Nashville weddings

Great advice! Something I think is a great indicator is your point in #5. How do you FEEL about them? We were lucky and figured this out early. I know some other who didn’t and it’s not a good scenario.

Seriously, a great post!

Posted on October 4, 2010 @ 9:27am

Good post, Ashley! Sorry about the carpet cleaning- I’d hate to think how a bad cleaning could turn out. (We used Stanley Steemer and they were fab fyi) There’s a lot of great information in this post, and hopefully the majority of brides are doing their research. I’ve run into a pretty good amount that aren’t, though. I think sometimes we were rose colored glasses and get caught up in the fun on planning, and forget to make well informed decisions based on fact and not just emotions. I had an awful experience with a vendor, and learned a lot of advice that I’d love to pass to other brides.

Posted on October 4, 2010 @ 9:35am

Ashley that is some of the best advice I have seen in quite some time.

Posted on October 4, 2010 @ 10:47am

I had an awful experience with a vendor, and learned a lot of advice that I’d love to pass to other brides.

Posted on October 5, 2010 @ 6:11pm

Great advice! #5 is something I recommend to *all* my clients for any vendor - including myself! If you do not get a “Great vibe” from the vendor then cost doesn’t matter, you will not be happy.

Good luck with the carpet cleaning that cannot be a fun situation.

Thanks for sharing with Nashville brides!

Posted on October 7, 2010 @ 9:18am

I completely agree!!!! I’m getting ready to appear in court regarding a case against my wedding photographer - LANE PHOTOGRAPHY - Like your videographer - he did NOT deliver what we asked for - in fact, he called me a week before the wedding and told me he broke his fingers and was going to have to send a replacement.  I found out recently that he didn’t break his fingers, but had in fact agreed to shoot another wedding that day!  And when I confronted him about it, he did not deny his transgression, but he did not apologize either - and he refused to refund my money.  After doing some more research, I found that he did it to another bride this summer too!  Once we’re past the court case, I plan to contact the BBB and post my review on as many wedding sites as I can!

Posted on October 13, 2010 @ 8:28am

I think this is great information but the BBB might rate you if you are a non-member. For example I am not a member three times the BBB said they would create a file for my company for free, and they have yet to do that but seeing one cake vendors rating for not paying them, I would rather be NOT rated than have a B- by my name (very reputable company in town has a B- not sure that is a fair rating) especially when all the planners in town are using this company for cakes for almost every wedding. One of my favorite cakes friends also has a B- and she does outstanding work! But a paid client gets a A+ she is also one of my favorite friends in cake world.

Also sites like Ashley’s Bride Guide, The Knot, Studio Wed, Weddings 101 recommend people that pay for that recommendation, A delightful day is also affiliated with studio wed and from what I understand they can only recommend the studio wed vendors. So this is not always the best place to start. Check out Wedding Wire there is no way to rig those ratings, and we do not pay them for the ratings. Our Brides have the right to say what they want with the rating as well, and we cannot remove a negative rating. Doing a random check of Ashely’s Bride Guide Vendors a large % are unrated by the BBB, or they do not know about them as a company. So when you are looking for the company’s I would check wedding wire.

Posted on October 13, 2010 @ 1:38pm

Hi Shara -

Thanks for your opinion.  Unfortunately there is no sure fire way to assess vendors other than reading and trusting your gut, as I have recommended.  All of the sites that you mention are ad based websites.  They do not employ investigators, as does the BBB.  The BBB does offer services for it’s members but what it does well is keep a record of complaints, lets companies respond to those complaints and lets consumers know if the company responded.  Thats more than anyone else can do - from ABG, StudioWed or Wedding Wire.  We are not in the business of investigating complaints.
What ABG does do for it’s brides/advertisers is reach out to vendors when there is a complaint and pulls the vendor if there are more than 3.  Most sites I am sure WILL not do that - from WeddingWire to The Knot.

Brides cant solely rely on WeddingWire either.  It’s just the nature of the beast.  Companies falsely their own reports on WeddingWire.  And, WeddingWire gives out their “top 5% percent badge to tons of vendors, many of whom have poor ratings on BBB.  I just had a bride complain about one of those vendors - see above - Lane Photography - has a great standing with WeddingWire.
That doesnt mean this bride’s experience wasnt isolated BUT a WeddingWire rating doesnt guarantee anything. 

Each bride has to use good judgment and know that the web is full of great and not so great info.  I can introduce a vendor - an advertiser or not - and that introduction is just that.  I cant guarantee anyones experience.  Each bride has to meet them and trust their gut.  We will always strive to do our best and try to remove vendors that do not serve clients the way we would.

Posted on October 13, 2010 @ 1:51pm