Paying vendors on the day

Faith

Just wondering how folks managed paying vendors in cash on the wedding day? It can amount to quite a lot of cash to be carrying. Did you just distribute envelopes amongst your bridal party for them to look after or how did you do it?

BailMeOut

Faith wrote: »

. Did you just distribute envelopes amongst your bridal party for them to look after or how did you do it?

yes - put them to work! You have lots of very reliable helpers who will do all this for you on the day.

lazygal

Can you pay by cheque or bank order? We had a few cheques to distribute on the day. We should.have roped in the best man but it was easy enough to sort out. Also try to negotiate not paying full whack for.things like.photos and DVD in advance. I've seen so many cases, here and in real.life, where people paid in full and had.hassle afterwards.

Milly33

Was wondering about this too. I was hoping to get in contact with the ones we have to pay like the big ones and ask them could we call down during the week to pay.

Lets say we will have the weekend and call maybe the Tuesday to pay them for the day. just hate the thought of having all that cash around on the day....

thebiglad

We made use of the hotel safe and the Best Man was responsible - worked out ok.

Call in to the hotel day before with all of the envelopes prepared and leave them in the safe then.

If your room has a safe you may prefer to leave the envelopes there instead.

candytog

As a wedding supplier myself I would say the majority of suppliers would be more than happy to take an electronic payment before the wedding rather than cash on the day.

sillysmiles

Who is usually on the list of people to be paid on the day?

Off the top of my head
Beautician
Hairdresser
Priest


Surely the hotel you settle up with the next day. Photographer? Florist? DJ?

Faith

For us, it's:

Make up artist
Hairdresser
Celebrant
Wedding singer
Band/DJ
Photographer
Cars?
Florist

The ones who can be paid in the morning are grand. I'm a little reluctant to pay in advance, although we're booked all extremely reliable, highly recommended vendors so it should be okay. The band are insisting on payment in cash, on the day.

Milly33

Yes with paying in advance too what if something happens... So paying after would be the best option to ensure all is ok... Have you had suppliers ask you Faith when you are paying, we have heard nothing about it yet.. Was hoping to give the job to my man to sort out

lazygal

I would strongly, strongly recommend not paying the photographer in full in advance. I've known at least two couples get burned that way, by two different setups both of which were recommended by others. Then there's a regular stream of threads here with with exactly the same problem. We paid a small deposit, half on the day and the balance when we received and were happy with the album, photos and online gallery.


Also why are the band insisting on cash? Why would a cheque or electronic transfer the same.day (best man could do this on a phone for example) not suffice?

Milly33

very true heard many horror stories...

3rdDegree

lazygal wrote: »

I would strongly, strongly recommend not paying the photographer in full in advance. I've known at least two couples get burned that way, by two different setups both of which were recommended by others. Then there's a regular stream of threads here with with exactly the same problem. We paid a small deposit, half on the day and the balance when we received and were happy with the album, photos and online gallery.


Also why are the band insisting on cash? Why would a cheque or electronic transfer the same.day (best man could do this on a phone for example) not suffice?

I am actually a wedding supplier and accept cheques on the day or transfer to account shortly before hand. I insist on the full amount before or on the day.

I think this thing of suppliers insisting on being paid in cash is a bit dodgy. The only reason they do is so they can avoid paying tax. They may give you excuses like bands saying "we need to split up the cash between us", but if they are a professional band who do this as their full time job, they should be paying themselves a wage or salary like any normal profession.

Also, if you do pay them cash, then insist that they give you a proper receipt (not a piece of paper with something scrawled on it). Otherwise, you have no proof whatsoever that they were paid. And although 99% of wedding suppliers I deal with are extremely honest and diligent people, someone can make a mistake and forget they were paid. At least with a cheque, if they cash it you have proof of payment.

I believe that for the big value items, it is unreasonable for a supplier to expect cash on the day.

As for paying the full amount up front for photos, believe it or not, it does happen that people don't collect their product and thus never pay the balance; yet the supplier still has done the entire day's work and also has spent hours in post production. I know you may find it hard to believe this happens, but trust me, I have a shelf full of product I was never paid and was never delivered!

