Vendorzilla
October 30th, 2007 @ 4:21 pm by Mrs. Flamingo
I’ve been engaged for almost 3 years. Yup, I know it’s a really long time, but when I got engaged, I wasn’t really ready to take the plunge both for monetary reasons and because I felt I was still too young. Nonetheless, I started planning my wedding a good year and a half if not two years in advance. I know that’s a long time, but I’m a very organized person and I wanted to get everything done as soon as possible from choosing my theme, to my colors to my vendors.
I started calling vendors left and right to book appointments, and I wasn’t lucky when it came to some of the people I called… so I have labeled every single one of them a vendorzilla! I even made them an official logo!!!
Here are some of my vendorzilla stories:
Reception site:
The first place I called was a beautiful winery on an island. It was the perfect location for my vintage glam wedding. I received a call 2 weeks before the appointment I had booked 2 months prior, to find out that they were doing renovations and I needed to change my appointment. This was understandable, so we moved the date. 1 week before the next appointment, I received a call saying that because of the snow storm, it was impossible to go the winery. Again, I understood… so we re-scheduled again. 3 days before our next appointment I received a call again… and this time it was the hot weather which was the issue. The appointment was in March and they were afraid that the ice would melt. At this point I was fed-up so I cancelled the appointment! 4 months after that, I received a call saying that they were ready to see me. That was almost 8 months from the first time I spoke with them…
Bridal dress shopping:
Being anxious to start dress shopping, I opened my phonebook and started making calls. The first place I called was Creations Vezina. They happened to be highly reputed for their service (according to some local brides in my area).When I asked for an appointment to try on some dresses, they were extremely nice, took down all my information and asked me my wedding date. When I mentioned June 2008, their tone of voice changed drastically. They refused to give me an appointment. I could understand that they didn’t want to waste their time with brides getting married over a year away, but I clearly mentioned I wanted to find my dress now. They still refused and told me to call back in 6 months.
Florist:
I was still a year away at the time. There was one florist I called to make an appointment with, and again she asked me when I was getting married. When I gave her the answer to the famous question, she said that she would not meet with me. I told her even though my wedding was far off, I wanted to book my florist now. She still said no. Then she started asking “Well do you have your dress?” Yes. “Well do you have your bridesmaid dresses?” Yes. “Well you need to do research!” Yes, I am aware and I have. She was trying to find a way to prove that I wasn’t ready enough… I almost wanted to hang up.
I have more… maybe I will do part 2 of Vendorzillas.
Have you had any vendorzilla stories?
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29 Responses to “Vendorzilla”
That is so weird–when I went dress shopping a year and a half out from my wedding, I thought people would think it was super early, but instead everyone was impressed at how organized I was and said things like, “You can never start looking for dresses too early!”
Miss Flamingo: I know all too well what you are talking about! By the time of our wedding, we will have been engaged for a little over 2.5 years…so many people have looked at me with astonishment and had the audacity to ask, “waiting for a better offer?” EXCUSE ME!!
Vendors are just the same…luckily I have found a few gems who understand that it takes a long time to plan the wedding of the century!
Yes - I started dress shopping early too. ..maybe about 1 year before my wedding date. When I tried to make an appt with Bergdorf - I was told to call back at a later date b/c it was too early for me to start looking. So, I did…I called back a couple of months later to make an appt and this time - they actually set one up for me! Wait - that’s not all…when I got to my appt, the sales person refused to help me. She let me try on a couple of dresses that I chose off the rack and when I asked her for some other dress suggestions - she said that I should make another appt for a later date and that I’d probably be more interested in the upcoming sample sales. I was FURIOUS!!!
I never went back…and as far as I’m concerned, I doubt I will ever go back for anything from them!!!
We will have been engaged for almost two years by the time we get married. I got a bunch of “call us back laters.” Guess what? I didn’t. I really don’t get it- why would they want to alienate a potential client? There are so many vendors out there, I guess that just made it easier to narrow my list down. The wedding market is pretty competitive in Chicago and I wanted to take advantage of my head start.
