Who actually needs a Wedding Planner? Certainly not you when you have Wi-Fi and all these handy websites right? You’re looking for your wedding vendors on a website like The Knot or WeddingWire…because after all, these sites claim to be the only resource you need to plan a wedding…
Cool.
All seems to be going well, and they are giving some recommendations that are in the “affordable- $$” range. GREAT! So you then send out inquiries and the rates that come back are not affordable at all!
WHHHAT?! What happened? The wedding website you were using said that vendor was affordable in your area. Surely this wasn’t what they had in mind, since they are your sage and wise “wedding planner”.
NEWSFLASH, FRIENDS-
These wedding websites have literally no idea about any of the vendors you find using their search tools. The vendors themselves set all of the parameters of their listing. Everything.
Here’s why this matters- if you are a wedding vendor and you want to get inquiries from a website such as this, what are you going to do to try and get the most inquiries…set your pricing as moderate or affordable, duh. Because we know that the majority of people looking to find a vendor for their wedding are not going to want to immediately jump to those vendors with the $$$$ next to their name.
Additionally, the vendors these sites are most apt to show you, are the ones that pay them the most money, and it is not a small amount. It is thousands of dollars per year. How “moderate” do you think their pricing is if they are paying over a thousand dollars a month to these websites?
The algorithms and settings their search features and planning tools use will automatically put the vendors that pay them the most money at the top of their recommendations for you…regardless of the actual value and performance of the vendors.
BUT THE VENDOR HAS AWESOME REVIEWS! I AM SURE THEY WILL DO A GREAT JOB ON MY WEDDING DAY!
Prepare to have your dreams crushed here…those reviews? Are in no way verified. The “people” that leave them may in fact be the actual wedding vendor themselves! There are also back alley methods of collecting “legit” five star reviews- aka pay some shady internet individual to write them for you on your page on these sites.
Seems super reliable and definitely what you’d want all of your wedding day decisions based on right?
PLEASE do not make the mistake of thinking that these website actually give a you-know-what about you or your wedding.
THEY DO NOT.
They don’t even give a you-know-what about the actual wedding professionals who pay their bills- as evidenced by their new “wedding planner” feature which claims to replace the need for an actual wedding planner.
The vendors that an actual wedding professional recommends, do not earn those recommendations because they pay for them.
As a real, live WEDDING PLANNER, I am able to tell you the ins and outs, pros and cons, down and dirty details of the vendors in the immediate area and in some cases all over the US since I have worked with so many. That’s right, I have actually interacted and worked with the vendors that I recommend. Want information on a vendor I haven’t worked with, guess what, I can get that for you. I also have hundreds of resources, spies, and other top secret ways of gathering intel.
It is my JOB. It is something that I take very seriously and feel very strongly about.
Your wedding vendors are THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your wedding day.
Don’t believe me? Talk to some one who hired crappy vendors after getting “referrals” from one of these websites. They’ll tell you.
Did you know I offer referrals to all my clients? As well as all my consults? And even have small packages available if you’d like me to help you line up all of your wedding vendors? With a guarantee that they don’t suck?
I do.
Because it is that important.
Cheers!
XOXO, Amber
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