Wedding Blog
I have one vendor who has been a little unresponsive as of late (I’m not going to name names here, but let’s just say they are pretty crucial to the wedding day 
). I try to keep reminding myself that not everyone has my wedding on the brain 24/7, and for every 4,000 times it crosses my mind, they have only probably thought about it once (if that). Each day seems so much longer when you are awaiting a response - where a normal person might check their email 3-6 times a day, I probably hit refresh every 4-6 minutes (even though my browser updates automatically and I also get my email on my phone). So in my mind it seems like they have taken forever to respond (even though in most cases it’s often no more than a few days).
In this case it has been almost two weeks. I think I have been very patient, but I’m starting to freak out. Why aren’t they responding? Are they not coming anymore? What do I do if that happens?
Am I freaking out prematurely? How long is your ‘vendor response grace period’?
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Two weeks is an awfully long time! I wouldn’t have let it gone over a week so I say contact them ASAP.
That’s a tough one, seeing that you are getting married next month I think they need to be responding more frequently! Are you calling as well or just waiting for an email back? I think if they are that important of a vendor you have every right to bug them until you get a response, you are counting down the days and you should be able to get in contact with them as needed.
P.S. Love the new Miss Gloss pic! You look beautiful!
Same thing is happening to us with our caterer. It is driving me totally insane! I think it’s time to email again!
On the one hand, I understand that vendors don’t care as much about a wedding as the bride does, but on the other, two weeks to respond seems very unprofessional. I’ve worked in a lot of fields in the last few years, and people have always expected responses (and I’ve always provided them!) within 24 hours. I would have to be beyond swamped not to respond in that time frame.
Of course, it seems that a lot of brides run into this problem, so maybe the wedding industry is different. I’m sorry they’re keeping you hanging!
Two weeks is really long with your date so close. I’d definitely keep bugging them. We’ve had a couple of unresponsive vendors and it is absurd and very frustrating.
I’ve found that a lot of times its easier to just call a vendor rather than email them. My caterers (for example) are old school and dont really know how to use the computer. When I call they tend to respond right away. Maybe your vendors just happen to be on vacation? Have you tried calling?
My date is less than 2 weeks away and I’m totally freaking when I dont get responses within 10 minutes. I’m trying to play it “cool” though.
I am email OBSESSED and strong email communication and possible a smart phone were on my list of requirements that all my wedding pros have (really). If I don’t get a response in 48 hours, and it’s not over a weekend or they haven’t told me anything about leaving or going somewhere… I am emailing them again! And as it gets closer - it needs to be faster. 
So that two weeks is totally stressful. DEFINITELY email again!!
omg this is so hard with some of my vendors. I’m trying not to be pushy, but I’m sending them emails about every other day now…
I had that same problem the month leading up to my wedding. I didn’t have any problems with vendor unresponsiveness during my entire wedding-planning process, but all of a sudden my organist and my paper designer (programs, menus, escort cards, etc.) fell off the face of the Earth. I had to follow up my e-mails with several phone calls until I received my answers. I found this to be very unprofessional. Even if they can’t get you the answer you want now, they could acknowledge your existence and let you know they are not ignoring you, but looking into something for you. Have you tried calling as well? With your wedding so close, no one would blame you for “pestering.” Do you have a back-up plan for this vendor?
I had a hard time with waiting for vendor response as well. Only a few times was it more than a week though!
I’m totally impatient…but probably because I’m a crazy email checker, I expect people to respond within a couple days. Probably not realistic. After 2 weeks though, I’d pick up the phone!
P.S. you look gorgeous in your new profile pic!
My contact at the venue is not great about responding either. I just send a weekly update: “Have you had a chance to review my questions below?” until she replies (usually with profuse apologies). As my wedding gets closer, though, I think I will not be as easy going about it! It may be that phone is more efficient when seeking a quick response. I agree that it is frustrating.
Email is unreliable. I would call and speak to them directly if possible.
P.S. Both unresponsive vendors did get in touch with me the week of my wedding and carried through. It was as if they only focused on the brides getting married that very weekend, and then when it was “my turn,” I had their undivided attention that week. But it was still unappreciated and unprofessional.
I think two weeks is long enough that I’d probably try and check in again. We had one vendor (our event coordinator for our location) who I thought was kind of unresponsive. It would take weeks for him to email/call, which was really hard! Towards the end, I gave him a week and then I’d call again, because I really needed to know what was going on.
my videographer won’t respond to me. I’m about to go nuts. They seemed not happy when we said we already had a different photographer. I feel like they took our money and now could care less about us.
:-/
Ms Gloss,
*hugs* I’m sorry, I’m going through the exact same thing right now. Except my wedding isn’t a month away!
I’m having a real hard time getting a hold of the caterer for a venue we are seriously considering. It’s been 2 weeks, numerous phone calls, 2 voicemails & 2 emails later and still no response. I’ve gone to the head honcho (event coordinator of the venue). I think if I’m not so exasperated from searching for venues and did not like the place as much I would’ve said screw it a week ago. But frankly, I’m so tired of searching for a venue. The next planned trip home is November…9 months before the date we want. That’s too close to still not have a venue.
