Vendors creating profiles just to give themselves good reviews?

I've used the vendor tools to find all of my vendors. I read every review but I look at the date they are not supposed to be within a week of each other cuz let's face it weddings don't happen every week unless your like an extremely popular vendor. I found my photographer through the knot she had 5 reviews on there and I was hesitant to hire her because of that she has no reviews on WW which also made it iffy but I went to her website and spoke to her personally and I am so glad I picked her she is such a professional and my engagement pictures turned out amazing. Sometimes you can't really go by that or reviews you need to contact the person directly and speak to them.

Future Mrs Laguna many of us have wedding every week during the busy season, sometimes two in a row, and many vendors here have them back to back all year round. Look at officiant Celia.

And I can assure you that we are all living, breathing human beings with one email account and many happy clients.

This is not a matter of number of reviews, or whether they are a week appart from each other (people elope on any day of the week, Orthodox weddings never happen on a Saturday, among a zillion other examples).

It is trust and common sense. Meet the people, look at their work. If it all looks good, it does not mean it is too good to be true. It only means it is GOOD.

What a sad thread to come to after a week-end of hard work!

I've gotten the award for six years in a row, and only started paying to advertize this year. I have nearly 85 reviews that I have collected over these 6 years. They contact me because of the reviews, they don't book me because of reviews. It's a tool, a first step. I don't need to convince anyone the reviews are real, they ARE real and once we meet a potential client can connect the dots. There are manipulative vendors and business people in any field. Chances are once you meet them you can detect the bs. I have 75% 5 stars, and a bunch of 4 something and even a 3.7 who thought I wasn't very creative. Do I like that 3.7? Of course not, but ww isn't going to take it down because I don't like it. It's someone's opinion. Yelp on the other hand hounds me day and night to advertize, and they printed a review from someone I never even met who said they called me one day and I apparently didn't tell them whatever it was they wanted to hear, and left a really crap review. On THIS yelp doesn't given me the time of day unless I pay them. Not going to happen. Do your research, and never out your eggs all in one basket. Corny yes, but true.

Another vendor chiming in. Just do your research, speak with your vendors and go with your gut.. It's usually right. Yelp and the BBB are not the most reliable for reviews. I do rely on my past customers, my WW and Etsy reviews as well as word of mouth. Unfortunately, the original poster is correct and not all vendors are honest. However, you will find that in ANY business (contractors, the medical field, etc.). Just takes a few bad apples to make us all look bad.

As an officiant, I'm usually doing three to five weddings a week depending on the season, and that does have an effect on the amount of reviews that I have here. I also have a compelling reason to follow up with my couples; I need to give them contact information for their license, and when I do that, I ask them to review me.

I've asked Lauren here and Kari asked Amanda on the pro forum to address this; I hope one of them does tomorrow. Believe me, it's as baffling to the pros as it is to you.

I can believe that some companies use fake reviews. I had a terrible experience with a limo for my wedding, like crying on the street in my wedding dress terrible. I had checked WW before we booked with them and there was only 1 5 star review. After I posted my review, suddenly there were several 5 star reviews posted for them (not just on WW but also on the Knot and Yelp). Many of them had their weddings listed as 2015 and they had only reviewed this one limo company, nowhere else.

I marked them as suspicious but was told that because I couldn't prove they were false, they couldn't be taken down. Although really, anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know they were faked.

If you think a Vendor has done this please report it. We work very hard to make Brides and Grooms feel comfortable.

Hi All,

If you ever believe a review/set of reviews are fraudulent, please do not hesitate to email support@weddingwire.com with your concerns. Our review team would be more than happy to evaluate those reviews.

We also try our very best to 'approve' each review that is written on our site - a member of our team is responsible for assessing each review written on WeddingWire for clear violations of our TOU/fraudulence. Additionally, we do have a security system intact to flag and automatically remove any reviews that are written from the same computer used to access a vendor account.

As for the Couples' Choice Award - the award is not based on upgraded/free membership on WeddingWire. Instead, it recognizes the top 5 percent of local Wedding Professionals from the WeddingWire Network throughout the United States, Canada and abroad that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards™ are awarded solely based on the reviews from over 200,000 newlyweds. Awards are determined by a combination of excellence in four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performance from 2013 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency).

As with any content shared on the internet (forums included!) it is best practice to do your research - one person's opinion may not be the same as yours, etc! WeddingWire takes several extra steps to ensure that reviews left on our website are from real clients of the vendors listed here, but unfortunately when rules are set someone is bound to try and break them. Again, if you ever believe a review is fraudulent, please let us know!

Hopefully this will help clear up some of the confusion on this thread!

@Amy & Dan - please PM/email me (laurens@weddingwire.com) with the storefront where you noticed two identical reviews. Thanks!

Thank you.

And yet, this whole thread was started off a speculation. Rule of thumb Amy.....wait until you have proof and know the truth before you stir a pot full of assumption, speculation, etc....There ARE hardworking vendors that earn every last review they receive and it's unfair for you to be suspicious of something you've not ascertained. Really sad the way the world demands and expects trust but aren't willing to lend it themselves.

Why are you so het up over a 4-year-old thread, Chloe?