Planning a wedding means coordinating florists, caterers, photographers, makeup artists, and about fifteen other tasks that all want dates, deposits, and decisions.
WordLayout’s Vendor List template brings all of it into one place. It structures vendor types, their complete data, your guest count, cost per head, and other details in clear, comprehensive tables. Compiling everything in one sheet, this template solves a major concern for couples and wedding planners – juggling to find the right contact or confirm who’s handling what!
This template is primarily designed to keep track of all businesses and service providers involved in wedding planning. It helps you organize all the details and makes it easier to coordinate between multiple parties at once.
You don’t need advanced Excel skills for this one, simply download the template for free, feed in vendor details that are involved in the planning process, and let the template give you totals and finals.
Features of Our Vendor List Template
Right at the top, you’ll mention the event name, write who prepared it, and note the date it was last updated. The header fields are just here for identification and to keep your document organized if you’re sharing with a planner or a partner. This workbook includes three sheets. We’ll look at them one by one.
Vendor list sheet
Before you put the template to use, make a rough list of broad vendor categories or types. Your categories could be catering, venue, decor, photography, transportation, entertainment, music, etc.
Once you know the categories, move on to the separate tables for each vendor type. You define the Vendor Type in the subheader, set a Budget for this category, and note the relevant Service Date range.
Inside each table
Each row within this table represents one vendor you’re considering for that category. Here’s what these columns collect:
- Vendor Name and Contact Person – This is the business name and your direct point of contact there.
- Number of Guests and Cost per Guest—once you enter both values, the Total Est. Cost column automatically calculates using a formula that multiplies the two together. Note that if either field is left blank, the total will come out empty rather than showing a zero cost. This avoids false readings and actually keeps the sheet clean. Also, you can change the currency too.
- Payment Terms – This is a free-text field where you note how the vendor prefers to be paid. Their deposit structure and balance schedule (e.g., “50% deposit, balance 7 days before event”). This column especially comes in handy when you’re cross-checking payment deadlines across multiple vendors at once.
- Availability Dates (From/To) – Here, you log the window each vendor is available. When going through the sheet, you can quickly see anyone on the vendor list whose dates don’t line up with your event.
- Venue Status – All cells in this column have dropdowns with three options: Selected, Under Consideration, and Not Selected. It’s one of the more practical features of our sheet, as you can narrow down your choices here. Visually, too. If you mark a vendor as Selected the cell turns blue, indicating it’s approved for use now. Not Selected Cells automatically colors pink, clearly showing you’re not moving forward with them. And Under Consideration cells show you’re still reviewing the vendor (cell turns a dull yellow). You can change the values in the dropdown from the configuration sheet*.
- Vendor Rating – This column displays a star rating (★ to ★★★★★) for each vendor in the same category, for how the quality of service is perceived by the general public. You can access such information on their pages and Google listing.
- Service – You list a brief description of exactly what the vendor offers (e.g., Ceremony and Reception for “Venue” vendors or Plated Dinner + Coffee Service for “Catering” vendors). This helps you compare like-for-like instead of just names and prices.
- Hired For and Selected On – So once you confirm a vendor, you can log what they were specifically hired for and the date you made this decision. You’ll effortlessly be creating a simple paper trail without needing a separate document with this column.
The template, by default, has two tables; you can add more for additional vendor types by simply copying and pasting the last existing table. All the formatting and formulas will carry over as is, no manual rebuilding needed!
Once all categories are filled, you can easily track where you’re going over or under budget at a glance.
Vendor information sheet
So once your main Vendor List sheet is filled, this second sheet becomes your consolidated view of all of it.
You don’t enter anything manually in this one. The sheet uses array formulas to automatically pull through every vendor entry you’ve marked as Selected across all your category tables in the Vendor List sheet. It’s like a live summary of the main sheet that updates and reflects changes in the main list on its own.
The columns are the same – Vendor Type, Vendor Name, Contact Person, Number of Guests, Cost per Guest, Total Estimated Cost, Payment Terms, Service Period, and the Selected On date.
But what was the need for a second sheet?
Having finalized vendors in one place means you won’t be scrolling through a long list of vendors in each category when you need a quick overview of the confirmed vendors, their quotes, and timelines. This sheet gives a side-by-side view of that and also allows you to apply filters in each column.
You’ll use this second sheet particularly once decisions start getting to the final stage. Basically, the vendor list is more of a research tool, while the vendor information sheet is a confirmed vendor roster.
Configuration Sheet
This is your behind-the-scenes sheet that powers how the Status dropdown in the Vendor List sheet behaves. You have a table with the three status options, feeding directly into the dropdown menus in the main sheet.
If you wanted to customize the value wording, this is where you’d make the change rather than editing each cell individually. There’s also a Reset All Data button here that clears all vendor data entered across the template in one go. This feature is useful if you’ve duplicated the file or downloaded the template with sample data pre-filled (like this one) and want a clean slate.
You probably won’t need to visit the sheet often, but it’s worth knowing it’s there. Especially the reset button before you begin and the status list if your workflow calls for different terminology than what’s already there.
Best Practices When Using This Template
- Set your category budgets before adding vendors to the sheet. You can see how close you are to your limit per category as you fill the template rather than discovering an overspend after you’ve shortlisted the vendors.
- Use vendor status as a live tracker and not a final stamp on the status. Update statuses as conversations and meetings happen.
- Save a backup before hitting Reset. The Reset All Data button wipes everything in one action and doesn’t ask for confirmation. So make sure you copy and save any data you need before hitting the button.
- Duplicate the file for each client or event. If you’re working across multiple clients, keep one clean master copy and duplicate it per engagement. This way, you’ll always have an unedited version to return to.
Customizing the Vendor List Template
Some ways you can make the template match your aesthetics, style, and wedding vibe include:
Functionality customizations:
- You can add or remove vendor rows in any category table
- Add new category tables by copying the existing ones.
- Editing the status options in the Config sheet if the default three labels don’t match your workflow
- You can duplicate and restructure the template for non-wedding events because the logic isn’t wedding-specific
Aesthetic customizations:
- Change the font colors, font sizes, border styles and thickness, row height, cell background colors, font styles, column width, and formatting without affecting any formulas
Areas that should not be edited:
- Any formula column in the Vendor Information sheet
- The Total Est. Cost column formula in Vendor List
- The structure of column AA, which serves as the reference column that the Vendor Information formulas rely on
Available Formats
This Vendor List template is available in two formats: MS Excel (.xlsm) and Google Sheets.
Out of the two, the Excel version is more featured, supporting macros that power the Reset All Data button on the Configuration sheet, and all array formulas in the Vendor Information sheet run as intended. We recommend downloading the Excel version if you’re working locally and want the full functionality.
The Google Sheets version covers the core structure and is a good choice if you prefer working in a browser or need to share the file for real-time collaboration. Bear in mind that the Reset button won’t carry over, as Google Sheets doesn’t support Excel macros.
Ready to Sort Your Vendors?
Wedding vendor coordination is tough and has a way of getting out of hand. But this template was built to solve the very issue. It keeps all vendor information in one, organized document that you can filter and edit as you like.
Download the template, customize it to fit your wedding, and start making sense of all the vendor data that’s been sitting in your inbox, notes, and “saved” folder on Instagram!
Related Templates
Be sure to check out other templates in our collection for organizing stress-free weddings and events.
