Wedding Vendors: One Review Has to Last a Year

Short answer: ask two to four weeks after the wedding, when the couple is home and the photos have landed — and steer the review toward how you handled the planning year and the things that went wrong on the day, not the flowers themselves.

Wedding work has a brutal review economy. A restaurant serves two hundred people a week; a florist does thirty weddings a year. Every review is a larger share of your evidence, and couples read all of them, twice, at midnight, comparing three vendors in a spreadsheet.

What Couples Are Reading For

Responsiveness during the planning year. The single most repeated complaint about wedding vendors is slow replies. "Answered every email within a day, for eleven months" is a stronger selling point than anything about your product.

Flexibility when plans changed. Guest numbers, weather, a venue swap. Every couple fears the plan moving and the vendor becoming difficult.

What happened when something went wrong. Something always does. A review describing a problem you fixed quietly, before the couple noticed, is the most persuasive thing on your profile.

Price honesty. Whether the final invoice matched the quote, and whether extras were flagged early.

"They got what we wanted." Especially for anything with a taste element — flowers, cake, music, styling.

Timing: Later Than Every Other Trade

The rule that works everywhere else — ask at the peak — does not apply here. The week after a wedding, the couple is exhausted, possibly away, and buried in thank-you notes.

Two to four weeks after the day is the sweet spot. Better still, tie it to the photos: when the photographer's gallery lands, the whole day comes back at once, and everybody involved gets remembered warmly.

A second natural moment: the first anniversary. A review written a year later carries a note of "we still talk about it" that a fresh one cannot.

How to Ask

Send it from the person the couple dealt with, not from an office address:

It was lovely being part of your day — we're still talking about {specific detail from their wedding}.

If you've got a few minutes, a Google review would mean a lot to us. It's how most couples find us, and hearing about the planning as well as the day itself is the most useful thing for them: {link}

The specific detail matters. Couples can tell a mail-merge, and a vendor who remembers their ceremony reads as a vendor who was paying attention.

Reviews Are Not Just for Google

Wedding directories drive discovery in most markets, and they keep their reviews. That is fine — but the couple who heard your name from a friend will search that name on Google, and what they find there is your own profile.

Ask on Google first, then wherever your directory listings live. And keep a page of your own — the link you can paste into an enquiry reply, where the couple sees the reviews, the work and the way to book, without a competitor listed underneath.

The Cancellation Review

Deposits and cancellation terms produce the sector's angriest reviews, often from couples who never used your service at all.

Two things reduce them: terms written in plain language and read aloud at booking, and a reply that states the policy without arguing.

Thank you for the feedback. Our deposit terms are set out in the contract and we explain them at booking, because a booked date is a date we turn other couples away for. I'm sorry the wedding didn't go ahead, and I'd genuinely have preferred to be there.

Readers understand that a date has a cost. What loses them is a vendor who sounds punitive.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many reviews does a wedding vendor need?
Fewer than a restaurant, but they must be recent. Three from this season beats twenty from four years ago, because couples check whether you are still actively working.

Should I ask couples who booked but had to postpone?
Only after their rescheduled wedding. A review written mid-postponement is about logistics, not about your work.

Can I use photos of a couple's wedding in my reviews page?
With their permission, in writing, for that specific use. Wedding photos are personal in a way other work is not.

What about reviews from planners and other vendors?
Valuable, and underused. A florist recommended by three planners is a strong signal — ask them, and ask on Google where couples will see it.

Our worst review is about a supplier we no longer use. Should I say that?
Yes, once, factually: "we changed suppliers after this." It converts an old complaint into evidence that you fix things.

One Link for Every Enquiry Reply

Kudo turns your reviews and your best photos into a single page — the link to paste into every enquiry reply, your Instagram bio, and the directory profile that only lets you list one URL.

Start free at getkudo.co.