Kaci- “waiting for a better offer”?!?! That is insanely rude- again, thank you, dear vendor, for making it easier for me to narrow my list down.
And yes, I DO want a part two of VENDORZILLAS! I love it!
Oooh I love vendorzilla and the logo…it should become official and be a permanent feature on weddingbee. I had one photographer that would not book more then a year out…that’s too bad b/c there were plenty of others that do and I went with one of them. There was also a wedding planning company that I wanted to use but they also wouldn’t talk to you more then a year away. Such a waste…lost business for them again.
Well I am happy to hear that Im not the only one!
Kaci: wow! We should make a Vendorzillas list of the best worst sayings. It would be really funny.
I will be working on part 2 of VENDORZILLAS…. 
more stories to come
These vendors have some nerve! I’m required by my ceremony venue to use a specific florist. If I had my choice, I’d definitely use a different florist - she won’t return my calls or emails, and when I actually get in touch with her, she always complains of being SO busy and promises to call me back. My feeling is that my budget is too small for her to invest much time/effort.
Good luck to all of you!
I am a long engagement kind of girl as well, and I hate answering the when question. I’m so astonished at how many vendors would choose to pass up your business. They’re not losing anything for booking early. There’s something called a contract…hellooooooo!
Our engagement is about 20 months long. I was living in Maryland when we got engaged, but moved across the country to be with my fiance about 4 months later. Since the wedding will be in Maryland, I wanted to book the major vendors before I moved so meetings would not have to all be squeezed into random weekends home. Most vendors were very nice about it, saying it is never to early. One florist did not initially want to meet with me (I did not have my dress, bridesmaid dresses, etc…) but agreed when I explained that I was moving and wanted a chance to meet face to face before the move. I guess I’ve been pretty lucky.
I feel your pain! I hired my florist (who initially gave me the “make an appointment later, you have lots of time” speech) solely on the strong recommendations that I’d been given from many; supposedly, he was the best that my small-to-mid-sized wedding city had to offer. For our first meeting, he actually suggested that I completely change my wedding color scheme beacuse his idea was more “sophisticated.” What?! No. Pretty much all the way through, he tried to change what I wanted and was a crabby jerk. Surprise, surprise, when the wedding day came, he had completely screwed up the bouquets. Sigh. Oh well.
Oh no Kelly… that is a horrible story. Did you get compensation or something???
Your story should definetly be in the top 10 of vendorzilla.
I think that’s everyones fear, having something screwed up at your wedding. You put all your trust in these vendors… and hope for the best!
I had an 18-month-long engagement, and I had a few vendors tell me to call back when we were 1 year out. Most of the ones that did were very nice about it, and said that they just couldn’t promise anything and contract more than a year out, but I was on the top of the interest list. They all came through for me and were great. The only dept. I had trouble with was florists — I tried two or three before the one I ended with and they all said the same thing: We won’t book you that far out, and no, we won’t even tell you a ballpark figure of how much it will cost. You have to make an app’t and you can’t have one until less than 12 months ahead of the wedding. Whatever! My florist was cheaper, nicer and great, and I never looked back.
I had the same problems. No one would return my inquiries since we were “too early.” Well, we moved out of the country (which is why I was trying to get everything done in the first place), and now I can’t meet with any other vendors. No florist, no baker, the person at the event site won’t return my email, and after getting my dress altered, I most likely won’t have another chance to try it on until my wedding.
