Wedding Planning Websites & Myth Of Best Deals

Bride’s Perspective

Ever wondered is it possible to get the best vendor/quotes from wedding inspiration blogs?

Why do we have so many wedding blogs?

Read on you will be surprised and then you will realize you are not!

Many Indian Wedding blogs for inspiration have cool ideas. They give you a nice direction for your wedding shopping and the latest trends in wedding decor, bridal dresses, wedding table setups, mandaps, and many more.

There is an interesting phenomenon happening in the Indian wedding photography industry right now.

These wedding blogs feature weddings, destination weddings, and concept and stylized pre-wedding shoots for your wedding inspiration.

In addition to that, most of the wedding websites, if not all, also features vendor listing from the Indian wedding industry including Indian candid wedding photographers.

These listings are quite useful for brides to have everyone as a ready reckoner to connect with different vendors. But there are some hidden truths that can be decoded logically.

Let me share a real-life story

Last week I got a pre-wedding shoot inquiry. After a couple of email exchanges and I shared a customized quote with the bride.

Later that day, I received a call from her asking for the best/better price or a discount. I shared my views on pricing, and how I do my shoots. The price was pretty much standard and non-negotiable.

Then the conversation took a new turn and she shared that an XYZ wedding blog is offering Rs.5000 cheaper for the same shoot by me.

Interestingly the lower price offered to the bride was for a similar shoot exclusively by me. She was keen on the cheaper price but wanted to deal directly with me.

Further in the conversation, she revealed that apart from my work, they had keenly suggested two other teams.

She was keen on hiring me but I have to tell her that my pricing is non-negotiable. She can opt for booking through “that” wedding portal or directly from me. It’s all about her comfort level.

So what are your views on this? Is it a confusing and complex situation to be in?

Actually yes, if I was shopping/hunting for vendors. Let me break down the entire deal step by step.

Let’s say I am directly selling something for Rs.1 lac and another wedding portal at Rs.95,000. So who pays/discounts that Rs.5000?

Logically, either I give a discount when booked through the portal, or the wedding portal pays from their own pocket. The third situation could be where the said bride never got such a discount and it was a way of negotiating.

It is a perplexing situation but logically we can always keep it simple. For example, If I have to buy a Kindle, I will always buy from Amazon even if I am getting some discount at other eCommerce portals.

For me, it is not worth the risk if I don’t know much about that eCommerce portal.

The curious case of the lost inquiry form that you filled out!

This was a small story and I guess we know what actually happened and why. Let me go back to vendor listing and how it actually works. I will also throw some light on why there are so many wedding inspiration blogs and wedding planning websites.

If not all but most of the websites charge vendors for listing. If a vendor does not pay either they are not listed or they are buried down below the list. I have even one of the VC-funded Indian wedding blog founders emailing me to pay for the listing.

When he found out that I am not keen on paying, he started pressurizing me on the perils that I will not be among the list of top wedding photographers from Pune.

Amazing! 🙂

There is a big bad world under beautiful wedding websites. Wedding websites and blogs have these listings free for brides or couples.

What happens when you fill out an inquiry form?

So a bride can fill up the inquiry form for various wedding photographers and the photographers can respond. This looks relatively easy and straight.

But generally only paid vendors, get access to those inquiries and unpaid vendors are filtered out. Some blogs keep a cap of 2-3 inquiries/month for unpaid vendors whereas paid ones get all the inquiries in their inboxes.

Ever tried contacting the photographer directly?

If you closely look at the photographer listing page, many blogs don’t give direct contact numbers or email ids of photographers.

Sometimes they don’t even share the website link of photographers. If you liked a few photographers, have you tried contacting them directly or google their names for contact details?

Logically, would you get a better deal through a wedding blog or photographer directly?

Navdeep Soni

Most wedding blogs are business entities requiring a business model to keep them running in profit. It needs funds and effort to create content. Although the major part of the content in the form of beautiful pictures is provided free by photographers.

The easiest business model for them is paid-to-list which can be debated or maybe not 🙂

Happy Shopping!

Photographer’s Perspective

Do wedding photographers get the best deals from wedding planning websites?

Read: WedMeGood Review by Wedding Photographer based in Delhi.