How are vendors organised?

Wedding vendors are organised by two major catagories: Vendor Type (venue, catering, cake, etc.) and Location (Auckland, Bay of Planty, Queenstown, etc.). This allows you to pinpoint your vendor search to exactly the service you're looking for in your specific area.

Vendors are also organised with descriptive tags. Tags are extra keywords that help you find vendors with your specific requirements.

What is the best way to search?

Start on the Advanced Search page. Select your desired vendor type and location. For location, start specific (e.g. your city or close region) and then if there are not enough vendors found in that area broaden your search to a bigger location. You may also enter a keyword to search with which can be a vendor name (or partial name).

If you don't have a location in mind you can always search in "all of New Zealand" or North or South Island. If you have a location in mind and want to see all different kinds of vendors for that location you can select "all vendors" for vendor type.

On the search results / listing page you can modify your search by changing the selections in the search box to the right and re-submitting the search. You can also change how your results are sorted with the sort links above the listings.

How do I contact a vendor?

Vendor listings will have as much contact info as we can find for them, which may include phone, mobile, and fax numbers as well as an address, email, and website. The easiest way to contact a vendor is to use the "Email Enquiry" button on the vendor's page, which will open up an email form where you can send a message directly to the vendor.

What are tags and how do I use them?

Tags are descriptive words or short phrases attached to a vendor that help describe them in more terms like size, theme, style, price, setting, services, etc. You can search by tags on the Advanced Search page or the Browse page.

How do I submit a review?

Find the vendor you want to review and then scroll to the bottom of the page where you'll see the "Write a review" form. Fill out the form completely and then click the "submit review" button. You review will be displayed once it has been approved. For more details about writing reviews see the Write a review page.

How do the ratings work?

Every review includes a set of ratings. This is comprised of an overall rating and 4 sub-ratings. Each vendor type has a different set of criteria for those 4 sub-ratings which allows you to rate different aspects of their product/service. The overall rating is NOT an average of the 4 sub-ratings. We wanted to give you the freedom to set your overall rating to be what you think best reflects your overall experience with the vendor, regardless of the sub-ratings.

For each vendor that has been reviewed we take all of the overall ratings that have been submitted and average them. This average overall rating is what gets displayed on the vendor's page and what determines the order when sorting by highest rated vendors. Vendors that are highly rated are also rewarded by showing up in a "Top Rated" list on the right side of most pages.

Can I edit a review after I've submitted it?

Only by special request. We encourage users to read over their reviews and ratings carefully before submitting them. If you later find an error in what you've written, or you've gained more experience with the vendor that changes your opinion of their service, you may contact us with an explanation of the situation and if required we can edit your review.

Who's allowed to leave a review?

Anyone who's attended a wedding in New Zealand is entitled to leave a review sharing their experiences with the vendors used. You don't have to be a bride or groom to write a review. However, you should only review vendors that you've had first hand experience with. Do not leave leave reviews based only on what you've heard from someone else.

Wedding vendors listed in our directory are NOT ALLOWED to submit reviews on behalf of their clients/customers. Doing so is a breach of the privacy act.

Why do I have to enter a wedding date when submitting a review?

Wedding vendors are likely to change overtime. Their service may improve or degrade as they gain more experience, make managerial changes, etc. Your review is much more meaningful if it's in the context of exactly when you used the vendor. For this reason all reviews require you to enter the wedding date for which you are reviewing the vendor.

I've submitted a review, but it's not showing up?

All reviews must be approved before they will show up on the site. This is usually done quickly but at times this could take days. If after a few business days your review has not shown up it may have been rejected. If this is the case you will receive an email with the reason for it's disapproval and a chance to revise and resubmit the review.

Why wasn't my review approved?

We expect all reviews submitted to be honest, detailed and helpful to others. If your review does not meet our criteria it may be rejected. Here are some possible reason for disapproval:

• Your review was determined to be spam or a fake review meant to manipulate the ratings
• Your review was a duplicate or very similar to one already submitted
• Your review contained inappropriate or abusive language
• Your review did not give a detailed justification for your ratings
• Your review was incomplete

If your review is rejected you will recieve an email with a reason for the rejection and a chance to revise and resubmit the review.

How can I get my business listed?

If you own or operate a business that supplies a product or service for New Zealand weddings you should be listed on WeddingWise! First do a thorough search to make sure your business is not already listed. If it's not, head over to the Add your listing page to submit your information.

Are listings on WeddingWise free?

Absolutely. Basic listings on WeddingWise will always be free.

Can I edit the listing details for my business?

If you'd like us to change the picture, contact info, or "about us" text for your listing you can send a request with our contact form, or use the "Report inaccurate info" link on your listing page to tell us what needs to be updated.

How can I improve my listing so more people see it?

All listings on WeddingWise are designed to get good traffic from search engines and we hope that you notice an increase in enquiries from your listing here. However, there are many things you can do to make your listing even more noticeable. Here are your options:

• Encourage your customers to leave reviews for you! All vendors with reviews/ratings (even if they are negative reviews) will come up higher on search results than those without reviews/ratings (when results are sorted by highest rating). You can significantly increase your visibility on WeddingWise by asking every one of your customers for a review. Highly rated vendors also get rewarded by showing up in a "Top Rated" list on the right side of most pages.
• Become a premium member. Premium listings come up first in search results, and enjoy enhanced listing pages with extended text/info and photo gallery options. Find out more about a premium membership.
• Advertise with us. Gain maximum visibility with one of our banner advertising options. You can choose to link your ad to your WeddingWise listing page or to your own website. Find out more about advertising on WeddingWise.

What is a Premium member/listing?

Premium membership is an option for vendors who want to get more exposure and more hits from their WeddingWise listing. Premium listings come up first in search results, and enjoy enhanced listing pages with extended text/info and photo gallery options. Find out more about a premium membership.

How can I become a WeddingWise VIP?

It takes at least 10 reviews and an average overall rating of 4.5 or higher to earn a VIP tag. If you want to be a VIP you need to accumulate at least 10 honest and exceptional reviews. Tell your customers to write a review for you today.

Can I advertise my business on WeddingWise?

Absolutely. We have a number of different options for different budgets. Find out more about advertising on WeddingWise

I've received a review that I don't like. Can I have it removed?

The value of WeddingWise is in its large collection of honest reviews and ratings from brides and grooms. Most of these reviews are positive but some are neutral or negative. We want to give brides and grooms a forum to voice their opinion, and we believe they have a right to do so, even if they have a negative experience to share.

If you or your company receives a negative review it is our general policy not to remove that review unless there is clear and decisive evidence that the review is dishonest. Removal of the review would be unfair to the reviewer and to the other users of the website. It would unnaturally skew the ratings to make all vendors appear more satisfactory than they may actually be, defeating the purpose of having a rating and review system in the first place.

Vendors have the option to post a "vendor response" that would appear directly below the review in question. You can use this opportunity to share your side of the story. If you have some concern over a review or you would like to post a response to a review please contact us to discuss it.