ww reviews vs. Yelp for vendors...

Wedding Wire vets their reviews more thoroughly than Yelp does. Did you check out their Facebook page? Have you checked any other sources?

I agree with Facebook page! You can see really raw reviews on the fb pages and tags from real people

Also check the dates on the reviews. Some are very old or occasionally you'll see some jerk posted multiple times a negative review. People go on Yelp to complain, rarely to praise unless their service was above and beyond But definitely try their Facebook page!

I’d be interested to know who the vendor is. When I reasearched photogralhers, I saw one that was a recommended WW vendor because of all the high ratings. I was so excited because they were inexpensive, had such great reviews, and were recommended by WW! When I read the reviews, I saw that the vendors had language in the contract that said that customers weren’t allowed to leave negative reviews. Apparently, they would fine them for each day a negative review was up until it was taken down. One bride said they held her photos hostage until she took the review down!

You can expect most or all of the wedding wire reviews to be related to their photography for weddings and engagement shoots (what I assume you're looking for.) Maybe the photographer is great at weddings, but not so great at say shooting sports events or newborns or something.

Read the reviews specifically, and also check the dates. If most the bad ones are from years ago maybe the photographer has vastly improved their skills and equipment. If there are many around the same time with similar complaints it could be one angry customer who asked several friends to also post negative reviews.

As Heather said, WW vets reviews more stringently. Couple that with the fact that vendors pay WW to be listed, I researched a wide variety of sources when booking my vendors.

Cross reference with Yelp, Google, Facebook, and BBB, and really read the content of the reviews. If the vendor has a 2-star average but it’s all people who never actually worked with the vendor, that’s something to consider. Also check out the reviews “not recommended by Yelp” - they won’t be listed with the regular reviews, but could still offer useful insights.

I think look at the specifics of reviews...reviews in general are hard because you can get a disgruntled person who is just hard to please. And you can also get vendors who “pay” for reviews (not saying wedding in general—just I’ve seen people say “receive a discount for reviewing us”)

View Quoted Comment Came here to say this, maybe they are much better at shooting weddings than other services they offer. I know plenty of people that had a bad experience with a business so they had all their friends write bad reviews on yelp. Go to their Facebook page and not only look at the reviews but check the comments on their posts as well. Seeing actual interaction might help too. At the very least I would book a consultation and see how it goes. Read through the contract. If there's anything that throws up a red flag abort. Good luck!

I've noticed with yelp it is typically more people who just like to complain about their bad experience. I would go through and see what some of the main concerns were and also look into how recently those posts were made. Be sure to check their personal website as well as facebook to see some more opinions.

I always trust yelp for vendors more than ww or the knot. The reviews on wedding sites are from brides and although they may have liked or enjoyed their vendor, the guests may have not. I found a lot of brides singing praises for vendors and then found the guests on yelp having a completely different experience and my priority is my guests. When it comes to photography I guess that’s a little different. I agree with previous posters, maybe they’re just better with weddings.

View Quoted Comment

It's Timothy Whaley & Associates... in Illinois -

A lot of the feedback on Yelp was that the price looks good but then the contract is a surprise litany of musts... packaged into a long complicated contract... I also contacted them for info a couple days ago and haven't heard anything back yet so that's not boding well... I know it's the weekend but it's the wedding business and all the other vendors I have reached out to typically reply in a day, even on the weekend.

Honestly, I wouldn’t risk doing business with a company that has such bad reviews. I don’t care if they have 1,000 5-Star reviews on any site. If they have bad reviews somewhere else, and it looks like they have a lot on Yelp, I would steer clear because you could be one of those brides who has her day ruined with no photographs to remember your day with, and you have no recourse other than to write them a bad review. That’s simply something you can never get back.

I made sure to google all of my vendors to see what their reviews were everywhere to make sure they were all 5-Star reviews. If they weren’t 5 stars, I would read the reviews to see if the reviewer was being unreasonable. For instance, the photo booth vendor I booked has only one 1-Star review because he didn’t respond to an email from a potential client. He replied to say that their company car had crashed, so they were working to get all of their equipment working for days but hardly thought it was reasonable to give them a 1-Star review when they never actually did business together. Otherwise, the rest of the reviews were glowing. Another photo booth company had an unbelievable deal on Groupon and had glowing 5-Star reviews on Groupon, but they had no website or social media presence anywhere and didn’t respond to my email, so I figured it was a scam and I didn’t buy the Groupon.

In all, I would say to do your due diligence, especially when it comes to your wedding. I’ve been told by every single bride - DON’T SKIMP on the photographer because that’s the only memory you can keep years after the wedding is over, and I wouldn’t want you to take the risk and end up being one of those 1-Star reviewers on Yelp.