Wedding Blog

An important message from Becker’s blog:

… I feel it is important for me to bring up an unpleasant subject and expose an ugly situation that is growing in the Southern California wedding community, and from what I hear, it’s spreading around to other parts of the country as well.

… Basically, SOME (not all) wedding coordinators and catering managers are requiring “kickbacks” from all of the vendors they refer. It has been happening for a while in LA, and it seems to be happening more and more in the OC. So instead of just charging the clients a fee for their service, they also require any florist, photographer, make up artist, or other vendor, to kick back 10% (or more) just for the referral. I don’t think that is right. It seems dishonest, immoral and just plain shady.

Most of the reputable coordinators that I know will just charge you a rate for their service, and refer to you the best vendors available that will provide excellent service on your day. I feel as if a good coordinator will refer the best vendors because in the long run, it makes them look better because of the job done by the wedding professional they referred.

Some of these not-so-reputable wedding planners will give you a list of vendors, and push those who give them kick backs even if they are not the best vendor available…

… when you hire a professional wedding coordinator, consider the motive for the referral. If the vendor paid for the referral, it is a LOSE-LOSE-WIN situation. The client loses because they probably didn’t get the best vendor, the vendor loses because they make less money and the wedding planner is the only one who wins.

If you are considering hiring a professional wedding planners, look them in the eye and ask them if they take “commissions” from other vendors. Hopefully you’ll want a vendor who is referred because they do great work and provide excellent service and not just because they threw some cash at the coordinator.

And to all the other photographers, florists, cake makers, DJs, band leaders, ect… no matter where you live, don’t pay the kickback. They only ask for it because others are desperate for the work and they are taking advantage of the situation. If we all banded together and refused to pay the kickback, they’d probably stop asking for it.

So again, just to recap, if you are in the middle of planning your wedding, look for referrals from people you know and trust, and meet with as many vendors as you possibly can and hire the person you feel most comfortable with. Don’t hire someone just because a wedding planner told you to. Check your sources. Ask around. Don’t be afraid to hire someone that is not on the list if you like their work better. It’s your day and you can do whatever you want.

Read all of it here. Thanks for the insider info, Becker.

I had no idea this kind of sneaky stuff happened. Is this happening on the East Coast as well? Has anyone experienced this or suspects that they did?