Just my 2 cents!

Faith

Milly33 wrote: »

Yes with paying in advance too what if something happens... So paying after would be the best option to ensure all is ok... Have you had suppliers ask you Faith when you are paying, we have heard nothing about it yet.. Was hoping to give the job to my man to sort out

No-one has asked; we've just had people tell us "Oh, we ask for payment in full on the day".

lazygal wrote: »

I would strongly, strongly recommend not paying the photographer in full in advance. I've known at least two couples get burned that way, by two different setups both of which were recommended by others. Then there's a regular stream of threads here with with exactly the same problem. We paid a small deposit, half on the day and the balance when we received and were happy with the album, photos and online gallery.


Also why are the band insisting on cash? Why would a cheque or electronic transfer the same.day (best man could do this on a phone for example) not suffice?

We're not getting an album [yet] with the photographers. I'm not sure what the specifics of their payment is because it's my fiance who has been dealing with them. I'll get him to check.

I don't know why the band want cash, but I'm guessing it's because the line up of members changes depending on the number of musicians requested so it's probably the easiest way for them to sort it out amongst themselves.

You'd always hear horror stories alright, but that's natural. No-one goes online just to say "Neither our bridal party nor staff at the hotel stole anything from us!". You only hear the bad reports usually.

amor3

Yeah, my photographer wants the remaining balance to be paid on the day. Also to be paid on the day is hair, makeup, wedding singers, church, cake, kids entertainers, videographer. Feel like I've left some out there, but we will have envelopes with each name and amout due on it and the best man will be sorting this out.

teggers5

We paid all our suppliers before the day apart from the hairdresser. She was paid that morning. The hotel was paid the following week when we called to collect the cards we left behind in the reception safe.

Toots

A lot of our suppliers were happy to take a cheque, funnily enough. The florist was paid by card a few days beforehand, so was the cake (although we later regretted that). We went down to the hairdressers on the morning, as opposed to them coming to us, so they were paid by card at the till. Out of those who had to be paid on the day here's what I remember:

Church donation: cheque
Few quid for sacristan: cash
Church/drinks reception musicians: cheque
Car: cheque
Photographer: cheque (we'd already paid a 10% deposit, then it was 50% on the day and the balance when we got photos)
DJ: cheque

Hotel balance was paid by card the following morning. I was quite surprised that so many were willing to take a cheque - I got married in 2010 so in economy terms, things were still fairly bad then. I contacted the suppliers to ask what way they'd like to be paid on the day, and they all said cheque or cash was fine. The only thing I can think of is that for all of these the deposits had been paid by card, so maybe they felt they'd have some comeback if we'd given them rubber cheques!

edit: forgot to add, the envelopes were split between the best man and my dad. Best man did the church related ones, and Dad did the rest.

stickybookmark

Best man's job!

I prepared the envelopes (brown ones of course) the week before the wedding. Had to go to the bank to get multipes of 5s, 10s & 20s. Got the rest out of the ATM in 50s. Sealed the envelopes and wrote on the front of htem who they were for with a little description (didn't write amount on it though)
I had:
-MUA
-Hairdresser
-Priest
-Sacristan
-Organ player
-Church singer/musican
-Drinks reception musicans
-Babysitter 1
-Babysitter 2
-Band
-DJ
I called up to videographer during the week before and gave him a cheque. I paid the photographers in full before the day (2 installments) by bank transfer. I called into the florist a few days before the wedding and paid the balance by card.

Wabbit Ears

On the photographers side I can tell you that, while brides and grooms shout loud when something goes wrong, Photographers are often silent when they have bad customers.


If you have not been paid on the day it weighs heavily if you are actually ever going to be paid. You really never know. Sometimes the Bride and groom ( or any other clients) just don't have the money and decide to cut their loss and forgo the pictures. Sometimes they turn up for the viewing without the payment and the situation is so horrifically awkward. Its very hard to do a showing and then hold the images to ransom, saying , now you don't actually get that album or DVD I just showed you until you cross my palm with silver.

All the while the photographer spend hours on the Pictures, desiging the album, Doing DVD presentations and so on and so forth, Sometimes all for nothing.

