Interview Questions for your Wedding Decorator

Wedding decorations can take an ordinary space and transform it into an extraordinary one. A space that sets the mood of a very special occasion that will always be a special memory to the wedding couple and becomes a special memory to all the wedding guests as well.

Wedding decorators play an important role in the planning process for your special occasion, to create the overall aesthetic look that you are looking for it takes a gifted person whose skills are more like an artist. A person who can do many things and can do things with budget limitations.

Usually interview meetings starts out with sharing the bride's vision. A good decorator generally has numerous meetings with the bride and has many contacts with many different wedding vendors. A good decorator also has a lot of pictures to show for great ideas, has their own portfolio of decorations they have created in the past and has other pictures to show from their website and pictures from other wedding vendors they are in constant contact with. The good decorator will even meet the bride at the ceremony site and reception facility to get a first hand view of what the bride is looking for and to exchange ideas on what decorations can be done and what restrictions will be encountered.

A good decorator checks in with the bride regularly to go through things as they meet up with wedding vendors and to gain the bride's blessing. The decorator may send pictures regularly in an email attachment or meet often in person. The thing to note though, their are many wedding decorator types, each decorator operates their business differently and has their unique style of decorating, the key is for the bride to find a decorator that listens to what she wants and is good at creating her vision.

Many different wedding decorators have diverse backgrounds. Some may work as florists and are floral decorators, some are event planners, some are true wedding decorators, and even many decorators may work at a business such as a balloon company. Many decorators order all their decorations from other vendors whereas other wedding decorators have their own studios and store many things and have their own props to create special effects for your wedding. At their studio, they may make many things such as specialty design floral arrangements, reception table centerpieces, can elaborately design place settings, decorate outdoor spaces, create special effects lighting, provide beautiful hanging fabrics, and use an artistic touch of creating wedding favors and wedding invitations.

Many decorators start out working with a color scheme or wedding theme and often use a color wheel to show what colors go together.  Most decorators will work with your budget constraints, they review all the things they can do for your wedding and prioritize things with you that are most important for your wedding and create a plan according to what your budget can afford. The key is to find a wedding decorator you feel comfortable working with, one who is a good listener and captures your vision, one who is a good communicator and communicates and meets with you regularly, one who has experience and has a lot of training and is certified in wedding decoration and has their own portfolio to share with you.

Some decorators require a fee before getting started, others will require a fee by a specified date. everything should be laid out in a contract. Don't pay out any money until you are comfortable that the wedding decorator you are working with is the one for you. Don't feel too pressured, if it's in the budget go with a wedding decorator, if the budget is tight, teach yourself wedding decorations and get ideas from "Youtube", arts and crafts stores, dollar stores, florists, rental stores, and wedding decorative sites off the internet.

Before signing on the dotted line, review a contract thoroughly. As with most wedding vendors, it's a good idea to bring along a friend to serve as a witness on what is agreed to and an extra set of eyes on the contract. If there is no written contract, you should not agree to a deal, don't let a wedding decorator bully you into a deal, make sure you are working with a person you are comfortable with. Listed below are interview questions ideas you might ask your wedding decorator.


