What turns you on?

I like a supplier to reply to me when i email/call them, and with the info required, not extra shizz i dont need etc!!

I am quite a visual person and do a lot of my research online... therefore if the website was outdated/pants then I would look elsewhere.

Enthusiasm! They needed to be excited about my day too! If they weren't that fussed and I was "just another client" then I wouldn't bother.

Attention to detail - like you, spelling and punctuation.

All of those make my list, plus Flo's. I hate it when people don't get back to me. It's rude, unprofessional and makes me think that they won't be reliable. Do they want customers or not?!

I avoided anyone who

had spelling mistakes, i dont want a lack of attention to my day thank you!

You couldnt contact directly by phone or email

didnt respond to me promptly

did a massive sell to me instad of actually answering the questions I asked

That was sooooo not the post I was expecting it to be!? (I've obv spent far too much time on OT!)

I never had the luxury of getting to judge people in person as the decisions were already made by the time we met them........I must have done something right though as they were all totally lovely and absolutely perfect for us and the way we wanted our day to be!

Website -wise....

poor grammar

poor spelling

hard to navigate

hard to find the information I wanted

unable to find prices for basics without emailing

amateur-ish looking website

'cheap' looking website

I'm sure there were many others, but those were the main ones.....albeit in some form of unintentional reverse order!

Yes, and this. I spoke to one London jeweller asking for a quote. Told him I had been given a better quote already. He proceeded to launch into one about how it was impossible to supply rings for less than he was charging and they would be of inferior quality blah, blah, blah (got quite nasty actually). Told me to visit him instead. Did I? No!

Bad spelling and punctuation.

I wouldn't hire someone if I saw them being argumentative on a forum, especially if they were going to be an important part of the day.

Not phoning/emailing back.

Seeming uninterested.

I can't stand cocky/arrogant suppliers. Out of the three caterers we could choose from, one was telling me not to have cars and not to have balloons because "it just doesn't work at your venue." As if I'd never been there. He then proceeded to tell me I could have chicken nuggets and chips or burgers for the kids at only £30 each! Gee, thanks. Or I could just supply the mini roast for them, as I suggested in the first place. The second one ignored what we said (no, OH doesn't like meringue...oh, so we're trying a pavlova, Ok thanks ?). She then went on AND ON about our guests having a whole melon with champagne sorbet to start, they'd love it, what a talking point etc. So our taster menu there consisted of nothing we'd asked for and was rank.

Now, the caterer we went with is fabulous. He listened to us, made relevent suggestions, provided the nicest taster meal ever (we had 5 deserts to choose from, it was tough!). And he runs a golf club and kept telling OH to come and have a game!

Friendly, down to earth suppliers who listen float my boat.

I am turned off by

people who reply and don't answer all of your questions

People who don't reply

bad websites with no visual examples of their work

not showing their starting prices online so I don't have to waste their time

people who say "oh you have got plenty of time no need to worry" well obviously I am worried hence my enquiry so just answer my question..

With regard to bad personal appearance and smells obviously I wouldn't want these people wondering around my venue but slightly O/T we booked an architect who turned up smelling of tobacco, bad teeth and his glasses held together with sellotape ( a la Jack Duckworth) but his reputation was fab and he did a fantastic job!! but based on appearance alone I wouldn't have booked him.

That pretty much hits the nail on the head

Sorry CB, was going to ignore the deliberate mistake, but I am too pedantic for that ??

I got quite upset by a ring salesman (the company gets a lot of press on here so I won't name names) who was VERY disparaging about my engagement ring, insinuating it was cheap and inferior quality, and then tried the hard sell with an offer of free gifts for the Best Man and bridesmaids., When told we were having neither of these he sneered out an "oh well then..."

Needless to say, they didn't get our business.

Aside from that, all the things previously mentioned; favourite bugbear, stationers who have "stationary". It's E for Envelope. Easy.

Heh @ KV!

The difference is I'm not charging for the joy I provide ?

Agree with most of the above:

Poor spelling/grammar

Amateur looking website

Generic responses to enquiries. I actually picked my tog based on her extremely helpful response to my enquiry email, suggesting locations for shoots etc, rather than a standard response sent to every enquiry.

Pretty much everything that has already been suggested, except I hate it when a potential supplier talks exclusively to my fiancee and/or acts like i'm just the decoration who can be persuaded into anything that a supplier manages to persuade my bride to be that she needs. Not true on both accounts. Besides, i'm nearly getting as good at persuading her that she doesn't need whatever product or service this is now.

I totally agree with this. You want a personalised reply to enquiries!

Also, I was thinking of ordering a bespoke vintage-style dress from a wedding dress maker near to me. She had an amazing website and sent very friendly emails. I wanted some samples and she said she would send them but never did. She emailed me a couple of times explaining the delay but I never got them. I was a bit put out and decided to forget it in the end and bought my dress elsewhere. I had a budget in mind, but was willing to stretch it for this person.

On this note, I emailed a venue first thing Monday morning to enquire about a viewing and they still haven't got back to me. Is it wrong that I'm annoyed by this and that it's slightly putting me off? After all, it's only 2 days! Are my expectations too high with still being new to all of this?!

