttles; the rate and the pickup timing are on the shuttle page.

Ask the shuttle company before you sign

  • How many does one vehicle carry, and how many runs does our headcount need?
  • Is there a minimum, and what is the rate for the hours beyond it?
  • Can one bus loop two hotels, or is that two bookings?
  • Is drinking allowed on board?
  • Who is the driver’s contact that night when the timeline moves?

The small lines

Cake, paper, rings, the officiant, and the money you do not spend.

Cake and late-night food, about 2 cents

Ask whether the venue charges to cut it. Late-night food around ten is the best money on the whole list.

Invitations and stationery, about 2 cents

Postage is the line people forget. Weigh one finished invitation before you print two hundred.

Ceremony and officiant, about 2 cents

Wisconsin marriage licenses are issued by the county clerk with a waiting period, so apply early. Ask the officiant to attend the rehearsal.

Rings, about 3 cents

Order early enough to resize once.

Contingency, about 3 cents

Keep it. Something always comes up, and it is usually a rental.

Run your own numbers

One building, one call

Four vendors, one call.

The rehearsal dinner room, the rooms upstairs, the caterer and the shuttle are the same group.

Rehearsal dinner

  • Oak Barrel Public House, the whole second floor
  • 30 to 180 guests, family style, the night before
Rehearsal dinners

Rooms upstairs

  • Third Street Retreat: five apartments above Oak Barrel
  • Two bedrooms and two baths each, sleeping 12 to 16
Third Street Retreat

The wedding

  • Cooked at your venue from the mobile kitchen
  • Kitchen, staff and bar from one team
Off-site catering

Questions

Booking vendors, answered plainly.

In what order should we book wedding vendors?

Venue first. Everything else on this list waits on that signature. Then the vendors who only do one wedding a day: caterer, photographer, band or DJ, and a planner if you want one. Flowers, attire, transport and stationery follow. Cake, rings and the officiant can wait until the middle months.

What percentage of a wedding budget goes to the venue and catering?

Same split as the planning guide’s calculator: about 35 percent to venue, catering, staffing and rentals, and another 10 to the bar.

How far in advance should we book the venue?

Twelve months or more for a summer Saturday, and earlier still for the most-wanted dates. Fridays, Sundays and winter dates are far easier to get and usually cheaper.

Do we need a wedding planner?

Not always, but most weddings with more than a handful of vendors need a day-of coordinator: one person who is not a guest, holds the timeline, and answers the vendors while you are in photographs. Full planning is for couples who do not want to spend a year on this.

The one that is us

Ask us the caterer questions.

Where the food is cooked, what the service charge covers, who is there on the day. We would rather you asked.

Request a quote

Or call Alexa directly at 414-518-6746