WeddingWire

When I first started with Wedding Wire, it was great, I was a brand ambassador. Over time, the team has gotten away from their clients/vendors. I marry over 500 couples a year and use all of their tools. I make suggestions over and over and no response. Today they announced without consideration, that all "client tools" would be removed in 2 months and to get your data or it will be gone. I've structured my business around these tools and have thrived, so to know that this is happening has really put me in a jam. When I mentioned breach and that these were the only reasons that I purchase my professional membership, they added the waiver in the contract that says that they can remove anything at anytime whenever they want to. Totally unimpressed and have grown complacent over time, now devastated. They have lost my faith and trust and future business. You may note my 5 star review below. Please consider this a update 4 years later. Service is less and less and less. I wish them the same kindness and consideration that they have shown me, in everything that they do and touch ten fold.

After spending hours of putting my wedding website together, I was unable to send RSVP invitations to my guests, due to a "technical issue which website technicians were trying to solve". That was the only response given to me by Customer Service without providing any foreseen timeline for problem solution. After a whole week of waiting and no tangible solution or satisfying response, I used another website and did the work all over again and was finally able to send out wedding invitations before it's too late!

I reviewed a less than professional vendor who walked out of the wedding ceremony 30 minutes into it. With no warning.
When he refused to respond to inquiries, after taking full pay, I posted a negative review.
He protested, and Wedding Wire blocked my review.
If you want honest reviews, dont choose wedding wire

The Wedding Industry and Sales are so very competitive! You must be customer driven, look outside the box, make sure you are in touch with your clients' needs and remember without them, there is no need for you. As a Wedding Photographer, (3rd career US Marine, Director of Procurement for AT&T & Owner/Photographer of Reflections Creative Photography), we know that we must live this every day and if we don't, someone else will fill in for us very quickly.
We have been doing Wedding Photography for 38 years, part and now full time, accomplished over 2600 Weddings and Special Events and until 2017 did no paid advertising. For years Wedding Wire and The Knot would call to try and get us to sign on with them. In 2016, we saw a slight down click in our numbers because of the increase in the number of new photographers in our marketing area, (some professional, many not but all who made an impact on the numbers), so in 2017 we finally took the call from WW. After the sales presentation, other than unsubstantiated % increases we opted to go with The Knot, who put their efforts were their mouth was. BTW at that time we had over 100 WW reviews on a free site. In 2017 and 2018, approximately 45% of our business came from the Knot and we won Best of Weddings in our 1st year. So, in late 2017, a new sales person from WW called; I challenged him with the same questions as I had the others and the sales team for the Knot. Apparently, I was too challenging for him and he refused to work with me anymore and passed me off to his Boss, Brian Mate. After some basic discussions, we opted to take a "Professional Listing" to see how it worked out for a year. It was then, that I was put in touch with Mike Dillon what a breath of fresh air! Working with Mike was effortless, enlightening and instructive how to best showcase oneself within WW. Not only was he there at the onset, but with monthly updates and responsive to any and all of my inquiries.
This was like my ongoing experience at The Knot I hear from my Sales Manager often as well as the support staff. At WW only from Mike not once did I receive an inquiry from the Sales Staff as to how things were going, what could they do to help, etc. etc.! Now maybe that was mostly Mikes job, which he did superbly, but if I remember most Sales people make commissions off the sales so just "taking the money and run" is not cool in my eyes, you might as well be selling insurance or new cars!
OK enough ranking about the WW sales staff and back to Mike the shinning star of our WW relationship! We've opted to stop our paid listing at this point, not because of Mike's support, just the overall numbers. So, my bottom line Mike Dillon is a super star and covers the backsides of the guys who just book it! Thanks Mike maybe we'll do this again sometime
Respectively.
Lance W Ek
Owner/Photographer
Reflections Creative Photography, LLC

There was just too much negativity and rudeness on the forum. You'd think since there are mainly brides writing and commenting that they'd be supportive and nice but no. Some are but mainly no. The app has great tools though.

I own an entertainment company that does a lot of work I weddings. Spent the better part of eight months advertising for over $115/month on WeddingWire and received over a dozen leads, but only a single lead ever responded to my messages or provided enough information for me to give a quote. The majority of the weddings offered to date and asked me for the price, over when I asked for a location, duration, or features that they would like, people failed to respond. The average message I received is "Get back at me with a price," a date, and to no other details. I was also told that my prices were low compared to other WeddingWire DJs in my area, however the only feedback I received from any claim was that my prices were ridiculously high (yet we have been booking 3 to 4 weddings a month through other sites quoted at or above the prices I quoted on WeddingWire).

I guess the one thing I can say is that when I explained my situation to my rep comments told her I wanted to cancel, she didn't give us a hard time. Of course after collecting really $1,000 from us, what is there to complain about?

