How to Support Wedding Vendors \ Small Businesses FOR FREE
You might not realize, but wedding vendors are small businesses!
Wedding vendors spend HOURS on your special day - culling hundreds of photos, cleaning and sanitizing inventory, designing florals, emailing at all hours of the day, and ultimately working with you for months to create your perfect day. There are plenty of ways to support a small businesses, including not even spending a cent!
So without further adieu, here are 10 ways to support Wedding Vendors \ Small Businesses FOR FREE!
01. Follow on social media! Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, you name it! Small business owners spend a lot of time selecting images to post, writing captions, creating reels, and it means a lot when you give a like, comment, or follow!
02. Repost photos/reels on your feed! Reposting on Instagram and Facebook is a great way to spread the word so your friends and family can see their work! Be sure to write a sweet message or tag them so they can repost it back. Instagram stories are a great way to share content and add your own personal flair to it.
03. Tell your friends and family about them! We book quite a few weddings through referrals which is always fun, since we get to celebrate with new and old couples! If you have friends or family who are engaged and looking for vendors to book, it means that much more to them to hear your personal opinions on vendors if you’ve worked with them, follow their content, attend their community events.
04. Leave a review! Type up a review on Google and/or send them a review to use on their website! We love hearing about your experiences and how your big day went, and we love being able to share those kind words with the world.
05. Send a message on social media! The people behind the screen are real and like to feel supported and heard! We have a handful of friends in the industry that we’ve made just by interacting with their social media accounts and chatting with them in the DM’s. It could be a simple “love the photos from the wedding you just posted!” or “hope you have a great time on vacation!” that makes our day! It means so much that you’re paying attention to our content and engaging with our posts.
06. Sign up for emailing lists \ SMS lists to stay up to date on events! Not every vendor \ small business does this, but absolutely jump on the bandwagon if they do! It’s a great way to hear updates and news before they post about it, and it’s a great way for them to see how many people are interested or invested in their company. Small business owners spend SO much time on everything they push out and I think you’ll see that intentionality in their emailing lists \ SMS lists.
07. Attend any events \ pop-ups and bring a friend or two! Sometimes vendors will have small pop-up shops, walk-ins, and other small community events, and that is a perfect way to show support! Even if you don’t purchase anything, just showing up and chatting for a bit or bringing some friends and family with you means the world. It’s wonderful to be able to put a face to the name and meet our online community in real life!
08. When you post a photo, be sure to tag them in the photo itself and also the caption! It’s important to give credit where credit is due, and it’s also important to tag the photo itself and the caption. That way your friends and family can see those credits without having to tap on the photo, and the photo ends up in their tagged images!
09. Participate in social media giveaways! Liking posts, tagging friends in the comments, reposting content, etc not only enters you in the giveaway to win free or discounted items, but also exposes the business to your friends and family members who may be looking for small businesses to support! Maybe you’ll even win the giveaway and get some great deals out of it like a free engagement photography session or a discounted price on catering ;)
10. If you are also a small business, find some way to boost your fellow small businesses! We love writing “vendor field notes” as a way to spotlight other vendors but to also share some of our faves with you all! It’s one way to simultaneously expand their reach and bolster our relationship with them. Reach out and see if other small businesses might be interested in a blog highlight, collab, vendor(s) pop up, joint giveaway, etc! You’d be surprised by the number of vendors who would jump at the opportunity to work with others, and mutually expand their businesses.
Any time you shop small, it makes a huge difference - rather than shopping at Walmart and supporting a big corporation, buying a handmade candle from a small business supports a real human being who spends all their time and energy perfecting their craft and bolstering an economy of intentionality. Even if you aren’t shopping small, supporting small is still a huge deal and greatly appreciated. Next time you have the opportunity to shop or support, go for it!