Is there another person for this vendor you can contact?
P.S. Tell me, it’s not who I think it is?!
I’m also a crazy e-mail checker! I generally give vendors a week to reply before bugging them. Frankly I don’t care if they think I’m a pain, I’m PAYING them, so they can think whatever they want of me! Just respond to me, people!
I hope you get a response soon!
AHHH!! Its not just me!!!! My wedding is awhile away (in April), but it turns out I’m good at planning and have almost everything done… except for the caterer. We met with them on 6/4/09 and were told that it would be about 2-3 weeks until they had a menu with prices together fo us….. so after 3 weeks and 2 days I e-mailed her just to “follow up and see how things were going”. She responded and apologized profusely and stated they were very busy and had 2 weddings scheduled for the upcoming weekend, but that it would be a week or 2 at the most and we would have our menus. Well… we past the 2 week mark last tuesday…. so tomorrow will be 3 weeks… it drives ME NUTS!!! If you can’t get me a menu for 2 months… THATS FINE! but PLEASE tell me that.. dont’ tell me its going to be 2 weeks when you really mean 2 months. I understand things take time and am very willing to wait, but it really makes me feel like they are lying to me when they give me a timeframe and completely break it.
As a wedding vendor of bridal/bridal party jewerly I make sure I respond at least within 24 hours, but to be honest it is usually no more than a couple of hours.
I also got married two months ago and had a situation with one of my vendors, and like you I tried to tell myself, ok maybe she isn’t checking her email as much as I do, etc etc. But it really did bother me and I feel especially in the wedding industry you should respond as soon as possible. If I were you I would try and contact her via email again today and if you do not hear by tomorrow call her. It’s your wedding day and you seem to have been very patient thus far.
Good luck!
Yes, my doc did not respond to me for about 3 weeks and it was a couple months before the wedding. In the end it was because of an emergency like, dad had open heart surgery emergency. Then I felt shameful for thinking bad about her the whole time. Then she just took 1.5-2 weeks to get back to my emails when there were no emergencies, go figure right? Anyway after waiting for an email that never comes you have to start calling!!
Love the new profile pic! Is it from your e-shoot?
Since I work in the business world and know the service I provide to my clients, I would say that 48 hours is sufficient for a vendor to reply. Clients expect it of me, and now I’ve come to expect it when I’m the client. Can’t hurt to send out a follow-up email or call.
This is totally unrelated but- are those your e-pics?? I hope I hope I hope! You look beautiful and want see more, and who you ended up going with!
I agree with a bunch of pp, these vendors KNOW that brides are kind of crazy about being on top of things and if they are going to take more than a day or two, they should e-mail back saying what they’re busy with and when you should hear back (if it is not pressing) or something like, hey just got this e-mail, I’m in the car but will respond when I’m in the office tomorrow, etc. Otherwise it gets rude!
You should definitely e-mail, i didn’t hear back from my travel agent and emailed him asking about it and it turned out he HAD replied… found it in my spam. If I hadn’t e-mailed I might not have known (I’m bad at spam checking!)
2 weeks it definitely too long to make a client wait. One of my friends just fired her cake baker b/c she stopped replying to emails for like 3-4 weeks despite multiple attempts to get in touch with her. Go figure that the baker replied *immediately* once my friend sent out the email that said “you’re fired”.
I used to work for a venue, and our standard e-mail response time was 24 hours. f it was something that required a lot of research an effort (say, preparing an estimate or timeline) we would respond immediately and then let them know that we would have the timeline or whatever by X day.
I’m having the SAME problem with one of my vendors too. And let’s just say she’s VERY crucial on the “day-of” ::cough cough::
I understand she is just starting out but shouldn’t that mean she needs to be busting ass to get her business going????
Sometimes I really do think you get what you pay for. My two week grace period is over due and finally texted me saying she doesn’t have internet access??? For serious, who DOESN’T use email these days to keep posted, ESPECIALLY when you’re running a business based on service and COMMUNICATION? Isn’t it lovely this bride is f.r.e.a.k.i.n.g out?
But forget about me, I hope your vendor responds to you soon! Me wish you luck! Lots of it =]
I agree two weeks is too long! Time to call! BTW just like everyone else is saying you look amazing in the new picture!
That’s a REALLY long time. My wedding coordinator has started to not respond to my emails and it’s REALLY getting on my nerves. She runs the WHOLE show and if I can’t coordinate things with her, how do I know for sure my wishes will happen the day of?! Grr! Okay…breathe…do you have another way to contact this person? Address? Phone number?
My decorator didn’t answer me for 3 weeks… turns out she was away doing weddings somewhere with no internet. Don’t freak out until the fat lady sings. Got one email from her; trying to call her now, again no answer. sigh.
I hear ya! I HATE when people don’t respond to at least an email in a short period of time. 2 weeks is definitely “where the f are you” time! lol
I’d call and follow that up with an e-mail. That is way too long when you are so close. I looooove your new pic you look gorgeous.
