Vendor search issues

Also, has anyone used a different tool to find vendors (i.e. not WeddingWire)?

I had similar problems, and tried to cross reference with the knot and arizonaweddings magazine's site. (not that AZ weddings will be much help if you're not in AZ, but you may have a similar mag for your state)

Great....at 4.50 per minute to be here you have no idea how much I love seeing this.

The vendor search feature on here is pretty helpful, but how I really found good vendors was actually though Instagram, especially for decor and photo/video. You just have to search different hashtags. For example, if you already have a venue, search their hashtag. Mine was Honey Lake Plantation, so I search #honeylakeplantation and was able to find coordinators, photographers, decor resources, etc who have already worked with my venue. You could even search a hashtag for your area...like #NorthwestFloridawedding.

Hope this helps!

I tried to search stuff the other day and it wasn't working.

Thank you KM! I have been using google, yelp to find people, then searching their business name on WeddingWire to find reviews.

@ Celia... Seriously? That's what they charge vendors to be listed? I just searched for Officiants in North Haledon, NJ, then narrowed the radius to 10 miles and you don't show up. This is a problem. If I were a vendor I'd be PO'd.

I'm going to make a wild ass guess that this has something to do with the "regions" they assign. Somehow in my region, a jeweler from Florida shows up, but not the jeweler down the street.

I honestly wouldn't trust the reviews on here. There have been tons of complaints that reviews that are even the least bit negative are often contested and removed without warning. I just looked at my venue's page and my 3/5 review was removed without warning.

Not really but it feels like it.....

thanks for the info.

I also had issues. I ended up goggling some of the names I knew were on WW. The search option here isn't very user friendly.

FWIW @Celia, I tried to find you and you came up on the first page with "Featured" and "Deal" when searching your city and when searching NJ in general. Might be a bug with certain filters users, etc. Still concerning.

Km. that's not true. A negative review cannot be taken down just because the vendor doesn't like it. If you have a review missing, they may have contested it, which means you'll have to provide a contract. As reviews go, this is probably the most vetted site ever. And if yours isn't there, you should contact them.

While I don't love my less than 5 *** reviews, at least they keep it real......

@Sarah, I did go in and check and I am in the third row of people featured. But thank you!

@Love thank you!

"If you have a review missing, they may have contested it"....which is exactly what I said. Reviews on here are often contested and removed without warning. The person who reviewed the vendor usually isn't told (or warned) that the vendor is contesting the review or that it would be removed (temporarily) for that reason. From what I've seen here, people usually find out the hard way that it's gone.

I'm not going to bother fighting it...it's not going to solve anything for me.

@Celia, yes I saw you on the first page with no filters but you disappeared when I refined by distance.

It probably helps that you have so many reviews. My jeweler did not come up in any search of jewelers for their listed city or NY in general... They only have a few reviews.

KM, they are contested and removed. Then they need proof that you were a client.

Maybe someone from WW can clarify this?

@Sarah; paid vendors are place above unpaid ones in a rotation. One day I'll come up on the first line, the next on the fifth over people who don't pay. I don't believe reviews have anything to do with that....

Again, maybe WW can clarify this?

Yeah, removed (exactly what I said)...until the person leaving the review jumps through a hoop to get it back on. It should be the other way around....the client should be WARNED that this is happening and given a certain time frame to come up with a contract before it's taken down. But no...it's taken down automatically as soon as the vendor contests it and then it's up to the client, a person who is already probably feelings a certain way over the shitty vendor, to get it back up there. Sounds super fair.

Ah okay, so maybe there is a limit to number of results for a search and some of the unpaid vendors get cut off? I notice no matter what I search, no more than 4 pages show up... any time I refine further, it refines from those 4 pages. There is definitely some work to be done (as with any web page I'm sure).

Trying to make sure I touch on all of the questions here:

-Celia's placement is because she is a paying vendor!

-@Sarah - if you're refining your search by distance, is there a reason you want included search results that are outside of the distance you specified?

-@KM - your venue review is still active, I was immediately able to find it. Every single time a review is disputed by a vendor it is temporarily removed so that our dispute team can evaluate the situation. The reviewer is immediately notified of the situation and the requirements that WW needs from the reviewer to reinstate the review.

-@Sarah - it would be helpful if you let me know what category and region you are searching for!

Good to know! I was not "Immediately able to find it", despite it being one of the more recent reviews. After scrolling through a few pages of reviews I couldn't find it, but the girl who got married right before me had her shining review at the very top. So, it's there, just buried. The fact that there are no "requirements" from the vendor to get the review removed, but there are "requirements" to get it back up is still shitty. If there are requirements from the vendor to have it removed, that would probably be useful to know as well.

Thank you WWLynnie!

For instance when I search for jewelers in Nanuet, NY.. I end up with search results that are from places as far away as Palm Beach Gardens Florida. Naturally, one would want to refine by distance. However, even with the refined distance (lets say 10 miles), the local jeweler still does not show up (Mamari).

If for instance Celia is located in North Haledon, NJ, one would expect that a refined search for Officiants within 10 miles of North Haledon, NJ would include her in the list of results. It does not. If you refine by distance she disappears.

ETA: The reason I care that they are shown is that it makes me doubt that all local vendors are being listed... only a subset, perhaps chosen based on whether or not they are paid. That makes it harder for me to track down other potential vendors like Florists if I'm not being shown all the results for my area.

@KM - advertising vendors can choose a review to "highlight", and that must be the highlighted review! On the vendor's storefront you can choose how you want the reviews to be sorted - if you select "lowest" your review is the 3rd one that shows up.

The review verification on WW is actually incredibly unbiased. The only dispute options are :

-I never conducted business with this person

-Contains profane, vulgar, racist, or adult material

-A court ruling has been issued to remove this review

-Contains personally identifiable information such as my full name, address, date of birth

-Is incorrectly tagged with the wrong type of event

-Duplicate of another review

All of those dispute reasons can be instantly verified except for the first one (I never did business with this person), and all the reviewer has to do to get that review back up is send WW a copy of a signed contract.