I’m about to launch a tiny rant rocket.
You see, I’m a very low key customer for WeddingWire. I never ask them for anything or need anything. My sole job is to get client reviews on their website since it ranks high in Google (unfortunately for all wedding vendors in the US of A). I have 21 reviews right now, which is a pretty impressive number considering it can be very, very hard to get clients to write reviews. It’s even hard for me to take time to write reviews sometimes! I get it. So with all of that hard work under my belt, and under the floral sashes of my clients, WeddingWire decides to send me the Most Repulsive Business Email of the Year. This is my review of how unstable and unpredictable they can be from a wedding photographer’s standpoint.

A few months ago my card stopped working but only for them and not for any other website or service I use. There is no way to update the card online and I personally love to do everything online. So that is the first problem with them. Their site is outdated in every way possible, technically and aesthetically, and they don’t have billing options for us which should be a core feature. Eventually they got my card sorted out after I asked them to run it again and the month was paid.

So for some reason it happened again for July. This month happens to be the last month of my package. So they emailed me about it and called, and I figured it will sort itself out again when they run it again. Before I could even get back to them to try again, they sent me an email saying that my account is suspended. I have put the most important line of this email in bold:

Dear Love Light Lens,

This email is to notify you that your WeddingWire account is currently in suspension due to nonpayment in the amount of of $66.67 . You have 5 business days to resolve or your account will proceed to termination.

If your account proceeds to termination, you will no longer be able to login and your Weddingwire advertising agreement will be forfeited due to nonpayment. Should you wish to reinstate your account in the future, you must resolve the balance on your account in full and fulfill a new 12-month advertising agreement. In addition, you are no longer eligible for any cancellation policy as outlined in the WeddingWire Terms of Purchase.

To reconcile your account, please reach out to your Customer Success representative.

I am sure you notice the issue here. And really, can you believe that? I’m in here, the happy world of weddings and they say something like that – over 70 bucks? They are telling someon who has used the site for years, with 21 reviews, who cares about their account being there, to sign up for another year to the account access back? What year is this, 2006? Who does that anymore?

On top of this, there’s the fact that I would hardly get any leads. Then one day I mentioned that I might upgrade or change my account. And I suddenly got a lead everyday for about five days, they just kept popping up. Then when I didn’t take any action, they stopped.

It’s almost as if they can turn leads on or off for any user at will, so that is probably the most EXQUISITE and actually planned part of their system!

If you are using WeddingWire, you probably have already experienced something shady but you just put up with it. And if you are searching Google for reviews or other cases of shady, you’ve found one.

So the end of the story for now is that I received the email around 7 AM on a Thursday, replied an hour later. No reply all day. No reply all day on Friday. So I’m left without access to my account all weekend. Not that I truly needed it, but what if I did?

I just noticed a few days ago that one of my FOUR absolutely real reviews on Yelp was hidden because someone probably reported it since the client just had one Yelp friend and one review for me. So now I only have three. Either it was flagged automatically by a new system change after being on my profile for two and a half years now, or someone reported it by hand. And that is in the midst of my friend Colleen who worked at Yelp tragically passing away. So Yelp is already a touchy subject and it feels strange to use it – to even see the Yelp logo on my screen! Then I had to email Yelp about that review, into an email abyss, not having my friend there to help. No one to reach out to there. And now WeddingWire kicks me to the curb for this payment.

Wedding site stuff lately is really a drag.