Kickbacks: What Wedding Planners, Vendors and Clients Should Know

The ‘why not’ is that these planners are lazy or lack confidence to earn or justify their fees. It is a conflict of interest. Are they referring the vendor because they are a perfect match? Or because of the fee. Clients rightfully expect their planner to work in their (the client’s) best interest. It is dishonest and unethical no matter how they try to spin it.

Thanks Isha for the response! We agree!!

Not to mention the fact that the planner who takes kickbacks is now looking out for her own best interests and not that of her clients. Conflict of interest is right and downright unethical in my book.

Over the years, we have worked with many professional planners that have required we give them a percentage of our gross sales from their referral. We have never raised our prices to make up the difference because our services are priced accordingly. I have never felt this was a bad business model for the planner as long as they are consistant and honest with their pricing. I could see why this is a very sticky subject though.

My questions are, does the client need to know how the planner has their business model set up? Does the planner really hire a specific vendor beacuse they give a commision and not on performance? Do vendors really raise their prices when working with a specific planner that they have to give a commission to?

I would hope that no matter how the planner is running their business, they always use vendors that make them look good, not based on pricing. Integrity and honesty are a big part of owning and running a business. I know we like working with those companies.

I think that there are planners and vendors that have set up their business this way and do it with honesty and integrity to their clients (as Dave said above). But, I think it’s the exception. Some professionals have been doing this for years, and it works for them.

I find it hard to believe that when you’re set up to profit in this way that the financial gain to be had is not a major motivating factor (again, there are those exceptions). You’re putting yourself in a position for people, client or professional, to question your motive and honesty – not a great way to build a successful business. If you have to justify your means of profit then you might want to question its overall benefit.

I recently have been doing research on starting up my own consulting business. “With the concept of receiving commisions”. I live in a small town where Brides don’t have the funds to hire wedding consultants and I know being in the industry how frustrating and time consuming it can be for a bride. I want to start this business as a service to all brides. This service would be free of charge up until a designated point for services and plan to earn my income from the vendors. I would only include vendors that I have worked with in the past and would represent my company in the best way. NOT DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH THEY PAY ME. But in all of the articles that I am reading they really frown on this technique. What should I do? I would be starting this business with good intentions and hopefully a win win for both bride, vendors and myself….

I’m not sure how common this is but we have always prided ourselves on an affordable flat fee that is offset by us giving any kickbacks directly to the Bride and Groom. If the photographer gives us a $300 referral (not all vendors do this btw) then we inform the photographer to add it to the clients bill as a line item labeled “Bridal Dove Referral Bonus”. If the vendor wanted to charge the client for our referral bonus we would not be working with that vendor unless the Bride and Groom insisted. Our clients sometime end up getting our services for free or at least at a drastically reduced price because of this.

[...] Sean Low and Outstanding Occasions as well as the one I linked to above from Preston [...]

It is a pretty accepted practice where I am at. However, it is NOT about deceiving a client with a seemingly lower fee. My fee is fine on its own, but if the client chooses to book with my recommended vendors, my vendors are happy to get the business, and practically insist upon giving me a referral fee. It truly is a win win for us – they get business, I get “unexpected” income and the bride has a one stop shop – IF she so chooses. My vendors are there to make it easier for her, but she is welcome to use whomever she wishes.

10k seems pretty steep for simply referring other reputable vendors. I would hope a lot more goes into the task of ‘wedding planners’, such a creating a theme, finding venues and florists and meal choices, bridal gowns and day of coordination.

Per the example stated by the author, the Wedding Planner should have told the Vendor BEFORE they met the client what their fee was for referral. If they want more than 10 percent for referring, the vendor could assess if they wanted to deal with that. As for the Photographer getting referred without getting as much as a phone call before hand? That’s simply unprofessional to try to extort a fee because the coordinator was too lazy to call the Photographer ahead of time to expect the call. As a Professional DJ I have dealt with a couple photographers who refer me, (and of course want a commission for all the ‘work’ involved in referring someone of my caliber to make the event a success. And yet, they often feel “afraid” or ‘uncomfortable’ either asking the client if the vendor they recommended may call them, as well as incessantly forgetting to call the vendor to let them know client XYC ‘might’ be calling. That’s what I call a LAZY Referral. If you are going to refer a vendor, refer one that fits the client’s needs, and be professional about it. If you have been in this industry any length of time or done business with humans for any length of time, you realize people lose leads, they fail to follow through and occasionally need someone who follows up.

I am a wedding coordinator & I do not do that at all to my clients. I go above & beyond for my clients & organize things for them sometimes that I am not even paid for.

Here in BC, Canada, from what I understand from a professional wedding planner – in order for her to be part of a certain ‘wedding planner guild’ (I’m sorry, I don’t know the actual name) it is against regulations to accept kick backs. The best interest is that of the client – the bride and groom.

The other thing that I’ve seen is planners who pick the other vendors for the client. The planner handles the contracts and payment, but unbeknownst to the client, the planner is marking up what the other vendors are charging.

As a bride, I asked people point blank if they got paid for referrals. I would rather have a referral based on someone’s merits than their dollars.

Brooke,
We completely agree! Thanks for sharing!