10 Vendor Red Flags You'd Miss If You Hadn't Planned 200 Weddings
After thirty years in this industry and more than 200 weddings coordinated, I've learned that the vendors who cause problems rarely look like trouble at the first meeting. They look charming. They look busy, which you mistake for in-demand. They say all the right things.
The red flags show up in the details — the ones you don't know to check for until you've watched a few weddings go sideways because of them.
Here are ten I've learned to spot early.
1. They won't put anything in writing until you push. A vendor who's confident in their process gives you a contract without you having to ask twice. Hesitation here is rarely an accident.
2. Their reviews are all recent, and all glowing. A handful of five-star reviews all posted in the same month, with vague language, is a pattern I've learned to check twice. Real vendors have a longer, messier history — and that's a good thing.
3. They can't answer "what happens if it rains" without stalling. If a venue or vendor doesn't have an immediate, specific answer to a weather contingency, they haven't run enough events. This should be second nature to them.
4. The contract has no cancellation or rescheduling clause. This is the single most common thing I see missing — and the single most common thing couples regret not asking about.
5. They're vague about who's actually showing up on the day. "A team member" is not an answer. You want a name, and ideally you want to have met that person.
6. They discourage you from talking to past clients. Confident vendors offer references without flinching. Ones who deflect are telling you something.
7. Their quote changes more than once before you've signed anything. A little movement is normal. Repeated upward revisions before contract signing is a preview of how the rest of the relationship will go.
8. They're difficult to reach before you've paid a deposit. This is the best they'll ever be. If communication is already slow, plan for it to get slower.
9. They badmouth other vendors unprompted. It happens more than you'd think, and it's rarely about protecting you — it's usually about insecurity.
10. Your gut says something's off, and you talk yourself out of it. This isn't a vendor-specific flag, it's a you one. In 200 weddings, the moments that caused the most stress were almost always ones where someone had a feeling early and ignored it.
Fay's Tip: Keep a simple running note for every vendor conversation — date, what was promised, what wasn't answered. It takes two minutes and it's saved more than one couple from a dispute they couldn't otherwise prove.
None of this means you should walk into vendor meetings suspicious of everyone. Most people in this industry are good at what they do and genuinely want your day to go well. But knowing what to watch for means you can relax into the process instead of hoping for the best.
If you want the full system I use to vet vendors — including the questions I ask before anyone signs anything — it's all inside the Wedding Cheat Sheet.