Weddingbee Blog

I had done my fair share of stalking wedding websites before getting engaged for inspiration, but when it came time to starting the search for real life vendors to make the dream come true, I had no idea where to start. We were lucky enough that our venue doesn’t have a list of preferred vendors beyond their in house catering, so we were free to pick our own vendors that would match our budgets and our vision. Unfortunately, we only knew one couple that got hitched in the Windy City, and they only had suggestions for a florist, which sent us back to square one on the vendor search.

Image via Wedding Paper Divas

The first thing I did was check out the archives of past Chicago Bees like Mrs Stiletto and Mrs Emerald to see if I could get some suggestions from their blogs. Then, when I realized that reading the archives when pressed for time to book folks was going to take much longer than I had hoped, I was off to the Weddingbee boards.

I was just this little newbee surfing the local boards looking for tips on “Cheap, Amazing Photographers” and “Awesome, Dancetastic DJs” on the Chicago boards and there was so much information ahead of me. I’m pretty sure that the first post I started on Weddingbee was in the local boards looking around for advice. Let me tell you, I’m forever indebted to all the fabulous ladies that gave me suggestions on who to reach out to within my budget. My DJ, DOC and videographer all stem from suggestions I found on this site because the women on the boards have no problem talking candidly about budgets and past experiences. In fact, it’s one of the nice thing about the Hive—we have so many active married bees that it’s so easy to learn from them when planning your big day.

Image via Glamour

It was also really nice to be able to semi-anonymously tell the world that our music budget was $1000 then just wait for the suggestion of affordable musicians and DJs to come my way. It was nice since floral budgets which in wedding land range from $250 DIY to $25,000 imported South African black roses. Sure, there is always the handful of naysayers that make you feel like your budget will only get you a party at McDonald’s, but the beauty of the local boards is that you have women who are planning in your city who recognize that the Navy Pier gardens won’t need any florals, but the River East Art Center would benefit from up lighting. I was at the boards every day double checking to make sure that our budgets were realistic—those budget calculators can only take you so far, after all.

Once I had a laundry list of vendors from the boards, I sent the Baconator the links and waited to get his input which turned out to be varied and totally constructive. Who would have guessed that his eye for wedding photography was so fine tuned?

Where did you get your suggestions for vendors? Do you have married friends with suggestions, or did you have to look in non-traditional places?