To be fair to some suppliers, if you publish an email address (we do) you get spammed like crazy (we definitely do). If you have a contact form (we also do), you get less SPAM (as filling in the form requires a little more effort, and often a anti-spam measure is utilised). I guess that’s why some suppliers choose the form only. When I say a lot of SPAM, I am talking 100’s to 1000’s a day

Suppliers have to balance "being open for real customers" with "being closed to spammers/advertisers”

The second issue with good contact forms is that generally you get the correct information (date of wedding for example). Its worth noting that the quality of emails from potential clients when the clinet sends directly to the email address (not the form) is often very poor. To the point where we sometimes wonder if the email is serious. Forms at least collect the minimum required information to communicate - name, contact details and wedding date etc.

I'm sure they have a purpose, WP, but the point I made was that I disliked a form in lieu of an email address.

IKWYM

For me it is the combination: No street address, mobile only, form

Even worse the combination: No street address, mobile only, hotmail/gmail account

There is allways the option for the owners to publish the email address as an image instead of a text hyperlink... that stops a lot of the SPAM, but also means the end user can't copy/paste it

I can see why people wouldn't put up their address if they work at home - some nosey parker could look them up on Google map....

I think I met the same ring salesman as you at the national wedding fayre, was very disparaging about my ER and suggested the only thing to do was have the diamond worked into somtheing else by them sneeringly adding unless of you course you are sentimental about it, like that would be a bad thing, well guess what its my ER I am sentimental about it and I love it so you can shove your rings.................

Shame really as the previous year when i was not looking to buy rings I had met another salesman from the same company at a local event who was very helpful and the entire reason I approached them again

I have to agree on the spelling/grammar thing. I won't even get food from a cafe that sells sandwich's.

I like an email/enquiry to be acknowledged promptly - waiting a week for a reply means a supplier isn't interested, and I've probably found someone else by then anyway. Same or following day is good.

I'm always cautious of people who have a hotmail/yahoo/gmail address - doesn't look professional.

I don't like people who are too gushy - I hate approaching someone and they say 'oh you must be SSSSOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!' It always seems fake.

Alas the distance selling regulations insist on it https://www.araglaw.co.uk/blog/

I also dislike contact forms. Especially the lengthy ones - I'm only making initial enquiries and will give you the details if/when I decide to book you. Some of the lengthier forms feel like an attempt to get more information than is necessary. I know that certain info is necessary to provide a more accurate quotation and this info will vary depending on the supplier but jeez you don't need to know my budget. If you won't put your prices on your website, then I'm not telling you how much I'm willing to spend, just tell me how much what I've asked for costs and I'll come back to you if I'm interested!!

As someone else said above, lack of interest in personal service. Yes you might do lots of weddings, but this is my only one! Make me feel special

Poor spelling I'll forgive where it won't impact on the service, but not forgiveable where it is your service e.g. stationer.

Anything that undermines my confidence in your ability to deliver what I'm asking for. A lot of this is intangible as I tend to go off my gut feeling about people but things like being late/cancelling appointments, being more focussed on what 'you do' than what i'm asking for, that sort of thing.

Finally, not providing value for money simply because it's a wedding. Oh, only £895 to hire your rolls royce for less than 1 hour and drive less than 20 miles? P*ss off.

Agree too. I go one step further - no prices - forget it

Both shocking stories! How rude.

I too hate being ignored. I emailed and phoned/left messages with 2 photographers, didn't get a response from either of them.

Also hate venue dressers taking the 'P', ie. I'll charge you full rrp price for something you are hiring - bog off!

Was getting peeved with my wedding co-ordinator who I e.mailed twice and then had to phone a week later because she hadn't responded. But she said yes to everything we asked for extra, so all was forgiven.

I like clear comprehensive pricing, not "Prices from X. Ring for a quote" I don't mind "Price is X, travel charges may apply" but if there's no stated price I don't know if I'm being ripped off because it's a wedding, or because they don't particularly like working on that day of the week etc.

Not replying is also a no-no.

Being pushy.

Being condescending!

Not replying to an enquiry or taking an age - do you want my custom?!

No prices on websites - I hate having to call up to ask every time.

Poor spelling / grammar

Suppliers who go on and on and on - we had a tog come to the house and she would not shut up. Kept on about one particular wedding she'd done that had 'funky' shots which we hated!

If a website does not give a price guide I avoid the supplier as I assume that they are really expensive. Ditto shops and markets (no prices, no sale!)

I do love good websites, especially for photographers because I think... they are in the business of making things look good, and if they can't even be bothered to make their website look good, what chance is there that they will be bothered about my photos? The worse alternative is that they don't even know how rubbish their website looks! If it looks like it could have been made by me using a free website builder and Paint, then quite frankly I don't trust that they have the artistic talent to produce my photographs.

I sound like a snob. But that's the truth.

I really like enthusiasm, personality and an interest in OUR day. I get very turned off by feeling like we are on a treadmill. Granted suppliers have done it all before and likely seen hundreds of couples, but I love (for example) how enthusiastic our tog is about our day, he's mentioned us on his Facebook page and when we met him you could really see in his face how much he loves our venue and I LOVE that, I love that he genuinely seems really excited to come back on the 18th and photograph the building and all the little touches I was telling him about.

Promptness goes without saying. I love our invitations because they are exactly what we wanted but it made it even better that Leanne made them all and had sent them within a week. She also responded promptly to emails and made about 5 different samples until I was happy with the design, and never once made me feel like I was asking too much. Perfect customer service, I was ever so happy!