So, your BIG day has come and gone. You’re officially married, and now have a spouse! Hopefully you had a wonderful time, full of love, laughter, tears of joy, and amazing conversations. And, I hope, you were not only surrounded by all your loved ones, but you were also taken care of by some awesome wedding vendors!
So, what do you do now? Besides figuring out how to change your name, or add your significant other to your insurance and back account, how do you show some love to those that helped you plan, coordinate, and execute a perfect wedding day for you? The best way is to leave reviews.
There are three main reasons why you should share your thoughts about those you hired. You can either gush over how outstanding they were, or you can warn others about your experience. Either way, it will help future couples know who they should go after, or who they should steer clear of for their nuptials.
Wedding Industry Got Talent
Just like those popular singing competition shows, there needs to be someone who can help us to be better, and to let others know how great we are. That’s you! Every year there are millions of new couples hitting the market in search of great talent to help them accomplish their vision for their wedding day. From venue, to DJ, to photographer, to officiant, and more. They need help, just like you did.
Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Think back to when you first got engaged, and how overwhelming it felt to start planning your wedding. Remember the stress? Where did you start? Who did you talk to? Where did you go to find talented professionals who know what they're doing?
You probably started with Google or Yelp or social media looking for advice and guidance. Then once you narrowed it down, you began checking websites, and reading reviews. Today’s brides and grooms have everything at their fingertips, and yet it still feels overwhelming, so here’s ways in which you can help!
Help me help others
#1 - The first reason why you should leave reviews is it helps me.
Believe it or not, I don’t always have couples beating down my door to help them. Sometimes if feels like it, but it’s never a daily thing. I do get quite a few referrals from previous couples I’ve officiated for, but I rely heavily on my reviews to set me apart from others. And so do other wedding vendors.
Leaving me a great review helps me stand out from others. It also help couples understand who I am, and how I conduct myself. Remember when you first met your vendors? You had really no clue who they were. Reading their reviews helped give you great insight in to who they were, and what talents they brought to the table for your wedding.
Future couples rely on you to explain your experiences with your vendors. It helps them know if they should reach out to this one particular vendor. It gives them an idea who might be a good fit for them and their wedding day.
I love it when a couple first reaches out to me and says “We read through your reviews, and wanted to get in touch to find out if you’re available”. That’s incredible! That means the reviews left for me helped them make the decision to reach out. That’s the kind of power you have when you leave a review.
#2 - Reviews are also a great tool to use for warning others.
God forbid you had a terrible experience with someone, but it does happen. The vendor was late, didn’t show up, was very demanding, or wasn’t flexible enough for you. Whatever it was, if you had a bad experience you need to warn others so they don’t fall in to the same trap as you.
I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and about 4 or 5 years ago I heard rumblings from other couples and vendors about a certain officiant in Oregon who pressured couples in to signing with him during their first meeting. Very aggressive, and then would either show up late to the wedding, or not show up at all. For years I’ve taken on couples who had the misfortune of hiring him. And yet when I went to read through his reviews, there were hardly any negative reviews. This guy should have tons of negative reviews by now. Certain venues won’t even work with him, and yet not so many unkind reviews. Because of this, every year several couples end up hiring him, and then go through the same nightmare other couples did previously.
You have the power to stop this from happening, and steering couples away from terrible vendors. Now, I’m not saying because someone has a bad review here or there, that they shouldn’t still be considered. I mean, we all have our bad days, or days where we’re a little off. However, if it’s a consistent thing someone is doing, we should be made aware of it through your review. Let others know about it.
#3 - Guess what? It also helps you.
What a great way to reflect on your wedding day! The day probably went by super fast, and now you’re left trying to remember how amazing it was. A great way to ensure those memories last is to recount them to others. They say the best way to remember something you’ve learned is to teach someone else. It really does help make things more permanent in your brain.
So, reflect on your day, and then write reviews on your vendors. As you do it more and more, certain things will stick out, it will remind you of something that you perhaps forgot about, it will help you to bring back to life all the great things you encountered throughout your day.
You can do it!
I know this can be rather time consuming for some. Perhaps you have a very busy schedule. Maybe you’re not very good at articulating your thoughts. It may be that you hired tons of vendors, and you now have to go to 6 different sites to leave each one a review.
Ok, I get it, it can be another overwhelming task, but you can do it. You know what I suggest to all my couples? I tell them to go on one site (Facebook, Yelp, Google, WeddingWire, The Knot, etc.) write out their review, and then before they send it, copy it. Then they can quickly go on the other sites, and paste it. What was going to take them maybe a half hour, had now been shaved down to 5 minutes. I even provide all the links. Ask you vendors for links to their favorite sites. If nothing else, just simply leave a starred review with no words. Either way, it helps us out tremendously!
I hope you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to sit down and write reviews. If nothing else, do one vendor a day. Then it won’t seem so time consuming. I hope this shed some light on how important it is, and the power you have to help others looking to plan their wedding.
And, as always, if you’re looking for a great officiant to help you create the ceremony you’ve always wanted, let’s talk!