I am writing this as a result of receiving my FIRST one star review since opening our doors, It was like a knife in my chest! I read it over 10 times trying to make sense of the incident. We believe bad reviews are a teachable opportunity, so we take them seriously, but this was a total bash fest.

How do you know when a review is biased? The honest answer is, we never really will. The best advice I can give, is to do your homework. I know I say that ALL the time. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it.

If you're like me, when deciding where to eat, see a show, find a place to crash... (especially when traveling) I look to yelp, the bbb, trip advisor and other sites dedicated to business reviews. For the most part, I look at the pictures and the first 3 or 4 reviews. If a review intrigues me, I dig in, so to speak, Narrowing down my choices to 3 or 4 helps me decide. Then all that's left is to experience it myself.

Testing the waters is not an option when it's your wedding. Reviews become our window into a company's soul. Having said that, reviews tell us three things, 1-who the consumer is, 2-who the business is and 3-what customers SAY they have experienced. It is your job to find out if the gripe is real, perceived or was handled satisfactorily.

I say... TRUST that you can find intel from reviews. Prepare your questions and contact the business. Express your concern over negative reviews and listen to what they have to say. Sometimes a business won't even know the review exists until you tell them about it. Like in my case. 

For the record I disputed that review and it was subsequently taken down by the blog it was submitted to. It was determined that the reviewer was never a customer of ours, nor did they have proof they ever contacted us. They also mentioned in their review how wonderful our competitor was and that everyone should go to them instead. OUCH!