Open Houses are a Girls Best Friend...

Wedding planning can be a bit of a nightmare. As a recent VWR Bride I can vouch for this.When you are new to this world of decor, decisions and etiquette, it is so easy to get lost in translation. How do you know who to go to, what you need and more importantly how do you find someone you can trust to be there before and on the day of?

I lucked out in the fact that Vista West Ranch, included lighting, day of coordinator (Coordinate This...), tables, chairs, DJ (Complete Music Austin) and bartenders - so my list of other vendors was not extensive (thankfully), we had already found our photographer (Nathan Russell Photography - learn about our experience here), now my love and I needed catering, cake, flowers, mechanical bull technician (prenuptial party), hotel accommodations, transportation, string quartet, flatware, etc.

Photo Credit: Nathan Russell Photography

Tip: So, where does one go to knock this extensive list out, one might ask? Your venue's open house is a great place to start! The benefits of finding vendors at an open house is that most of them have all worked the location before, they know the coordinator, the owners, they know how things work - it isn't their first rodeo if you catch my drift. I needed to find people that I could trust to be there and do the job that I hired them to do. I was able to confidently pick up my wedding caterer (Railroad BBQ), prenuptial caterer (Pappasitos), florist (Petal Pushers), cake decorator (Classic Cakes by Lori) and event rental company (Whim) at the Vista West Ranch open house. It was an amazing feeling to walk out of there knowing that I could check those items off my list. I was so pleased with every single one of these vendors (obviously), there wasn't a single hiccup at our wedding and that has a lot to do with the quality of the professionals that were there. Everything was amazing. The other thing that I suggest is to return to future open houses at your venue, even if you have already selected your vendors. This gives you a fabulous opportunity to scope things out, touch base with your vendors, and to come up with new ideas and toss some to the curb! Happy Planning!

XOXO- Lindsay (June 2013 VWR Bride)