I had been an advertiser with Wedding Wire for four years. At first I really felt like Wedding Wire was a partner with me. My rep was awesome and the leads I received from Wedding Wire were top notch. The CEO would also reach out to the Wedding Pro's and ask for our feedback and input as decisions were being made.

A little over two years ago a big shift took place and it felt like there was a major push away from advertising and toward providing vendors with tools they didn't ask for or need. Ironically it was just after Wedding Wire received 25 million capital from Spectrum Equity and Spectrum equity personnel joined the Wedding Wire team in managing positions.

The first major change that effected our business was when Wedding Wire changed their listing format to a "Lazy Load" format that put many more vendors on a page and reduced the amount of information listed about each vendor. We saw the number of clicks from WW go up but the number of leads went down dramatically. Through this format change, they were able to double the number of Spotlight and featured listings. Wedding Wire gained while their advertisers lost.

I quit my membership after this change. But I renewed again after Wedding Wire employees talked to me about a change in culture that was going to make vendors feel like partners again. One of the things that they instituted at that time was a "ask the pro" live chat on their brides forum. I participated in this and it was very good. However, they discontinued that practice. About this time I started receiving fake leads from Wedding Wire. I would call the number and respond to the emails to find that the leads were completely fake. In the last year I would say that less than 30% of the leads from Wedding Wire were actual couples looking to book services.

Earlier this year, Wedding Wire introduced "Quick Leads". It is a program where they change the phone number that appears on your store front. Basically they want all vendor calls routed through WW for tracking purposes. They automatically opted all vendors in to this service and required that vendors opt out if they did not want their phone number changed. The problem is that we were opted back in without notification. Some vendors have been opted back in 3 or 4 times.

They also changed the review policy so a bride can review a vendor before they perform the actual service or before they deliver the product on the wedding day. For most vendors, the wedding day is where we do the majority of our work and the client can get an accurate example of our work to review us on.

Then they recently started the Wedding Wire Rewards program where a bride can win 5,000 toward their wedding for performing certain tasks on the Wedding Wire website. One task was to review vendors. The brides participating in the contest have not had their weddings yet so they were giving vendors premature reviews just to be entered in the contest. That is not fair for the vendors or the potential brides reading the review. Another task is make vendor contacts through Wedding Wire. This lead to brides making contact with me just to be entered into a contest. Again, this is totally unfair to vendors.

As vendors we have submitted emails and calls to reps asking hard questions about these practices. My rep kept saying that he could not answer and that decisions were being made above him. I should have stayed away two years ago. This company does not view vendors as partners. Most of their efforts are geared toward getting brides to contact and review to inflate their numbers. Wedding Wire reviews no longer have integrity. Brides and vendors alike need to be aware of the practices of this website.

I pay $190 per month to advertise on both WW and The Knot.com and they keep changing and re-writing my business description and making my company sound like something it it NOT. They do it without telling you. It's bull because they THEY are selling you with a bogus description. It's really a crappy thing to do to your bread and butter. When I have a question and email - sometimes they answer sometimes the do not but it always takes weeks to hear from them. Probably not enough employees to keep up with volume. Basically I am grossly disappointed in their service, customer service and quality of their leads. I will not renew with them when this contract expires. NOT WORTH IT.

I was a business that used wedding wire for several years. (Couples choice award for two years) The website was under constant revisions in 2015 and 16 and had many bugs that made vendors re-enter all the information that they spent time creating. On top of an unstable website they just kept raising my costs. They have a high turnover rate with sale reps because I never really got to know any of the people over my account. I had the feeling they didn't care if I did business with them or not. My account essentially just died, with no follow up or response to my emails when it was time to renew. Very sad as I really liked wedding wire in 2013 and 2014 but this last two years have been a bad experience. Not sure if I would do business again with them.

Let me start with the things I do like since it is such a small list. I like the fact I can put my guest list onto the site. But that is about it. I guess I can also agree with the fact their wedding website is free, even though it has limited choices and themes IMO.

To the things I don't like. People are beyond rude on the forum posts. I personally feel as if the forums should be taken down altogether, and it looks like I am not the only one to say that the forum are is a horrible place for advice, but let me tell you, if you make a discussion board and say that, it gets shut down in a heart beat along with the snarky comments you are bound to get on any discussion you make.
I do no like the fact if you export your guest list from WW it exports it into excel (which is no problem) except you can't import it back!
There also seems to be a lack of options on the site, and you really can't change anything without having to email customer support, i. E I accidentally put yashoo instead of yahoo and it took two days for WW to fix it because the first time, they didn't do it correctly, and the next time I ended up getting locked out.

