Your wedding day is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and hiring wedding vendors to bring your day to life is a large part of the planning process. You may have heard or read somewhere to verify your vendors are insured, but it’s easy to assume that your happy, smiling florist, photographer, or baker has insurance. Verifying that your vendors are legit, insured, and tax-paying businesses is a small step to avoid potential catastrophe down the road.

According to The Knot®, the average cost of a US wedding overall is about $34k. However, this number varies greatly by state or region. State averages range from $53k to $19k.

But what about us here in the QCA? We’re not firmly set in rural Iowa where the state average wedding budget is just over $22k, nor are we living in the burbs or big-city Chicago where that number jumps to almost $40k.

Hiring wedding vendors can be super intimidating. Even if you're just beginning planning your wedding, by now you know how much pressure goes into choosing the perfect vendors. Let us break down the basics. We put together this guide to help couples focus on finding the perfect vendors to bring their wedding day vision to life.