LVWN Brides Panel Part 3: An important question, unasked

This post is the third of a recap series about a meeting of the Las Vegas Wedding Network. Seven brides spoke and answered questions about their wedding planning experience. –

As the audience soaked up the question to, and answers from, the panel of 7 brides (no brothers), one could tell what those listening wanted to hear.

Where you getting information, what value did you put on it, and what influenced your decision making?

Some of the discussion points included:

• All-Inclusive Venues – Brides that selected these where short on time, or overwhelmed by process, so this seemed like a convenient route. But as they moved forward, they opted out on some of the venue-exclusive-vendors, and chose ones that suited them better. They viewed this as an unfortunate excess expenditure.
• Credibility – Brides talk to brides, who are in the planning process during a similar period. This was both in person (at bridal shows and business showcases) as well as on wedding chat boards. The tipping point here was mostly on the negative. Brides were put off by one business bad mouthing other businesses, and dropped them like a hot rock, when hearing that from other brides. in my opinion, they put good value on reading lots of reviews from former brides and too much value on the opinion of brides-in-process. The latter has not had a complete vendor experience. They don’t know the final result, so it appeared to me that was, at best, incomplete information.
• Reciprocal Links: Brides put significant value of a businesses that appeared to work together on a regular basis, as shown by link directories on their websites. One bride said her result from working with a cluster wedding vendors, such as these was: “Like having seven wedding planners working together, in concert. They were so comfortable communicating with each other, I didn’t have to give anything a thought.”

Here is the big question that wasn’t asked:

In your planning experience, when it came to Preferred Vendor Lists, Exclusive Vendor Lists, All-Inclusive arrangements, did anyone explain a financial arrangement between venue and vendor?

The issue for me, is an ethical one: Transparency

A venue can represent that they only working with vendors that know their property, its guidelines, and perform well for the client (OK… that sounds pretty good). However, if they are receiving a significant referral fee for this arrangement, they formula changes. Is the bride truly getting access to the wedding vendor, appropriately suited for her wants and desires. Or, is a bride over-limited because the host venue is raking in invisible revenue, without disclosure?

Disclosure and Transparency: Two important words that didn’t come up in the discussion. Wish I had remembered to ask the question. It’s the kind of verbal grenade I love throwing into the middle of a room and watching people squirm in their sites.

I’m not a wedding vendor, these days, so I can do that.

Would love your comments on Transparency and Disclosure, if you have the gumption to speak up in a public forum.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority