This is an update about bridal forums and why vendors are leaving forums in droves.
Published on a very popular site recently was an article for DIY brides. We know the economy dictates frugality for weddings right now, but to turn vendors into the brides enemy is beyond my comprehension for a wedding forum.
This all has to do with bargaining or negotiating. The offending site needs to get a grip.
Comments in bold made below are directed at the offending site.
They have told brides to go to flea markets and practice bargaining to get lower pricing. Take the skills they learned at the flea market and approach their wedding vendors with the same attitude? Hello !!! we are NOT flea market vendors. We are professionals providing a professional service that in most cases has taken years of schooling, study, and exams to get where we are now and considerable expense to get our businesses up and running.
They then told their brides to be indifferent, take someone with them to their vendors and literally play good cop, bad cop. Yup !! That will really make your vendor want to work with you. This comment bowled me over.
It tells the bride to ask every single thing that is included in your package. If every single thing is put on a quote, more time is involved, therefore in the end it leads to higher pricing. Some things are necessary to know, others are a given and when working with a professional there is no need to have everything itemized. It also depends on the individual vendor you are working with whether itemizing is actually needed.
After some discussion with other vendors about this terrible advice given most have agreed that they wouldn’t work with any couple that has this attitude. One vendor even went as far to say they would show them the door.
Some vendors are pulling their advertising due to this outrageous post, and in my previous post, once again the brides lose.
Most vendors will always negotiate and try to accomodate their clients, but to cop attitude as soon as you walk in the door, will literally get the bride nowhere. Seems this wedding advisory site forgot that vendors are still human beings.
A lot of our associates are not only offended but insulted that this site would consider having a bride degrade and lower herself to this standard, and to even entertain the thought of treating a vendor this way.
Courtesy and respect with each other goes a long way, and this is just about the worst advice I have ever seen coming from a wedding site. In the end it will actually defeat the purpose of making wedding preparations enjoyable and cause more friction that certainly is not needed . The planning process is supposed to be enjoyable not filled with attitude and conflict.
This is actually sad to see coming from such a popular site, and the author should really be not only embarrassed but ashamed of themselves.
Update: Due to the uprising from paying vendors on that site… they pulled the above advice from their site, and in the end several vendors pulled their advertising.
