Hiring vendors from afar

[ImMatiaMou]

This is my first time here, so I hope I'm doing this right. I was just wondering how the rest of you feel about hiring vendors over the phone, especially bakers and caterers. How do you do tastings if you're not there? We can't get to California until next Spring, but we can't wait that long to choose a baker, or else they might be booked up.

I'm just worried that we'll give them a non-refundable deposit and THEN find out they're cakes look great but taste like sawdust. :P It's not like they're gonna mail us a slice so we can taste it first. All I can figure is we just have to trust them and hope it's good, but I HATE doing it that way.

Anybody else worrying about this? I've heard a lot of horror stories about wedding cake disasters, I guess I'm freaking a bit. I'm making this hard for myself, because we have another 10 months to wait, so I'm probably just going to get crazier as time passes!

Any insight would be appreciated.

[saw23]

I hear your frustration.
A lot depends on what type of destination wedding you are having and how much you are spending. If your destination wedding is large, very traditional with a lot of money being spent you may want to figure out a way to at least visit for a weekend to meet with several vendors. It might be worth it. If on the other hand you are having a small, simple wedding you proably won't need to go to that expense - even though you of course want something nice. Your guests are perhaps less likely to care about "stuff".
The reality is that you can't do a tasting if you are not there. Giving up some control is part and parcel with having a destination wedding. I plan destination weddings in Jamaica and I assure you in the last year only one couple went down for a tasting and this was just because they had a lot of money to spend. And, all the couples so far have loved the food. Are you working with a wedding coordinator? That might help. At least that person would have contacts who are at least tried and true. Enjoy the process - don't let it drive you crazy!

Just my humble opinion ...

Sherry
http://www.destinationweddingsinjamaica.com

[Lizzie]

Hi. I'm also having a destination wedding-- on Catalina Isalnd in California. What I ended up doing was hiring a wedding planner. I interviewed several wedding planners over the phone and also followed up on references before chosing someone I was comfortable with. She has helped me with the choice of all of my vendors, which has helped make things easier and take away from some of the stress.

You may want to go out to your destination site once before the wedding and meet with everyone. This may be a mandatory if this is required by the location in order to get a wedding license.