Back in November, I wrote a post announcing my engagement and my intention to use social media as much as possible in the planning of my wedding. Today, I bring you a new blog series — aPRettySocialBride : )

In this new series, I’ll detail how I’m doing in my social media wedding planning, including tips and tricks for you to do the same.

So without further ado, here’s the first post in the series: Crowdsourcing Vendors.

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I’m a big fan of crowdsourcing. Since I witnessed how well in can work in Pyxl’s Help Us Name Us campaign, I’ve been interested in using it in other situations. Some call it lazy…I call it efficient!

When it came time to find wedding vendors, I was a little lost. I didn’t grow up in Knoxville, and I’ve never been to a wedding in Knoxville. In addition, Michael and I are among the first of our friends to tie the knot, so we really had no where to turn — except for social media of course : )

My first priority was the photographer. After the wedding, the only tangent things you keep are the husband, the rings and the photos, so I wanted to make sure we hired the right photographer. But as you may know, photographers are a dime a dozen, and in my experience some of them barely know what they’re doing. In Knoxville, there are 1,077 local search results, so how’s a girl supposed to know where to begin?!

Lucky for me, I’m a twitter-holic and I have quite a few Knoxville followers, so I tweeted a simple question:

“Anyone know of a good wedding photographer in Knoxville?”

I received an outpouring of recommendations. Wedding planners told me who they would suggest. Happy brides told me who they had used. Other photographers offered their services. This was an awesome start!

I created a master list, scoped out their portfolios and blogs – (Hint to photographers: Have a blog! I was really impressed by those that did. It gave me a chance to see recent work, not just the very best work. I ultimately decided I would choose a photographer that ran a blog related to their work.) – and sent an email about pricing to the few whose work I liked best.

After considering what recommendations I’d received, whose style really fit what we were looking for, and the price of each, Michael and I met with our top choice: Jennie Andrews.

Upon meeting with Jennie, we knew she was the right fit and we signed a contract with her the next week…but it all started with one simple question on Twitter.

After finding success with the photographer, Michael and I continue to pose questions on Twitter and Facebook related to our wedding. Whether asking for advice or vendor referrals, we’ve had success so far, and I highly recommend crowdsourcing to other brides and grooms.

After all, it’s just like word-of-mouth, except on social media, your friend-base is much larger : )

All you have to do is pose a simple question and see what answers you receive. Of course, it still requires a little leg-work once you compile a list…but having a list of recommendations is a great place to start!

Have you had similar crowdsourcing success? Do you have questions for me? Let’s chat…