Its a lottery, some people are just d1cks, both clients and photographers. Experienced photographers just insist on payment up front, end of story.

snickerpuss

We just paid everyone in advance, it was way less stressful and all our suppliers were well established and I wasn't worried about something going wrong. Which it didn't. Only the hairdresser and make up artist were paid on the day as I couldn't send it electronically and I don't own a cheque book (who does?)

stickybookmark

snickerpuss wrote: »

I don't own a cheque book (who does?)

You should get one....it's so handy, seriously. We use ours all the time.

lazygal

I use a chequebook all the time too. We got work done on our house and nearly everyone was paid by cheque. Very handy to have and saves you carrying cash around and being stuck if someone doesn't accept credit cards.

Milly33

cant say I have a cheque book either, do you only get one if you have a business as such...

seamus

Just to note - the band insisting on cash isn't as iffy as its sounds. Each of the musicians are responsible for their own tax affairs, so from their point of view a cash payment which can be transparently divided out on the spot is simpler than any other method. If you transfer all of the cash to one of the band, then they may have to account for that money in if they ever get audited, even though they only took a share of it.

lazygal

Milly33 wrote: »

cant say I have a cheque book either, do you only get one if you have a business as such...

No, we got one when we opened a joint account. I can't remember if we asked for it but it has been very handy to have.

stickybookmark

Milly33 wrote: »

cant say I have a cheque book either, do you only get one if you have a business as such...

No I have a personal cheque book on my current account, so does my OH

goldenhoarde

Best man/groomsman or a family member - do a list up and then put in some small envelopes labelled and sealed so that its easy to give the correct ones e.g Paul (BAND)

For the beauty treatment's hair substitute maid of honour/bridesmaid

NewCorkLad

stickybookmark wrote: »

You should get one....it's so handy, seriously. We use ours all the time.

At a cost of nearly €1 per cheque in taxes and charges, they are a very expensive means of paying for anything.

Toots

NewCorkLad wrote: »

At a cost of nearly €1 per cheque in taxes and charges, they are a very expensive means of paying for anything.

Yeah but they're very handy if you're putting them in the post, and a draft or postal order is about €3. If I've to send a present in a card, I'll always send a cheque instead of cash because at least I'll know they received it when it gets debited from my account.

Milly33

Now I want a cheque book haha just to have one..

Was chatting last night about this now, and we are going to get onto the main people as such we don't have many to pay but it is large sums so we are going to see if we can pay one in full as really it cant go wrong in any way and they other then half now half later.. just to ease the pressure of carry the cash..

Mrs OBumble

I'm surprised that the church don't insist on payment in advance - ones I know do.

And I would expect the church fee to include whatever for the sacristan, and also the bench-fee for the resident organist if they aren't being used.

amor3

I really thought you just pay the priest or who ever is doing the ceremony a donation, until a few people have told they got bills! I just have an envelope with the Reverend on it and we thought we just had give him something, so is he seperate then and the church is another payment?

scrumqueen

Faith wrote: »

For us, it's:

Make up artist
Hairdresser
Celebrant
Wedding singer
Band/DJ
Photographer
Cars?
Florist

The ones who can be paid in the morning are grand. I'm a little reluctant to pay in advance, although we're booked all extremely reliable, highly recommended vendors so it should be okay. The band are insisting on payment in cash, on the day.

Well as you said the Make Up artist and hairdresser will be with you or in your house so you or your mother / BM's can sort that. No hassle there.

Our Celebrant was paid in advance (non church wedding)

DJ We paid on the night (Best man took care of that)

Photographer was paid the first working day after the wedding by EFT and it wasnt an issue. Didnt ask for payment on the day. Already had a deposit up to that point.

Didn't have cars so can't say and the flowers were a present to us and taken care of so didnt need to worry about it.

Use the hotel reception safe if you can, whatever you do, DO NOT use the safe in the bridal suite, every member of staff will know whats in there! and those crappy safes are too easy to break in to. Also, we made sure our wedding envelopes weren't left in the bridal suite either!

