Also, a dive into reviews: the real, the fake and the biased.
Fraudulent business tactics, false advertising, and empty leads. These companies exist solely by exploiting small businesses. Their main source of income is finding new vendors who are just starting out and pressure selling them into a 12-month contract with tons of hidden fees.
Majestic Oaks Golf Club Wedding: Sophia and Brandon | Minnesota Wedding Photographer - Emily's Photography.
The Top 10 Minneapolis, MN Affordable Wedding Photographers.
Having a list of top wedding vendors is convenient, but "best" varies for each couple. Relying on one source, like The Knot, which may list vendors based on advertising, can limit options and overlook affordable talent. To find perfect vendors, explore multiple sources such as local fairs, social media, and personal recommendations for diverse options that fit your style and budget.
Best Of Clickbait.
The Knot and WeddingWire use clickbait headlines to attract engaged couples, offering lists like “Top 15 Affordable Wedding Videographers in Minneapolis” or "The 25 Best Wedding DJs in Duluth, Minnesota." These lists mix amateur and seasoned vendors. Experienced vendors often join to gain a "Best Of" badge, which costs about $5,000 annually, indicating it reflects financial investment rather than merit. The wedding industry is saturated with such awards, especially in photography and videography, serving as marketing tools rather than indicators of quality. Couples should research thoroughly, seek genuine reviews, and consider personal recommendations to ensure a successful wedding experience.
No single website can identify "The Top" vendors because it's impossible for one source to know every vendor and make a fair comparison.
Real Negative Reviews Removed, Fake Positive Reviews Posted.
You cannot trust reviews due to their questionable authenticity. Websites like Yelp, Facebook, WeddingWire, WeddingPro, and The Knot allow businesses to contest negative reviews, sometimes leading to the removal of valid feedback, which skews perceptions of quality. Companies like remove.co offer reputation management services to remove negative reviews, creating a false sense of credibility. Posting fake positive reviews is easier and has led to misleading information online, with some Google Local Guides exploiting their status for insincere reviews. Organizations in Eastern Europe and Asia, calling themselves "Reputation Managers" or "SEO Experts," create fake reviews at low costs. They manipulate review numbers, often seen with vendors boasting hundreds of reviews or venues with thousands, which suggests manipulation rather than organic feedback.
Overpriced.
In 2017, when I began wedding photography, I was both excited and anxious about the competitive industry. A sales rep from The Knot, a prominent wedding platform, contacted me, urging me to join and promising business growth. She reviewed my modest portfolio, noting my low rates of $30 per hour for weddings, which undervalued my work. She advised raising my rates to the local average of $250 per hour to align with The Knot's premium image. This conversation highlighted the platform's focus on profitability over vendor quality, prompting me to rethink pricing and market dynamics.
The Knot needs to uphold their brand, and their brand focuses on Luxury weddings, their vendors have to start at a certain price point, even if they don't have the equipment or experience to justify it. The Knot and WeddingPro don't actually care about the quality of their vendors, they just want to make money. I'm not saying all the platforms vendors are over-priced, but its a possibility to be cautious of.
What Newly Engaged Couples Should Know When Searching for Wedding Vendors.
Being “verified” or having a badge from The Knot, WeddingPro, or WeddingWire doesn’t signify anything. Verified is a term they use to describe a participation award. It basically just shows that the vendor is paying them $350 per month.
Reviews, when real, are packed with bias. The past client either had a remarkable experience and isn't mentioning the negatives, or the client had a terrible experience and isn't mentioning the positives of working with the vendor. People rarely leave a 3-star “okay” experience. So, reviews should be taken with a grain of salt.
As a newly engaged couple, your safest bet to finding a trusted vendor is to ask friends and family for referrals. Then do research, compare reviews across multiple platforms, meet up, Zoom, view their work, ask about their gear, and make sure their communication is professional and timely. Do not hire anyone unless you have talked with them and have a good feeling about hiring them. Trust your gut.
New Wedding Vendor?
Then start your business journey on Google - it's free. Don't waste your non-existent marketing budget on The Knot, WeddingWire, WeddingPro, or other similar scams. These websites only work for businesses that have been on the site for 7+ years and have the advertising money to pay for premium accounts. Do not get locked into a "month-to-month" contract because it's a lie, and they will find a way to lock you in for longer, usually through an auto-renewal that you can't cancel, or something similarly desperate.
Instead, utilize social media, create Instagram reels, post to Facebook twice weekly, create monthly blogs for your website, etc. Your main focus should be building your portfolio, even if that means taking unpaid work, and then showing it off everywhere you're able to.
Also, make sure to get your well-deserved reviews. Ask your past clients, and then ask again. Still no response, but you're sure you did an amazing job? Well, keep asking. Reviews are extremely important for SEO; that's the main reason companies pay thousands to get fake ones. At the moment, Google bots depend on reviews to show them which listings are legit and worthy of being at the top of the search results. Instead of The Knot, focus on creating an amazing Google listing.
Reviews from wedding vendors warning others of The Knot and WeddingWires scams | Screenshot and research by Minnesota Wedding Photographer - Emily's Photography
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily documents people (and their dogs) at weddings! She lives with her five crazy pups, Nessie, Peach, Sammi, Vinny, and Bob. They chew everything they see, take up the whole bed, and most importantly - they give the best hugs.
Emily became a professional photographer in 2018 and since then has had the opportunity to share incredible moments with hundreds of couples that will be cherished forever. Her goal is to tell the story not only of your wedding day, but of your love. Learn more about Emily here.
Let's be realistic here.. I am a wedding vendor. We had a client ask us to back up his children. We didn't want to do this because this is a recipe for disaster, but he was persistent and offered $500. I worked a month paying for arranging horn parts, rehearsals with the band and for rehearsal space for this extra. His kids got up and of course with no rehearsal, the performance sounded awful and nowhere near the record.. which of course in his mind was our fault. He of course flamed us online for not making this unrealistic movie scene happen on demand. He then demanded the money that was spent almost immediately to the horn arranger b…
This article truly reads like it is written by a disgruntled person. I stand by all of my stellar reviews. I had nothing to do with writing a word of them. They are from my clients' hearts, only. I get a great deal of business by the fact that we have earned the Couples' Awards 5 years running. It is a small group of caterers that achieve that. While I agree, it is a costly site to belong to, no one serious about being in any facet of the wedding business can afford not to be present!
Truly captivating, I appreciate it deeply! 😀
https://whiteandlight.com/
I‘ve advertised on The Knot for 8 years, and while I’m not a huge fan of the site in general, I can say with a ton of confidence that there are many inaccuracies in this article. The “Best Of” award does not cost $5K. we have 87 reviews, and not a single one is fake. Sorry you had a bad experience, but you need to do some more research before posting an article like this.
Had no idea!