How to pick with negative reviews?

Your fiancé is right you will not find a place with perfect reviews.

FH is right. Some people's expectations are impossible to meet so a negative review can happen to the best venue. Look at the overall picture. Also you can add a different photographer if you don't like the one the venue offers.

There are always people who won't be satisfied.

But keep in mind, that no matter what, things can go wrong. You need to let go of the idea that your day will be perfect, because it likely won't be. Have reasonable expectations.

I feel like you can usually tell from the tone of the reviews whether it’s just someone that was difficult to please, or something to legitimately be concerned about. I would only really be worried if there was something consistent throughout all of the negative reviews. For example if everyone with a negative review complained about the that the food was cold, the quality of the service was poor, etc. Sometimes things just go wrong, and it might be outside of the control of the venue. I would use your discretion and go for a venue where their reviews seem to be more based on a specific situation than a consistent theme.

I agree with PP you are not going to find perfect scores when there are so many reviews done.

On a side note, we looked at Vegas Weddings out there and the lady we worked with was fabulous and I thought the prices were great for what you get.

Popular locations are likely to run into a number of issues, especially when they assist hundreds of couples from different backgrounds, with different expectations, and with varied personalities. If you find a venue that you enjoy, but there are concerns about a particular negative review, I encourage you to ask the management how they intend to work with the staff assigned to your wedding to proactively plan to navigate those obstacles before they arise or how to address them if they become unavoidable to ensure your day is flawless.

Pay attention to what the reviews say, rather than the number of stars they have. Some people complain about the silliest things. One of the negative reviews for my venue talks out how they nickel and dime you for everything, which hi, you knew what you were getting into when you signed the contract. Things like that I ignore, but if you see certain trends like people complaining about the food, the A/C being broken, etc, I'd cross those off my list.

I'm also a destination bride and I've leaned heavily on WW reviews. I've actually managed to book all vendors who don't have any bad reviews, except for the venue.

I agree there aren't ever venues with perfect reviews. My venue had over 300 reviews, and out of 300, 5 were negative. So I read through them, and just asked the venue manager about it when we met with her. I wasn't mean or anything, I just mentioned I saw that written in a review. She talked through the situation with me and I felt a lot better.

In general I take negative reviews with a grain of salt. Think of it this way. When you are satisfied with your service do you often go online and say that you were satisfied. Compared to when you are angry or upset you are more likely to go online to complain and talk about how dissatisfied you were. If there are positive reviews, and a lot of them, then that is a good sign. You can never please everyone, keep that in mind. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment Vegas weddings is our first choice right now! (we'll see how we feel when we do a venue visit).

You have to consider what the negative review is on. Sometimes its not on the service of the venue itself but a particular person that may be hired to work for them or something whom use to work there. If it has to do with the specific venue and the way they run events like being financially irresponsible, horrible food, repeat reviews with the same critique or concern. Someone is bound to have something negative to say. You can also ask them about the things mentioned in the article and see their response. Don't directly mention the review, but if its about finances make sure to get those answers. Sometimes people don't ask enough questions and become surprised that they didn't know the information ahead of time.

View Quoted Comment I like that idea of directly asking them about a issue I see mentioned in those few reviews.

View Quoted Comment Thanks, that is reassuring ☺

There’s always going to be someone with something negative to say. I pay careful attention to the negative reviews, not just content but also timeline and vendor response. Sometimes in search engines, dates can get jumbled so that reviews don’t appear in chronological order. If all complaints are super old, I assume they made adjustments. If all a very recent, I get concerned. If they’re over a period of time, I do look for themes. Sometimes everyone is complaining about the same thing, but it’s something that is SUPER unimportant to me personally. Sometimes it’s something that I do care about, and then I look at positive reviews to see what they say about it. Sometimes plenty of people reassure me that it’s good. Sometimes people in their positive reviews will say “it wasn’t the best but it didn’t take away from how great everything else was” and then I get a little concerned. SOMETIMES the negative reviews talking about the same issues are TOO similar and a little detective work leads me to realize that all of the negative reviews are in reference to the same event and someone was just real pissed. And some people complain about things that are really illegitimate (I was looking for a tent vendor and a woman went off on this guy for wanting to charge bc they wanted a different sized tent...come to discover, this venue has a large tent and this woman wants a smaller tent. Usually the venue suggests contacting their tent guy to put up a wall mid tent to size it down. Well, woman doesn’t want that. She wanted the big tent gone and a smaller tent put up [i get the aesthetic advantages of this but you have to assume there will be additional costs] Turns out (gasp) he wants to charge to take down the tent !! (Which for those following at home: one- yes!! There’s hours of labor to take down the tent! Of course you pay for that! And TWO! After your event they then have to go and put back up the tent that you didn’t want! ITS PART OF THE VENUE) ...like, I don’t get what she wanted from this guy. This sounds like a problem with the VENUE (who has the tent that is bigger than she wants) NOT with the tent guy. But she’s choosing to be mad at him bc who knows, she probably liked the venue so has rose-glasses. The only other negative review was someone complaining that this guy is a false advertiser bc hey wanted cocktail lights but they got Christmas lights (they included a number of ghastly exclamation points after this) but uh ....I think what they wanted was BISTRO lights and cocktail lights is basically a vague term referring to som sort of string lights, so likeeeee....how can you really blame the guy for not correctly knowing what you were asking for???)

anyway, at the end of the day everyone has different opinions and you can’t trust everyone to be objective in their reviews. So don’t sweat it too much, but if you come across specific concerns about a venue, just keep in mind and make a point to address it when you are there

What are your 4 venues? We are getting married in Vegas in Oct at Mandalay Bay and so far they have been FANTASTIC to work with!!!!

He's right. No venue will have all perfect reviews.

Which ones have you narrowed it down to?

We are getting married at Vegas Weddings and I'll admit that I was relieved that there are so many good reviews for it. We won't get to see the place in person till the day before the wedding since we are in Ohio but I am just trusting that the day will be amazing.

View Quoted Comment

When are you going to visit? You'll definitely need to post! That's where we booked so it's too late to change our minds but it looks really great and the reviews I've seen seem super promising. Also yay more Oct Vegas brides FTW!

View Quoted Comment In order of current preference its:
Vegas Weddings
Mon Bel AMI
Chapel of Flowers
Treasure Island

View Quoted Comment In order of current preference its:
Vegas Weddings
Mon Bel AMI
Chapel of Flowers
Treasure Island

View Quoted Comment We are planning to visit this month. I hope they are not too booked for October.