With sites like Wedding Wire, Project Wedding, Yelp and message boards on The Knot, it is easy for brides to do research on their potential wedding vendors before ever meeting them.  But what happens when you’ve fallen in love with a wedding vendor or a wedding vendor has been referred to you, only to find that they have a negative review about them. It can be potentially devastating to your plans—but be sure that you are considering everything in context.  Here are some tips on dealing with bad reviews. 

• Remember that one’s perception is their reality. Sometimes reviews can leave out a lot of context. What may be important to the reviewer may be something that would not really bother you.
• Ask current and potential wedding vendors.  As I’ve said before, the wedding professional community is a tight knit one. We all work together and have seen each other at various stages of planning and execution of a wedding day.  One thing to consider when choosing your wedding vendor is their ability to work and play well with others.  Check with vendors you have already hired and those you are considering about the vendor with the unfavorable reviews. Ask of their experience—they can share an opinion from a professional’s point of view.
• Ask other brides about their experience with the vendor.  Contact the reviewer about the vendor—ask detailed questions about their review and any others that might pertain to your wedding planning or event.   Ask the vendor for references and ask questions about their experience, basing them around things that have concerned you from the disparaging review. This will give you a better clue if problems are specific to that client/event or if there is a problem with the vendor’s work process.
• Ask the vendor. If you have specific concerns, definitely contact your vendor personally.  Some vendors will not get into an online tit-for-tat on review sites with former clients, which makes the argument very one-sided.  Ask your vendor about anything specifically bothering you.  They will be able to give you more clarity into the bad review, and with having both sides you can make a better decision.

Additionally, one thing to take into consideration is your experience with the vendor at question.  Hiring vendors can be a very time consuming and draining process.  If anything becomes too overwhelming, take a break and start at it again after you’ve given yourself some time to decompress. 

:: Photo ~ Craig Jewell ::