This may be our absolute best wedding planning tip when it comes to filtering out the information you want from the flood of unsolicited marketing you’re about to encounter. Let me explain why your excellent idea may be problematic, and what you can do to make it better…

Your personal email address is a sanctuary of sorts, and you do not want to give it out when shopping for your wedding vendors. Instead, you had the idea of creating a temporary email account for the planning process (like lisaandjohnswedding@gmail.com), and you’re absolutely right to do so. However, you may only be half right. Having one temporary email for vendors is a HUGE problem, and here’s why…

As part of your shopping process, you will probably want to get pricing and collateral (pictures, videos, and reviews) from several vendors to see which ones are the right fit for your dream celebration. You can do your own research and find those vendors online. Or you can attend bridal shows, conventions, or expos where there will be a collection of dozens of vendors representing all of your wedding needs, such as DJs, photographers, cake decorators, etc. Either method will require giving those vendors your email address, at some point, so they can follow up with you.

In a perfect world, you would only give your email to those vendors you might actually want to hire. But that Utopia is not reality. The company that produces the bridal showcase collects your email when you register, and promises that email to every vendor who buys space as an incentive to get them to buy that space. You can then expect to receive a series of generic marketing emails from every vendor at the showcase… whether you want to hear from them or not.

Let’s further compound the problem by acknowledging that your name and email, along with the name and email of other couples shopping for wedding services, are very valuable. Your information will likely be sold to sponsors, sister companies, and anyone else who will pay for that list so they can market their services.

Ok, so then what happens when you choose your vendors and you’re ready to start communicating details of your event with them? You’re stuck sifting through hundreds of spam emails to find the ones that you’re anticipating!

That’s why we recommend creating 2 temporary email addresses for your shopping process right from the start. You can freely give out the first one to all of the above, and only give the second one to the short list of vendors you hire or intend to hire. Once you have your vendors in place and you’re sure they’re all using the second email address to reach you, you can delete the first temporary email account knowing that you have all the information you need in the second temporary account.

The end result is you’ve essentially routed all spam to the recycle bin, and still not given out your personal email address to anyone during the process. Although, we at NYX Entertainment & Events will probably end up with your personal email address as part of the lasting friendship we maintain with most of our couples well into their years of marriage. But that is a story for another blog…