Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
Vendor Reviews On Boards
February 1st, 2008 @ 4:30 pm by Mrs. Bee
The Weddingbee boards are really giving a voice to so many brides, and I couldn’t be happier!
Many brides are posting about problems with vendors, and we definitely want to encourage that. The wedding industry doesn’t really have any real effective self-policing organizations, so it’s up to us brides to stick together. Vendors know they have to listen to us, because Weddingbee board posts often come up during Google searches.
With great power comes great responsibility though! I want to share some guidelines that I’ve developed when talking about vendors.
Please keep in mind that if you name your vendor, they will often read find and read your post!
- If you want to vent very specific angry and emotional thoughts, it may be best not to name your vendor. Then you can say whatever you want, without worrying about who is reading it.
- If you do name a vendor, please write posts in a factual manner and avoid inflammatory statements. This protects you from charges of libel! Weddingbee is unlikely to be sued, but posters have much less protection - especially if the vendor can figure out who you are.
- Finally, please give the vendor a chance to respond and/or take action - either on the post, or through email or telephone.
I think that most Weddingbee threads handle vendor posts responsibly and fairly. But I was a bit disturbed by a recent thread that crossed the line. I definitely don’t want to take sides in any dispute, but it’s never appropriate to talk about “destroying” a vendor. If you share what the vendor has done in an even handed way, then our readers can make their own, informed opinion.
I love how Weddingbee and the Boards are so pro-Bride, and that is never going to change. And I couldn’t be more excited by how much power is in the hands of the modern-day bride. But please bear in mind the awesome responsibility on all of us to use that power responsibly and fairly.
If you have any thoughts on how we can be fair to everyone involved, please share them below!
11 Responses to “Vendor Reviews On Boards”
Thanks, Bee…that’s what makes this a great website!
thanks bee…very well said! this isn’t really a suggestion for the readers, but more just an idea for the reviews…i wonder if in the future, when people post reviews, there is a way to search the reviews? that would be so awesome and would allow the reviews to spread more, and hence be more powerful 
Thanks, Bee. I had a hard time at first not wanting to vent all of my frustration and anger and really get to a vendor, but in the end it is in the best interest of all parties to follow Bee’s suggested guidelines. They really do help in the long run!
Good Call! People need to know that this is “not” the “knot”. Heh. I made a funny.
It’s hard - I think that weddings become so emotional for people, that they do want to lash out and say things about vendors that they wouldn’t have otherwise said, had they not been the bride. It’s also complicated because with a wedding - you don’t really get a “do-over”.
It’s incredibly unfortunate when a bride is unhappy with the services of a vendor but I totally agree that it is completely inappriopriate for someone to advocate destroying a business based on one experience.
Thanks for the guidelines Bee!
You’re a great referree, Mrs. Bee!
Very diplomatic. I like it 
Mrs. Bee, you’re the best. Seriously, in this crazy wedding industry, you are top notch.
That’s a very reasonable and grounded perspective. Thanks, Bee!
Ms. Bee makes a great point about being factual when recounting a dispute…it’s also a good tactic when working with vendors to resolve an issue. Although you may be bubbling over with emotion, it may not be useful in terms of what you want in the end. If you feel like you can’t “deal,” then by all means defer to your fiance, MOH or relative to negotiate on your behalf.
Mistakes can happen to the best vendors, but it is how they are resolved that determines who the real professionals are.
Best of luck, Bee Brides!
Jolene