I’m getting married on a college campus and while the university hotel’s catering staff is completely prompt and professional, the “venue” coordinator on campus isn’t. he’s apparently only used to students using the space.. which resulted in me losing my date due to his crappy automated system not working.
there’s no contract at this hall and no deposit, which is why I think I don’t actually have the hall booked about half of the time. but yes, totally unresponsive.
Totally off topic, but I LOVE your new info pic
I agree w/ Lab - 2 weeks is too long!
@Miss French Bulldog: Me, too! Miss Gloss, you’re hot!!! 
Nowadays, I pick up the phone since our wedding is just around the corner! Earlier in the game, I usually expect no more than 2 days to lapse before I receive a response.
Your new picture = GORGEOUS!!! As for the vendor, since your wedding is right around the corner I think they should pick up the slack and not wait so long. But either way, I’ve come to realize that some vendors are SOOO slow to respond and it’s really annoying. For sure I tell future brides now it’s something they should ask when meeting with vendors, e.g. How long do you take to respond to phone calls and/or e-mails. If for some reason they aren’t able to respond in that amount of time they should have some sort of out of office reply on their e-mail and some sort of explanation on their voicemails…that’s my thinking anyway.
I think vendors are just working through an insane peak season right now. I am trying to meet with and book vendors, and they’ve been pretty slow to respond-but apologetic. And I’m trying to be patient and think of it as a good thing that they are so focused on the next weekend’s events and that my October (2010… yeah, pretty far off) wedding simply has to be a lower priority.
ugh i am so with you concerning one of my vendors…it took like 2 wks for her to respond and her excuse was that she sent a reply and it was mistakenly sent to her draft folder…did she not wonder why i didnt reply to that msg when every other msg i had replied like 2 min after receiving?????
If my last email was of medium importance, after 3-4 days I would pop another email or give them a call. Sometimes it just slips their mind, and they do appreciate the follow-up, and are usually apologetic!
This is really difficult. Of course, it depends on the vendor–how flaky he/she tends to be, how crucial her contribution to the wedding is, and how replaceable she is. I think two weeks is a long time to wait for a response! If I haven’t heard from a vendor in over a week and there is a deadline approaching or already past, I would definitely go ahead and reach out to them again.
I would also suggest a call becasue they could be on vacation or if it is a small company, the company could be closed for vacation (a lot of restaurants close for 2 weeks). I guess I am more lax in the summer but I am also in week 2 of waiting for a response from my venue, however, I’m getting married in 2010 so I have some time to hear back. Good luck and love the new picture.
My officient didn’t respond to me for 2 weeks and I got a little worried so I emailed them with my payment confirmation and asked them to call me back. They did but at the end of the call his wife said “now hun, you know this is supposed to be fun right? Don’t stress!” Honestly that one little sentence turned me off to my communications with them and I’ve avoided it ever since. I’m just happy that we didn’t go with them as our travel agents as well.
With the wedding fast approaching, I’m a big fan of the two-ish DAY turnaround response time!
I called and left a message, hopefully my call is returned!
Good luck to the others who are patiently awaiting return phone calls - I’m so glad its not just me though!
And thanks for all the comments on the new pic
I just went through the same thing but a call really helped out! I keep my fingers crossed for you
Not okay, in my book. You are a paying customer, and they should do whatever they can to make you feel like your wedding is most important. Difficult for them…but, that’s their job. My rule of thumb is to contact every 2-3 days until I get a response.
My job requires good customer service so I’m very critical when others don’t provide it! Good luck!
Ugh! I feel you on vendor non-responsiveness. It drove me insane. Taking over 3 days to respond is just unprofessional, and 2 weeks is absolutely unacceptable!!! Don’t be afraid to let them know that you are not ok with this in a nice way… it could help curb problems in the future. But don’t forget that you may be somewhat at their mercy - so keep it nice!
totally agree on the call. last week I emailed my transportation company about my last payment and never heard back. called them yesterday - to find out they went out of business and never contacted their customers! all is well because they sold their assets to another company that is honoring the contracts. but if not, I would have had to get right on finding another option. this close to the wedding you can’t afford to wait to find out if something is wrong!
I am a vendor and that is totally unacceptable especially this close to the date. I always recommend picking up the phone if your email isn’t responded to in a few days. The mail may have gone to a junk filter or the vendor doesn’t understand the urgency. A phone call is a higher priority and demands a response within 1- 3 days. Some brides do pester vendors 6 months out of the wedding, but even then a vendor needs to respond and at least say “leave me be, we are cool!”.
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Mrs. Gloss, Boston/Maine
Age and Occupation: 24, Designer/soon-to-be Architect
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems Engineer
Engagement Date: May 23, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: SS Katahdin/Lakeside Tent
About Me: I don't like nickels or the skin that forms on pudding when it's in the fridge for too long. I couldn't live without Pantone markers, fountain soda (3/4 diet, ¼ regular Coke), run-on sentences, or ridiculously oversized sunglasses. I will try to DIY almost anything and am just OCD enough to make most of it work. I am truly excited about having all my family and friends together, becoming Mrs. Gloss, and having amazing photos to prove it!
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