The Tech Savvy Bride: Finding Wedding Vendors

by aisledash staff, Posted Jun 1st 2010 3:00PM

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When you're looking for a vendor, the best way is the old-fashioned way, word of mouth. Word of mouth has its downside, though. Relying only on your friends means relying only on your friends' sense of style and budget.

That's why when it comes to finding wedding vendors, the Internet is your new BFF. Let's walk through a typical scenario to show you why.

Jill is getting married in six months. She wants to get a list of three photographers to interview. She doesn't want to waste any time with photographers that don't fit her budget or don't do great work.

Her first step is to ask recently married friends. She gets a list of six photographers. Obviously, she looks at their Web sites. She eliminates two immediately, one because she doesn't like his work, the other because her Web site looks amateurish.
The other four all look beautiful, but, of course, she wants to get some feedback. She has two choices for this. One is to use all-purpose review sites like YELP or City Search to look up the photographer and see ratings and reviews. The other is to use wedding-specific sites like OneWed.com or Wedding Mapper. The benefit of using a wedding-specific site is that the reviews will most likely be fresh and address your concerns as a bride (these sites often send out e-mails to recently married brides reminding them to post their reviews). If you're in a smaller city not covered by Yelp or City Search, using a wedding-specific site is also more likely to get you useful listings.

Let's say that Jill knocks out two more photographers this way. She just isn't impressed with their reviews. At this point, she just doesn't feel like looking at any more sites or reviews to find the final photographer. Instead, she decides to let the photographers come to her. OneWed's MatchMake system and Wedding Wire's Get Matched have you fill out a questionnaire and then vendors who fit your needs and budget contact YOU via e-mail or phone (your preference).

Jill fills out a MatchMake form and within a day has e-mails from five vendors that fit her perfectly. She checks out their Web sites, picks the one she likes best, and voilà, she has her list of three to meet!

Technology ... your new best friend!

Tags: wedding website