I pay $200 per month. $2400 for the one year contract. My contract is almost done and I have booked two low budget weddings totaling $1600. I'd say that is a pretty bad ROI when I have to work about 20 hours to give away $800 to advertise on their site. I definitely would not recommend.

The website is fully of catty woman who make you feel like a moron for simply stating your opinion... I have had woman attack me verbally on this website...

Easy to write fake reviews on this site. If someone does write a bad review about your service, its very easy to get it removed.
This site is basically setup for you to write as many fake great reviews about your self as you can. Great for small companies that have the time to write many fake positive reviews.
Not recommended for experienced companies.

Wedding Wire refused to print a negative review I posted because the vendor disputed the review. Despite submitting proof of a contract that services were performed and multiple emails showing communication between the vendor and myself. Wedding Wire ruled in favor of the vendor. Doing research I discovered that Wedding Wire gives preferential treatment to vendors who pay to have their websites displayed. Valuable lesson learned here -- don't rely on website reviews to make important wedding decisions.

I am a new vendor and am displeased with the fact that I was misled into signing up for a very expensive yearly contract when I was only anticipating paying on a monthly basis and being able to re-evaluate how the site is performing. I had been discussing the listings with a representative through email and via the phone as well as weighing my options on the website and no where did it say there was a yearly contract. I'm sorry, you can't just sign up someone for a year without at the very least discussing terms and conditions. That's illegal. Not allowing me to cancel afterwards is also highly unethical as it was an honest misunderstanding based on numerous discussions about "monthly payments" instead of "yearly contract". I have yet to see what sort of traffic I will be getting from the website but so far I have a very bad taste in my mouth about Wedding Wire from the sign-up process. Beware vendors!

Received an eMail earlier this week stating that, "In an effort to drive more business to our paying advertisers and create a better user experience, we have been limiting the amount of basic ‘free' listings in the search results and catalog. I know you have had a profile with us for a while now and have collected some great reviews. I'd be happy to work with you on the rates and payment plan, in hopes that your business will not lose your visibility on the site."

Number one, how is paying for a listing or advertising going to create a better user experience? Better user experience for who? Brides won't have a better user experience. Will vendors see a better experience? That could go either way, but the vast majority of reviews I've seen online from vendors state that they have not seen an increase in leads or signed contracts based on purchasing paid services on WeddingWire.

How about the statement regarding "limiting the amount of basic ‘free' listings in the search results and catalog." Is this a threat? Should I perceive it as a threat that my vendor listing will be removed if I don't purchase a contract or advertising? What is the limit of free listings allowed? How is it decided who gets a free listing and who doesn't? Seniority (how long you've had a profile on WeddingWire) or something else?

Have read online reviews from other vendors who said that when they requested their business profiles removed from WeddingWire, it was not simply a removal, but their business was listed as "closed". That could do irreparable damage to a business and result in a lawsuit (even class action if multiple vendors who have had this happen file suit together). I have every intention of responding to this sale rep's eMail, and if WeddingWire's way of removing my business's listing is by stating in any way that the business is "closed," they will be promptly contacted by my attorney.

Beware of buying into their spotlight and featured sections if you are a vendor. They provide you with misleading information to get you sign on, and it costs nearly 300 a month- and without having you sign anything, they hold you for a year.

The volume they tell you that you'll see is in reality significantly less. If you're a vendor, stick with the knot.

I agree with the other comments regarding the forum and I wish I could tell them directly (I support you and I'm sorry it happened to you - it's not okay)! Maybe it's just me as a midwesterner but dang people are mean on that forum. I posted a question and got a slew of answers that had me shaking because I felt they were harsh. I posted a different question (hoping for real help and a nice conversation with other brides) and had someone comment about the other post there. We're adults, let's act like it. I couldn't believe the attitude - it seemed more about harrasing people. I admit that I don't tolerate that well emotionally but on a forum that is for brides that are excited for help and community - it felt very brutal and unnescessary. I tried to make up for it a bit by going and posting friendly comments on others because I fear what other brides could be getting on their posts.

As a vendor, I have a free account with wedding wire and have gotten numerous sales calls wanting me to sign up for paid advertising. The email stated "I'm not sure why you had signed up or how familiar you are with WeddingWire but I did want to let you know that If you were looking for more bookings and exposure I would highly recommend our advertising options that will actually list you on our sites." First of all. I am obviously a vendor. Just because I don't want to pay for advertising right now does not mean that I don't have a reason to be on the site.

The email continued: "Since I haven't been able to connect with you I
Did want to let you know that your business is currently not listing on
WeddingWire or any of our network of sites, seen here." I work full time as well as the event planning I do on the side so whenever they call I am not able to answer and am on the west coast so nobody is there when I am available after work. I now can no longer access my account and am furious! I had client information on there that I no longer have because my computer crashed. I would definitely not recommend this to any other vendor.