Mrs OBumble

amor3 wrote: »

I really thought you just pay the priest or who ever is doing the ceremony a donation, until a few people have told they got bills! I just have an envelope with the Reverend on it and we thought we just had give him something, so is he seperate then and the church is another payment?

What's your relationship with the church?

If you're an active parishioner, then I'd expect it to be free.

But if you're just hiring it as a venue, I'd expect a bill for the building.

Milly33

nothing is free with the church Mrs O Bumble, even if you are an active parishioner you still have to pay .

Delighted now we are all sorted to pay the venue ahead if time which is great.

amor3

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What's your relationship with the church?

If you're an active parishioner, then I'd expect it to be free.

But if you're just hiring it as a venue, I'd expect a bill for the building.

Its non existing. We are getting married in a church of Ireland church as we are different religions so Catholic Church wouldn't marry us.

ABajaninCork

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What's your relationship with the church?

If you're an active parishioner, then I'd expect it to be free.

But if you're just hiring it as a venue, I'd expect a bill for the building.

Nope. You're expected to pay whether you're a parishioner or not. If you marry out of parish, expect to pay more. We were stung when we married 400 yards away from the parish boundary...

Costs money for heating, light and general running of the church. Why would you expect that for free??

bee06

I didn't have to pay for my church and I thought that was the done thing if you're a parishioner.

Wabbit Ears

Traditionally if you are a parishioner who regularly pays their dues it's not expected to pay for the use of the church but an offer to the priest, alter boys is generally expected.

A lot of Catholics now who get married wouldn't pay regular dues and are expected pay for the church even though they consider it their parish.

michellie

My uncle is the sacrastant in our parish and he told me there's no charge but you can give a donation if you want to.

sillysmiles

For those who had to pay for the church or michellie any idea how much of a donation is normal? Our priest hasn't mentioned anything about it yet. I will check with him in advance but I was wondering what's the average cost.
Thanks

stickybookmark

amor3 wrote: »

I really thought you just pay the priest or who ever is doing the ceremony a donation, until a few people have told they got bills! I just have an envelope with the Reverend on it and we thought we just had give him something, so is he seperate then and the church is another payment?

Yes they are two separate payments IF you're not getting married in either of your parish church.
You can get married for free in your parish church (or hubby's) but if you get married in a church that's not your parish church there's a fee. For the church we used the fee was 300 euro and I paid in advance by posting a cheque.
Priest didn't ask for money I just assumed and paid 200 euro.
Same for sacristan - I wasn't asked for money I just figured out from reading wedding forums that I was supposed to give him 50 euro

Bride2Bee

I am a wedding supplier and it depends on the service. At times a deposit is requested to hold the date & will only accept bank or postal order. I've been 'stung' in the past with personal cheques 😔 and it is totally disheartening when this happens.

Most of my clients have paid me cash on the day or want to clear their balance before the day to just to get it out of the way. The payment usually comes in when they receive cash gifts before the wedding from well wishers.

The best man or father of the bride is the person who would generally pay myself on the day otherwise.

Paying a band in cash is much easier for the band, again speaking from experience. I lived far away from the group, so payment on the night was best.
Like many big bands, many members do not live in the same vicinity of the main location.

amor3

Just to clarify, had the Reverend around last night and he told us just a donation will be sufficient.

neemish

amor3 wrote: »

Its non existing. We are getting married in a church of Ireland church as we are different religions so Catholic Church wouldn't marry us.

That's unusual. Have been to plenty of "mixed" weddings in the Catholic Church

amor3

neemish wrote: »

That's unusual. Have been to plenty of "mixed" weddings in the Catholic Church

Never knew they married non Catholics. Just googled it there!

neemish

Ya, happens all the time. Just means more paperwork!

stickybookmark

amor3 wrote: »

Never knew they married non Catholics. Just googled it there!

Of course. I've been to a wedding in catholic church where bride was catholic and groom was protestant

ABajaninCork

stickybookmark wrote: »

Of course. I've been to a wedding in catholic church where bride was catholic and groom was protestant

Most of the weddings in my church at home are mixed. My priest commented on that fact when he did our paperwork. We were the first all-Catholic wedding he did for yonks!!!