If we’re trying to sign contracts and make payments in advance, shouldn’t vendors *want* to have us as patrons?
i think this is a weird trend because the moment you get engaged everyone tells you to “book everything early!” because all the good vendors will be taken if you wait.
our vendorzilla-ish moment happened when we tried to set up a meeting with an out of florist my FI had close connections with about 1 year out. even tho they are 2 hours from the wedding, their work is just gorgeous & we were going to try to figure out a way to make it work. they encouraged us to wait until we picked colors & dresses, which bugged us at the time because we just wanted to book them (so they wouldnt get “taken”), until we found out a month ago they have closed. now we dont feel obligated to go with a friend & instead can opt for a local vendor which will probably work out for the best.
please make a part 2!!
my own vendorzilla encounter happened a couple months ago…we’re getting married on a vineyard in a small, isolated town where there are only 4 hotels, 3 of which have 20 rooms or less. the 4th hotel is a resort with 100 rooms. so just to be safe we booked all of the rooms at the resort after we booked the vineyard.
anyway, 6 months later, we get a call from frantic family members who tried to book at the resort…and were told that the entire resort was booked our wedding weeekend for a celebrity golf tournament!!! aghhh!!!
that’s right, the resort events coordinator made a mistake, booking all the rooms for our wedding, then booking them “again” for a golf tournament 5 months later. is it god who makes these things happen?
in the end, the tournament was moved and the wedding date was saved. but not after a considerable amount of sobbing, hair pulling, and teeth gnashing…
FINALLY! I am not the only one! I hate the way everyone’s attitude changes just because the date is far off. I understand they want to be with customers who will be giving them money in the very near future but they could at least have the courtesy to meet with the those who are super organized and early birds (or at least that’s how I rationalize my long engagement).
My “vendorzilla” was a DJ I contacted and spoke with on the phone. He first asked my price range was, and when he told him, his response was “oh, well we’re $100 more than that so I guess we’re too much.” I assured him that wasn’t an issue, but he seemed reluctant.
Then he asked me what I wanted in a DJ, and I told him. He never made an effort to tell me why his company was better, and just kept asking me what else I was looking for. I was like, “That’s it” and thinking “Shouldn’t you be telling me what I should be looking for?”
On top of that, I asked if we’d be able to meet with our specific DJ before booking them. He said no, because they can’t guarantee a specific person until closer to the event–that someone might specifically request them before then and they’d have to do that event. In my mind that meant, no because we have high turnover. Thanks but no thanks.
I am going through many vendor horror stories right now trying to book a location for my Spring ‘08 wedding. We’re only 75 people. Nobody has an interest in a 75 person wedding when they could have a 200 person wedding. I’ve had people hang up on us when we tell them our number.
I’ve also had several vendors that just take days, if not weeks to get back to me with questions. Even though we began seriously looking for our location back in August, because we ended up waiting around for answers on date availability, several of the locations we’d hoped for are now not available. I’m at my wits end!!
Miss Flamingo, nope, no compensation — but that’s my fault, as after the fact I just had an attitude of whatever, it’s over and I don’t want to deal with or see Mr. Crabby again! 
I also came across many of these vendorzilla’s during my planning. My worst experience was with a caterer. I set up the tasting appointment, my FI and I took off of work early to make it all the way across town in time for the appointment. When we got there (5 minutes early), no one was there. We waited around for a while and called all the numbers I had for them, but never got an answer. I guess they forgot. It made me wonder if they ever forgot about a wedding.
When I think about it I could have part 2, 3 and 4 to the vendorzilla… and my wedding is 7months away… imagine!
These stories are horrible and to think that we pay lots of $$$ for their services.
Things should work the other way around, give me good service than I pay you a % more than what you charge. Bad service I get a discount. Life would be easier that way! Oh well… its nice to dream
This is too funny! I had similar issues with some of my vendors. They all acted like I was nuts for trying to take care of details when I had time for them (only about a month before the wedding). Then they all called me 2-3 days out when I was completely scattered and busy. I was like, yeah, this is what I was trying to take care of a month ago! The dj service was definitely the worst. I didn’t even know who my dj was until the Wednesday before the wedding! Vendorzilla for sure!
I worked in a dress boutique for awhile, so I feel the need to tell you about the other side of things. We always took appointments from girls regardless of their dates, of course. But at least while I was there, very few of these girls walked away buying a dress. Most of them just weren’t ready to buy, and while there are exceptions, vendors probably start to feel like they are wasting their time.