Interview Questions for your Wedding Decorator
1-Ask for a business card, what is the name of the business, address, phone number, and website address?
2-What is the name of the wedding decorator, phone number, and email address or other contact information?
3-How long has the business been in operation with wedding decorating?
4-How long has the wedding decorator been decorating weddings?
5-How many weddings have you done weddings in your lifetime? in the past year? in the past month? in the past week? on a typical wedding day? on our wedding day?
6-Are you available to do wedding decorations the date of our wedding? (if not - do you know a decorator that you would recommend for our wedding day? interview over)
7-Do you do wedding decorations full time or part time?
8-Are you and your business insured?
9-Can you tell me about your business, background, training, and certifications?
10-What happened that got you interested in this profession?
11-Do you have a portfolio of wedding decorations from past weddings?
12-Do you have pictures of wedding decorations to help give us wedding decoration ideas?
13-How do you operate and communicate with your clients?
14-Do you work at a show room, store front, or out of your home? if you have a show room, can we visit?
15-Do you interface with many wedding vendors or do you mostly do wedding decoration projects yourself?
16-Are most of the materials and supplies you order for your business come from local vendors, national vendors, or international vendors?
17-Do you prepare crafts at your business or is everything ordered from vendors? (some vendors prepare all sorts of things for weddings such as centerpieces, floral arrangements, have hanging fabrics, lighting design, place setting layout, prepare wedding invitations and favors, etc.)
18-Do you do all the wedding decorations yourself or do use assistants? how many assistants?
19-How many people work in your business? how many people in your business work on wedding decorations?
20-Are you familiar with our ceremony site and reception facility?
21-What fabrics does your business like to use? (gossamer, shimmera, tulle, other)
22-What decorating ideas do you have for our ceremony site? (entrance, aisle decorations, altar, altar railings, pew bows, unity candles, candelabra, etc.)
23-What decorating ideas do you have for outdoor venues? (arches, gazebos, sculptures, potted plants, seating arrangement, chair covers, lighting, etc.)
24-Can you design the wedding reception with our color schemes and wedding theme?
25-What decorating ideas do you have for our wedding reception entrance way?
26-What color and type of wedding linens should be used at our wedding? Do you provide table clothes? napkins? chair coverings?
27-What decorating ideas do you have for seating arrangements and floor design? where should music groups be located? where should the dance floor go?
28-What decorating ideas do you have for the bridal party head table?
29-How should the wedding reception tables be decorated with place settings? should we use charger plates? what fine china? flatware? glasses? place cards?
30-What decorating ideas do you have for table centerpieces?
31-What decorating ideas you have for buffet tables? serving tables?
32-What ideas do you have for a candy buffet? coffee bar? soda bar? dessert bar? chocolate fountain? ice sculptures?
33-What decorating ideas do you have for ceilings? walls? restrooms? coatrooms?
34-What decorating ideas do you have for lighting? (updraft lighting, color schemed lighting, paper lanterns, Christmas/fairy tale lights, floralytes, stage decoration lighting, other)
35-What decorating ideas do you have for the wedding cake table? wedding cake? wedding gift table?
36-Do you have connections with photo booths, 3-D equipment, or slide shows?
37-Do you have any ideas on how we can entertain kids at our wedding?
38-Do you have any ideas on setting up our guest book sign-in? table of wedding couple pictures? place setting board?
39-Do you recommend flower petals, pillar candles, votive candles, vases, bowls, mirrors, etc. to decorate tables at the wedding reception site?
40-If there is a space, do you have ideas on setting up furniture for a quiet area for our wedding guests to talk and reminisce?
41-Do you have ideas on how the wedding bar should be set-up? should we have signature drinks?
42-What ideas do you have for the grand exit of the wedding couple? fireworks? pyrotechnics? wedding sparklers? other?
43-What other wedding vendors can you cover? floral needs? wedding cake? wedding favors? accessories for bridal party? wedding invitations? photography? videography? other?
44-What is the final cost of items agreed to?
45-When and how much of a deposit is needed to get started?
46-When is final payment due?
47-Might there be hidden costs? travel costs? transportation of supplies? set-up fees? gratuities? taxes? rush fees? other?
48-What should happen should you become ill or have a personal emergency or you leave the business?
49-What is your cancellation policy?
50-Can we take a copy of the contract with us to review before signing?
51-Can we get 3 referrals of brides you have done wedding decorations for in the past year? (contact at least 2)

If a wedding decorator is out of your budget and you need to save money, you can get a lot of decorating ideas from "Youtube" off the internet, if you don't have internet yourself, find a friend to visit who has access to the internet themselves. My favorite wedding centerpiece idea, is first find and order a tower vase from the internet, fill it with water beads or flower arrangements, you could even put a floralyte shooting up from the bottom or use fairy tale lights inside the tube. On top you can put color schemed ostrich feathers to create a palm tree effect or put a bridal bouquet on top or plants or floral arrangement or a Chinese lantern. If you do the decorations yourself remember to color scheme the wedding reception yourself and use the color wheel to complement your colors.

Happy decorating and make it fun, see you on the other side!