Time-Saving Wedding Planning Tip: Insider Info from Vendors

Mother of the Bride, selecting vendors for the various aspects of a wedding is a huge job. Whether the bride and groom make the decisions or it’s a joint effort including you, hours and hours of work can go into narrowing down the best choices.

Try this time-saving tip, MOB: Once you get one or two vendors secured, ask them for their recommendations in other areas. For example, if you’ve found the perfect florist, ask which caterer he would recommend or vice versa. The vendors in any given region work the same weddings at some point and become very familiar with each other’s work. They know who excels—and more importantly, who doesn’t. Ask them to give you their best recommendations.

Asking vendors for insider info can come in especially handy if you’re planning an out-of-town wedding. When you’re unfamiliar with the vendors you need to book and you feel like you’re starting from scratch, asking reliable vendors for their advice can save you tons of time. Both of our daughters had out-of-town weddings, and I wish I had learned this tip early-on.

One word of caution, though, MOB. Make sure the vendor you ask is not getting any kind of kick-back from the recommendations he makes. How do you do this? Come right out and ask. But instead of using the term kick-back, ask “Do you receive any commission from services you recommend?” You employ tact, MOB, but you also get the info you need!

*You might also like to read “Time Management: Give Yourself a Break, MOB”.

*I hope this slightly revised encore post from April 2014 helped you today!

*For info about my book Mother of the Bride and also my Wedding Inspiration cards, check out my Books/My Work page.

*The new issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter with a giveaway in every regularly scheduled issue, came out Feb. 1st. It’s not too late to receive it. Sign-up is free and to the right! (If you’re on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click View Full Site to find it.)

*Flickr photo by abnormalbeauty, Creative Commons License

Back At It Giveaway Is Back At It!

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It’s that time of year again, folks—time for me to get back to the business of my inspirational/devotional posts. Summer Photo Fun is always, well, fun, but now it’s time to focus on the written word again.

Of course, that means it’s also time for my annual Back At It Giveaway! I always like to kick off my back-to-business emphasis with a fun little giveaway. We can’t leave all the fun of the summer spirit behind, can we?

So what’s the prize? One lucky commenter will win a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble! Who wouldn’t like the chance to buy a new paperback he or she has been dying to get their hands on or pick up a new journal or some other fun item? Maybe even a gift for someone else!

To be included in the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post by 6 p.m. (CDT) Wednesday, August 26. I’ll announce the winner the next day in my Thursday Midweek Morsel post.

Any comment will work, but to make it a little more fun, tell me what book you would recommend to the winner or mention the best book you’ve read recently. Personal recommendation is one of the best ways to find amazing new-to-us books and authors, isn’t it?

The best books I’ve read the past few months have included Jocelyn Green’s Spy of Richmond, Bob Goff’s Love Does, Susan Meissner’s Secrets of a Charmed Life (a general market book), and Carla Stewart’s A Flying Affair.

So winner of the giveaway or not, we’ll all be winners with some great new titles to add to our to-read lists. Happy reading, everyone!

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

*The new issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, came out earlier this month. It’s not too late to receive it. Sign-up is free and to the right!

*Flicker photo by nicholasjon, Creative Commons License