The other problem is when you have someone who buys and signs a contract, but changes their mind. A girl buys a dress and then finds out that her friend has the same dress (or something similar). Or she sees something new come out and decides she doesn’t like her old dress as much anymore. Or the dress doesn’t fit anymore! A lot can happen over the span of a year (or two, or three).
Even brides that have signed contracts will sometimes try everything they can to get out of it. They’ll call and try to talk you into giving them some sort of refund, come into the store again to talk to a manager, etc. They don’t want to honor their end of the agreement.
And with that being said, no vendor wants a bride to feel she’s made a bad decision and is stuck with something she doesn’t want. Especially if that something is a $1000+ wedding dress!
I think the problem is that some brides DO know what they want far in advance and won’t back out, but vendors are used to dealing with the type that change their minds. So they end up making a blanket policy that negatively affects brides like those who have commented here.
boutiquegirl - I was going to respond with something similar but you put it better than I ever could.
But as someone who has been on both sides of the table, I also know how frustrating wedding planning can be ! Hang in there girls.
I think its great to have someone on the other side… it gives us an idea how things can be for the vendors. But in my case, everytime a vendor declined to see me, I explained that I wanted to book everything NOW and they still said no.
I tried to show that I wasnt some bride, that was there to waste their time, yet… it made no difference. I think that is what my issues with these vendors.
The dress place that refused to give me an appointement, unfortunately lost a sale, because I ended up purchasing my dress, 1 month later at an extremely customer service oriented company. (this being 1 year and 3 months before my wedding… and to top things off I got a 100$ discount because I was in advance… see thats what Im talking about. I refer all my friends to that place. Thats good business!!! ;))
We were faced with a number of vendorzillas!
One was a fairly popular venue that was just about an “all-in-one” shop. Nowhere on their website or in any of the HUGE packet of information we were sent did it state a minimum number of guests. At the time, we were planning on having about 75 guests. Before we went, we knew that it was in the upper limits of our price range, but gave it a shot. We show up, get the tour, and then we had to sit down with the sales lady to discuss it. They presented us with a proposal based on what was previously discussed on the phone. Then we’re hit with it - minimum 100 guests! If you had fewer guests, you had to pay the extra amount and it could be used “elsewhere.” When we asked to define “elsewhere” we were told that it had to be for appetizers - it couldn’t be used for the bar, the optional cake, or the flowers. I don’t think so!
Another vendorzilla venue owner was a real piece of work. I loved the place and would have booked there if not for her. There were many problems, but the funniest was when she said the hurricane vases and votives on the table were included, but the mirror was $4 ea. What??
This is why I lied to my bridal boutique about when my wedding was taking place. Which has the added bonus of ensuring that when your dress gets order, it doesn’t get bumped to the back of the queue behind brides who ordered later than you, just because your wedding is further away. Call me a liar if you want, but I figured if they were going to play stupid games with me then I would join in. Obviously lying about your date doesn’t work for many vendors if you want them to show up on the right day, but it worked for the dress!
We will have had about a 17-month engagement. I really didn’t have a lot of problems - I literally booked everything important (ie, reception, photographer, dj, florist, etc.) no less than 14 months before….Boston may be a little different….I think we tend to do things very early. But even the reception hall only had 2 saturdays left in April 16 months before. So we HAD to book early….which is how we chose our date! But one florist we decided not to go with didn’t want to give us our birdcage back (thats our centerpiece) - she kept trying to talk us into using them, and I practically had to tear it out of her hands. And one limo co. 10 months in advance told me it was too early. I think the issue is if they book way in advance, they are pretty much contracting at that years prices, and if your wedding is the next year or two, they want to charge you at those prices….but I think if any vendor gives you any difficulty period, then they will probably disappoint in the end too.
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
hahaha….I love that logo! I booked our first vendor a little over two years from our wedding date, and there was no problem. I don’t really have any vendorzilla stories, but I’m really surprised at some of these businesses. Don’t they want you to book them? Geez, I’ve heard of a soft sell, but that’s ridiculous.