Wedding suppliers in Madrid:what to ask before writing

Once the date and place are settled, the long part begins: gathering the people who will work that day. A review of the official websites of nineteen wedding suppliers in Madrid, carried out in August 2026, leaves a clear idea: they explain well what they do, and almost never what it costs.

Two different silences

They stay quiet for different reasons. Those who sell something by the unit — a bouquet, a menu per guest, a hairstyle — could offer a starting figure and prefer to be written to. Those who coordinate or perform music depend entirely on the celebration: accompanying sixty guests is not the same as two hundred, nor is a duo the same as a quartet over five hours.

The first silence can be answered with an order of magnitude by telephone. The second cannot: the quotation comes from describing the whole celebration.

What each craft usually offers

• Wedding planners: some state their experience and their willingness to travel beyond the capital; these are their own claims, audited by no one, and serve to ask questions, not to compare.
• Catering: some work with partner estates, others include service and floral decoration; find out whether what you need is included or separate.
• Flowers: from the artisan workshop to their own cultivation; the difference lies between working with what the market offers that day and with what is grown.
• Music: the most opaque craft; ask about training, repertoire and area of work.
• Cake: a registered bakery and refrigerated transport matter at a July wedding.
• Beauty: durability and the option to come to your home shape the morning.

Questions to compare quotations

• Is VAT included? A quotation with VAT and one without differ by 10 or 21 per cent, which has nothing to do with quality.
• Do they travel to the venue, and on what terms?
• How many people attend and until what hour does the service run?
• Until when can the guest number be adjusted, and with what minimum?
• Are set-up and take-down included?

If the venue is still missing, settle it before any other craft, then fit the schedule to the hour at which the light fades. The data comes from each business's own website and may have changed: confirm it with them before deciding.

An official check worth making

The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) keeps a public register of food businesses, with an open search tool. Companies listed in it have a registration number, and you can ask whoever prepares your dinner or cake for it.

It is not a quality seal: AESAN itself explains that the number is only an administrative identifier and that other registers exist, for example regional ones. A business not appearing does not mean there is a problem; it means it is worth asking which register it is in. Asking for the number and checking it takes a minute, and it is an objective fact in a sector where almost everything else is opinion.

What to put in writing with each supplier

• The date, the arrival time and the exact place of service.
• What happens if the guest count changes or the wedding has to move.
• Who answers if something fails on the day and how to reach that person.
• What is delivered, by when and in what format.

The busiest traffic weekends

If the wedding is in summer and any of your suppliers come from outside Madrid, ask them what they do on special traffic-operation weekends. In 2026 the DGT set them for 3 to 5 July, 31 July to 2 August, 14 to 16 August and 28 to 31 August.

The street session

If you hire photography or film and want a street session in Madrid, the city council has a simplified procedure, the "acto comunicado", for teams of up to fifteen people, without electrical equipment and for up to six hours. Ask the supplier whether they handle it and who files it.