Do you trust online reviews?

The reviews here on WW cannot be altered (e.g. vendors can't pay to have reviews taken down), so I do take those for what they say. It's totally possible that you happen to have a lot of excellent DJs in your area.

I used ww and knot reviews to book my band. they also had a lot of youtube videos of them at other weddings which swayed me.

I used WW reviews pretty extensively as they seemed genuine. On outside sites I took any reviews with a heavy dose of skepticism especially if they were all five stars. Everyone has bad days so there should be at least a couple mediocre reviews if not bad ones. I'd try and get a feel for the style of the DJ. You want one that will be compatible with what you want.

There likely aren't going to be a lot of mediocre reviews because it takes a lot of energy to write a review for someone that was "fine". I'm more interested in seeing consistency in review comments rather than the overall 5-star rating. Same with bad reviews - if there is something that a lot of people point out as a problem I take it more seriously than one review saying "he was so rude and didn't know what he was doing!"

I noticed most wedding websites have raving reviews, so I always check Google and yelp reviews too. There's usually bad reviews on those. That's how I narrowed down my photographer

If youre in any local wedding groups on Facebook, you can ask for real reviews there.

I would just consult multiple sources especially WW and The Knot. If you know anybody who has used them, you can reach out as well.

I do not trust all reviews. I had a horrible experience with a photographer and I read the reviews on WW and they were great. Literally everyone (she had 9 total reviews) raved about her.

I decided to write my own review but because the person was professional and prompt, etc she scored average even though I rated her poorly on quality of work. The weight was even on all the pieces so I was bothered that her score only turned average because quality was only one measure of the 5 pieces.

At the end of the day I could care less if someone is professional, responsive etc if their photography skills are atrocious (we literally kept not one picture from our engagement shoot)

So while I think reviews are helpful, it's even better to know someone who was happy with their quality, etc and to see their work. Particularly all of their work and not just a few pictures.

Consistency is important too - if you have 5000 reviews of happy people that says something

Also this person wrote a comment back on WW basically saying she'd do anything to make me happy but in reality when I tried to resolve the issue with her, she did nothing to make it right. She also denied the claims the pictures were poorly taken (even tho I showed them to other professional photographers and they were in shock at how bad they were). Overall, I lost a lot of faith in WW reviews.

That being said, not all reviews have that happen either

I am an avid Yelper. Because I am getting married in a small town where everybody knows and everybody and there's not much to choose from, I wasn't able to solely rely on WW, I had to rely on word of mouth and asking tons of questions when I met a few vendors that i was in search of at the bridal show i went to. If you have certain vendors in mind, I would defiantly do my research and ask tons of questions when you have a consultation.

I don't trust online reviews from one single source. I check WW, The Knot, Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc. Maybe a little overkill, but I want to make sure I'm hiring reputable vendors.

Thanks guys! I'll check out multiple sources as well as some videos online.

I can't speak to the review system everywhere (cough cough Yelp), but I can say that WW has an awesome review system!

There are very few reasons why WW will remove a review: if it is a duplicate, if it contains personally identifiable information (address or date of birth), if a court ruling has been issued to remove the review, if it contains profane, vulgar, racist or adult material, or if that vendor has not conducted business with the reviewer. WW does not get involved in the "he said she said", all we need to see is a signed contract to prove that you did business with the vendor and the review will go back up. More info can be found here:

https://support.weddingwire.com/hc/en-us/articles/205700125-Disputed-Review-FAQ

When I was looking for vendors I used reviews in a few ways to help me with my selection. First of all I wanted to see that they had reviews, and at least over like 5 reviews. I want to see that you are an established business with previous clients in the wedding industry. A basic threshold of reviews can help assure you that the company is legit. I also want to see recent reviews! If all of your good reviews are from a few years ago that can be telling, or if bad reviews bringing down their overall score are from a few years ago and they have recent great reviews it can indicate a change in personnel or that the business is learning from their feedback. Whenever you can see a business that has publicly responded to a bad review that response can be really insightful! If they have a nasty or aggressive response to a bad review I might think the reviewer is on to something, but if they stay professional they can win a lot of respect in my eyes!

I also used reviews to try to identify trends. I'd read all the bad reviews and see if there is a common theme. If you have a few crazy sounding bad reviews I may be able to overlook them as clients who weren't great to work with or had unrealistic expectations, but if you're reading multiple bad reviews that are saying the same thing (poor communication, chronically late, etc.) then I take those red flags very seriously. Same thing with great reviews - if there are certain great aspects that are brought up multiple times I take great stock in those.

I also prefer Yelp.

People go straight to Yelp if they're pissed off, regardless of how they found their vendor. They're not as likely to come to a site like WW or TK and complain unless they found them there.

I looked at yelp, ww, the knot and venue recommendations

Yelp is not reliable. They screw with the reviews depending on whether you pay the or not, and the reviews are not vetted at all.

WW will not take down a negative review (even if the vendor disputes it) unless there is no proof that the reviewer worked with the vendor.

When I see a bad review, I look at the reviewer's reviews of other vendors. If s/he gave everyone bad reviews, I figure the problem is with her/him -- not the vendors.

My venue has rave reviews from all the wedding websites- the knot, WW, etc. So far I am not happy with them AT ALL. They've made the whole process a nightmare. I always prefer personal recommendations (e.g. Friend used this DJ for their wedding) though obviously this isn't always practical :/

I think they dispute them and often times people don't bother to follow up with proof, and so they get removed. Also, I read a great article somewhere about the fake "best of" rankings. Let me see if I can find it.

Ah here we go: Google birdsongphotography and weddingwire

He talks about how he got a random "couple's choice award" from WW in his inactive account and easily he was able to get some other designation by fake reviews

With my vendors, I talk to them and look at their product in person. Some of the ones with raving reviews turned out to be absolutely amazing in person (hired those on the spot) and others turned out to be completely mediocre

All a reviewer needs, if they want their review to stand, is an IP address that is different from the vendor's IP address (that means your sister, your BFF, your cousin, your mother, your aunt, etc.). If you're looking at reviews that are 10 or less, read carefully. Because I'm a writer, I can pick up on redundant phraseology, from review to review. Your best bet is dealing with a vendor who's been in business for a long time and doesn't have nine reviews.

Yelp? Screw that.. I was reviewed on Yelp for a comment I posted on WW. I had no idea who this woman was -- she lives in a southern state while I live and work in NY -- and she trashed my business based on my "don't self-cater" post (Greetings, Tina R,. with the cow avatar). I was called an elitist, and she suggested that any potential client run the other way because I had a high and mighty attitude that included a "pay for a professional caterer" position. It was easy to get it down, but truthfully, I don't monitor Yelp (because everyone knows it's BS), so it was there for about six weeks before my partner found it.

Focus on wedding forum reviews -- in this order: The Knot and WeddingWire. The fakes are easy to find (if the bride reviewed one or two vendors, and not the seven the average bride uses, be aware). Watch for phraseology and "voices" that sound redundant.