True or False? - I have hired a vendor without checking ratings and reviews

Our family has had a negative experience with a vendor. The couple signed a termination agreement in order to get a portion of their deposit refunded, but it also prohibited them from writing a review to warn other potential clients of the vendor. The Five Star review isn't always what it appears when the vendor has a mechanism to control the reviews. I was not the client, but I also wasn't part of the contract. I would like to warn others. How?

False, I check everyone everywhere I can. Wedding Wire, Google, you name it

False. We definitely checked reviews first.

True. I hired my DJ because she is a friend

False??? We've been going by word-of-mouth and not committing just because.

I haven't always checked ratings but i have talked to local friends for recommendations.

EEEEE. Umm... I think this is False? I looked into reviews and ratings for all of my vendors... I think except my officiant, because they weren't available. But she had a very thorough FAQ document that explained her background personally, and professionally, how she does her ceremonies, what our options are for changes, and what to expect.

False - I did an incredible amount of research into every vendor to make sure that it is money well spent.

False.
I always check on the reviews to have someone qualified.

I always check reviews, the only person I didn't check reviews for was a makeup artist I have known since highschool. Her facebook posts speak for themselves (or does that count as self review?)

False - I check all the reviews first before contacting.

True- but only two vendors, one we actually saw at my future brother in law’s wedding and we loved him and the other was a friend of a friend and we sat down in person and just clicked.

True. I hope I made the right choice!

True. Didn't read the reviews on the bridal boutique (disastrous) or the photographer (amazing, if we are to trust the portfolio we saw after* we signed the contract lol)

False. I'm all about the reviews

Mmm, I didn't really read reviews. I liked what I saw and the lady I was dealing with was a dream, and I had a couple of friends say that they liked the venue and have had great customer service with them so i just went for it! haha

False. I always look at reviews and recommendations where ever I can find them! With being so far away I don't get to meet all my vendors in person so the reviews can help me get idea on their personality and such based on others experiences

True and False - I look for reviews but when my photographer is my friend from work and the venue we chose were new to the wedding scene this year we couldn't get any! We always looked though.

Mostly true! A lot of our vendors were recommended so we did have some bias. A friend of mine got married last July and I am using some of her vendors. Any one who wasn't recommended I did my research on them and read reviews. Overall, I used my gut feeling since there is mixed reviews/not a lot of reviews.

True! I have hired a lot of our vendors based on like one review or recommendation. Honestly, our engagement is short and we had to get these vendors booked QUICK

True. There’s lots of mixed reviews out there. We really went with our gut on our decisions and it paid off! We both have jobs where we meet lots of people and have to make quick “judgments” for lack of a better word so I think we’re pretty good at reading people.

False. I have done a lot of research on every vendor that I have hired, and am pretty confident on their skills etc.

Mostly false.

for a couple of vendors, I skimmed fb reviews. but went more on some good friends words/opinions. that was for our DJ and officiant. because multiple people I knew used them/loved them. so between that and how good our meetings were I went with them.

True- we chose our photographer based on our meeting with him and the price he offered us. i didn't look at any reviews because I was confident that they'd do a great job based on our meeting

True - looking back, I didn’t read the reviews of our ceremony venue! i’m not worried about it at all thoigh

True - Our venue didn't have that many reviews online, so we met with them in person.

I didn't check reviews for either my videographer OR photographer, but what I DID do is have my very close friend who went to school for graphic design and has an eye for this sort of thing have a look at their stuff. Plus, I never would have hired them if I didn't click with them, so there's that.

True! One vendor we chose we based off the pricing and our meetings with them! There wasn't many reviews online which made me hesitant but I feel really good about them!

We just booked our DJ based on a referral from our photographer. It’s a risk we’re willing to take given the price we’re getting for him to do our welcome dinner and reception.

We’ve done throrough checks on our other vendors.

False. I looked at a few reviews for each