Skeptical about 5 star vendors

Good vendors are generally rated highly. Just saying

No. take the 10% that weren't to heart though

No. WW is very diligent about vetting people who review vendors and not letting vendors take down reviews that are uncomplimentary.

The reviews are made by brides just like you. As long as the most recent reviews are 4 stars or higher, I'd imagine that the vendor knows what they're doing.

As a side comment though, you should probably look over the reviews prior to setting up appointments and meeting vendors.

Honestly, yes. A girl I knew got her wedding photos done, and the person was rated 5star on WW. And her photos were laughably bad. Like, I wouldn't have paid and thought about suing bad.

Spazzy, because no business with equal rep. in online reviews has 5 stars - even if they're perfect, you always have the couple of assholes who don't get life reviewing them, so I am also skeptical of people with almost "perfect" scores.

I think everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Usually people are reviewing vendors right after their wedding...one of the happiest days of their lives. That emotion is bound to have an influence in the review.

I'm always willing to meet with 4-5 stars, but i still want to review their work and meet with them. you need to make your own decisions not just go with whatever anyone else says.

I agree with you...there are too many 5 star vendors. I usually compare the reviews with other website. To me bad reviews are equally helpful and I can usually tell him the reviewer is a problem person or if they really received bad service.

I admit that I can be a very "worse case scenario"person so I am reviewing the photographer's profiles to find the worse thing that has happened...I know...I know...

But I want to know if a particular photographer is horrible or if there were recent problems with photos disappearing.

My photographers have nothing but five star reviews on WW, Yelp and Facebook. LOVE that they have such a good reputation. Plus, I know them personally and I know they're not the types to write false reviews, or whatever. They're just very good at what they do. :-)

I think people are just happy with their wedding days and look on most of what happened with rose colored glasses. Likely with good reason, but still, you forget the little things you didn't like when the big picture is done and went well.

Are you skeptical of the good reviews or skeptical about the absence of bad reviews? I think that wedding wire has a very good system for verifying reviews, but I searched for reviews for all of my vendors on every platform I could find. Yelp, the Knot, Trip Advisor, Facebook, Google business, and anything else that popped up when I googled their business name. When I read reviews I looked for specific details and facts to show me that the reviews were from real customers. On Wedding Wire you can only leave a review if you actually do business with a vendor, but anyone can leave a review on most other sites.

Take it carefully. Some vendors have it in their contracts that you cannot leave negative reviews on any websites or social media

Compare WW reviews to reviews other places. Check their website and ask to see a portfolio of an entire wedding day. If you can, speak with brides who have ussd their services. And always meet before booking. I found my photog by doing a google image search for weddings at my location, then backtracking to find the photographer. My three favorite images were all from my photographer, and she happened to have almost all 5 star reviews on WW.

Compare that vendor via multiple sites and most importantly, consider your own impressions. Don't feel that you have to book them just because you met. Meet with multiple photographers and go with the best one that you feel comfortable with.

Someone could have a million stars on all websites but if I don't feel good with them or we don't mesh well or I get a weird vibe, I won't go with them.

Trust your gut.

Possibly. I had a vendor that I had about a 3 star experience with, but they have 5 stars everywhere. I didn't leave a review because

1. I don't feel like dealing with the backlash from the vendor if I give less than 5 stars. I know they will respond to it.

2. They mainly cater to lower budget brides, so they are probably the best in their price point. I had a healthy budget and other vendors that I paid above average for, so I realized, I couldn't expect the same level of service from that vendor that I got from the other ones in a higher price point. You get what you pay for.

This maybe terrible of me, but I personally look for a vendors worst, absolute worst reviews. If I can live with what these people say, then I go for that vendor.

I've found the vendors in WW that have 5 stars to be very reputable and responsive.

Fortunately WW isn't like Yelp, where vendors can't pay to boost their ratings or casually "omit" a bad review or two. If you are that skeptical, ask to speak with their references.

I don't get how references are any better than reviews. Maybe I don't understand how they work? The vendor that I had a bad experience with obviously wouldn't have a potential client reach out to me because he knows I was unhappy with his services.

I think @Elyse actually nailed it with the budget point. If you hire a photographer for $1k, you shouldn't be expecting Annie Leibovitz...that's not to say your pictures can't be beautiful regardless, but the higher or lower the cost relative to the rest of the area, the higher or lower the expected level of service should be. It depends what you're looking for and what your expectations are, and IMO weddings are one area where people generally really do their research and usually know what they're getting. There are plenty of hole in the wall restaurants in our area that are fabulous and have great Yelp reviews, but that doesn't mean their 5 stars translates to the same experience as a Michelin restaurant's 5 stars.