Vendor contact sheet template for wedding photographers

At 6:40 PM the DJ is about to call the first dance, the planner is outside with the caterer, and the couple’s phones are in a bag somewhere. The only number that helps is the one on your sheet. Fill this in the week before, print it, and keep it in your bag and on your phone.

The sheet has a block per vendor. Each block has the same 3 things: who to call, when they arrive, and what you need from them. The third one is the part most photographers skip, and the part that changes the day.

The sheet

Wedding: [Couple], [Date]

Planner or coordinator

• Contact: [name], [company], [phone], [email]
• On site: from [time] until [time]
• What I need: the final timeline 7 days out; who calls the family photo groups; where I stand at the ceremony; a wave 5 minutes before every reception event; who to ask before moving furniture.

Venue

• Contact on the day: [name], [phone]. Main line: [phone]
• Address and load-in: [address], [parking, loading door, gate code]
• What I need: photo restrictions (flash, altar access, drones); the portrait spots and the sunset spot on the property; where my bag lives; when the reception room is dressed and empty; whether I can move chairs and centerpieces for details.

Officiant

• Contact: [name], [phone]
• Arrival: [time]
• What I need: where I may stand and move during the ceremony; whether they step aside for the kiss; anything I may not photograph; ceremony length; whether the ring exchange faces the guests or the altar.

Hair and makeup

• Contact: [company], [lead artist], [phone]
• Arrival: [time]. Last person done: [time]
• What I need: [Partner] finished by [time] so there are 20 minutes for portraits before departure; the final touches done near a window if the room has one; the cape off for the last 10 minutes.

Florist

• Contact: [company], [name], [phone]
• Delivery: [time] to [location]
• What I need: the bouquet in the getting-ready room by [time] for details; boutonnieres and corsages to the other room; permission to move arrangements for the couple photos; whether they want photos back afterward.

DJ or band

• Contact: [company], [name], [phone]
• Arrival: [time]. Sound check done: [time]
• What I need: the run of events with times; a wave 5 minutes before entrance, first dance, toasts, parent dances, cake, bouquet, exit; the lighting plan (uplighting color, when the dance floor lights come on, any haze or lasers); steady lights for the first dance and parent dances; a spot for my flash stand.

Videographer

• Contact: [company], [lead], [phone]
• Arrival: [time]
• What I need: their positions at the ceremony and first dance; agreement that photo leads couple portraits and video follows; no continuous light aimed across the dance floor.

Catering or venue manager

• Contact: [name], [phone]
• What I need: vendor meals served with the couple’s course, not after; where the vendor table is; cake-cutting time; whether the cake is cut for real or a display cut.

Other

• [Baker, transport, rentals, ceremony musician]: [name], [phone], arrival [time], what I need: [ ]

Filling it in

Start with the couple’s questionnaire, which names the planner, the venue, and the videographer. The planner’s vendor list has the rest. If there is no planner, the couple has every contract, and every contract has a phone number on it.

Then make 3 calls and send 3 emails in the week before. Call the planner, the DJ, and the venue contact, because those conversations have the most moving parts. Email the florist, the hair and makeup lead, and the officiant, because a 2-line request is all they need. Write every answer on the sheet.

What to ask each vendor, and why

The planner runs the day. The one thing to settle with them is the wave: someone signals you 5 minutes before every reception event, so you are on the dance floor before the couple is, not after. Ask who calls the family photo groups. If nobody, it is you, and you need a wrangler from each family. Working with wedding planners covers the rest of that relationship.

The venue knows where the light is. The manager has watched more couples do portraits on that property than you have; ask where they go. Ask for the empty-room window, because the dressed reception room with nobody in it is a photo the couple will want, and it lasts 10 minutes.

The officiant decides where you can stand. Some allow anywhere but the altar. Some allow no movement after the processional. You need to know at the sheet stage, not at the rehearsal, because it changes where the second shooter goes.

Hair and makeup decide whether you get portraits before the ceremony. Ask for the finish time, then ask for it 20 minutes earlier. Almost every getting-ready delay starts in this room.

The florist controls when the details can be shot. If the bouquet is delivered to the ceremony site instead of the getting-ready room, your detail photos happen in a parking lot. Ask for delivery to the room. Ask whether they want photos back; vendors who get photos are the vendors who refer you. See sharing wedding photos with vendors.

The DJ runs the reception. The questions are the same ones on the reception events checklist; this sheet is where the answers live.

The videographer shares your space all day. One conversation before the ceremony about positions saves both of you from standing in each other’s frames for 8 hours.

Carrying it

Print 2 copies: one for your bag, one for the second shooter. Photograph the filled-in sheet with your phone so it is in your camera roll with no signal. A vendor list inside a planning app is better again, but the paper copy is the one that survives a dead battery.

The unlesses

• No planner: you are the person collecting the 5-minute waves, so the DJ block matters more than any other. Call the DJ; do not only email.
• A vendor who does not reply: get their number from the couple and stop chasing. On the day, introduce yourself at arrival and ask your one question then.
• A full coordination team from the venue: their lead replaces the planner block, and the venue block shrinks to parking and restrictions.