How to write a vendor brief Sposa would write

The single highest-leverage thing a couple can do early in planning is write one good vendor brief and reuse it. Most couples write a different, vaguer brief for each supplier, and the result is a fortnight of email tennis per category, with quotes that cannot be compared because each one priced a different version of the wedding.

A good brief produces three things. A specific quote, in writing, with a clear scope. An honest answer about availability. And — quietly, in the supplier's tone — a signal of whether they actually want the job. Below is the structure Sposa uses when it drafts vendor outreach for couples on Plus and Rescue.

The six paragraphs

Paragraph one: the date and the headline numbers. The date of the wedding. The venue and its town. The guest count, ideally as a range with a confirmed date by which it will narrow. If you have a budget for the category, name it. Hiding the budget so the supplier "comes in low" is a folk superstition; suppliers price to the brief, and a vague brief produces a vague quote.

Paragraph two: the shape of the day. One short sentence per phase. "Ceremony in the orangery at three. Drinks reception on the lawn until five-thirty. Dinner in the long barn for one hundred. First dance at nine-thirty, bar closes at midnight, carriages at one." The supplier needs the timeline more than they need any other piece of information.

Paragraph three: what you actually want from this supplier, in concrete terms. For a photographer: full-day coverage from prep at noon to last dance at midnight, second shooter for the morning, an online gallery within six weeks, around five hundred edited images, a £400 print credit. For a florist: ten table runs at three metres each, a bridal bouquet, four bridesmaid bouquets, two ceremony arrangements, no hanging installation. The more specific you are, the closer the quote will be to the real number.

Paragraph four: aesthetic direction in three references and one sentence. "Restrained, seasonal, white and cream, no pinks. References attached." If you have a Pinterest board or a Sposa mood board, link it. Three images is enough. Twenty images is too many; the supplier cannot infer your taste from twenty images, only from the gap between them, and twenty images flatten the gap.

Paragraph five: the practical constraints. Dry-hire venue, so quote the kitchen surcharge separately. Welsh venue, so quote the travel and accommodation. Sunday wedding, so quote the Sunday rate openly. Allergies and dietaries known to date. Anything the supplier would otherwise have to extract by email later belongs here.

Paragraph six: the close. "Could you send a written quote with a scope of work and a payment schedule by [date]? Happy to jump on a fifteen-minute call after that if it helps." Naming the deadline is what makes the difference between a forty-eight-hour reply and a fortnight of silence. The fifteen-minute call line is what makes the supplier feel they can ask for one. Both signals matter.

What this brief gets you

A response within two working days, in our data, from roughly four out of five suppliers approached. A quote that prices the same wedding the next supplier will quote — so the comparison is real, not theatrical. A clean paper trail when, ten months later, you need to remember whether the kitchen surcharge was included.

And one quieter thing. The suppliers who reply quickly, accurately, and in tone, are the ones who will run their part of your day quickly, accurately, and in tone. The brief is not just a procurement tool. It is a casting call.