About the money
- What is your starting price?
- A stylist who will not answer this before a meeting is managing you rather than helping you. Shabz publishes both: $1,200 for events and $5,000 for weddings.
- Is your quote itemised?
- It should be. A single number is a request for trust, and it gives you nothing to adjust if the total is above budget. Itemised means you can see which element to change.
- Does the quote include hire, delivery, install and pack down?
- These are the lines most often left out of a headline figure and added later. Ask explicitly.
- What is the deposit and payment schedule?
- And what happens if you cancel or postpone. Get it in writing.
About what they actually do
- Do you own your hire stock or source it?
- Both are legitimate and they produce different results. A stylist who owns stock will style with what they own, which limits the palette to their inventory. A stylist who sources through a network can match pieces to your room, but you are relying on their relationships.
- Do you do the flowers yourself?
- Some stylists are florists, some coordinate florists. Shabz is a stylist and briefs florals to a florist chosen for your direction. Neither is better in the abstract, but you should know which you are getting.
- Are you styling or coordinating?
- Styling is the look. Coordination runs the day. They are different services and assuming you are getting both when you have paid for one is a common and expensive misunderstanding. More on who does what.
- Who is actually on site on the day?
- Ask whether the person you are meeting is the person installing your wedding, or whether it is passed to a team.
About your venue
- Have you worked at my venue?
- Useful but not essential. What matters more is the second question.
- What have you confirmed with the venue?
- A good stylist will already be asking about the bump in window, loading access, rigging permissions, open flame rules and whether anything can be attached to the walls. If none of that comes up, that is a signal. See how those constraints differ by venue.
- What is the wet weather plan?
- For any outdoor element. A real answer includes what physically moves, how long it takes, what time the decision is made and who makes it.
About whether they understand your wedding
Have you styled a wedding like ours? Particularly relevant for cultural weddings, where the ceremony has its own structure and the room has its own requirements. A stylist who has not and says so honestly is better than one who claims familiarity they do not have.
What would you change about what we have described? The most revealing question on this list. Anyone who agrees with everything is selling. Someone who says the budget is in the wrong place, or the centrepieces will block the tables, or the venue will not permit that installation, is doing the job.
What good answers sound like
Specific rather than reassuring. Numbers rather than ranges. A willingness to say no, or not at that budget, or that will not work in that room.
The most valuable thing a stylist can tell you is what will not work, early, while there is still time to choose differently. That is worth more than enthusiasm.