Why reviews matter more than ever
For independent Indiana venues, reviews are your proof. They validate your pricing, set expectations, and answer the question every couple has: “Will they really take care of us?”
Strong reviews also make your other marketing more efficient. Ads and listings work better when they’re pointing to a venue couples already trust.
- Increase click-through from Google and listing sites.
- Shorten the time couples spend hesitating after a tour.
- Give your team pride and clarity about what’s working.
Choose one primary review home
If you ask couples to review you everywhere, most won’t review you anywhere. We choose one primary home—usually Google—and occasionally a secondary like The Knot or WeddingWire.
This keeps your ask simple and builds a single, impressive body of proof over time.
- Decide which site you want to be strongest on.
- Align your team so everyone is asking couples to review in the same place.
- Make sure your profile on that platform is fully filled out and on-brand.
Ask at the right moment, from the right person
Timing and messenger matter. We ask for reviews when couples have just experienced the thing we’re best at: a calm, well-run day.
The request should come from a real person they’ve interacted with—not a faceless automated email.
- Your coordinator or lead contact sending a personal note a few days after the wedding.
- The owner following up with couples they personally worked with.
- A short note that references specific details (“We loved seeing how your guests used the patio for cocktail hour…”).
Make it easy to leave a specific, helpful review
Couples aren’t professional writers. If you don’t guide them, you’ll get a lot of “Everything was great!” and not much else.
We gently suggest what they might mention, without putting words in their mouth.
- Share your favorite part of the day or how you felt working with our team.
- If staff members went above and beyond, feel free to mention them by name.
- Anything you’d tell a friend who’s thinking about booking here.
These prompts produce detailed reviews that future couples actually read—and that give us feedback we can use.
Respond to every review
Responding to reviews isn’t just polite; it’s strategic. Couples scanning your profile can see how you show up when things go right and when something goes sideways.
We keep responses short, specific, and human.
- Thank them for choosing your venue and for taking the time to write.
- Reference one or two specific details from their review so it doesn’t feel canned.
- If it’s a critical review, acknowledge what happened and share (briefly) how you’re addressing it.
Build reviews into your operations
The difference between venues with a handful of reviews and those with hundreds usually isn’t the quality of the experience—it’s whether reviews are baked into the process.
You don’t need a complex system. You just need a checklist and a bit of accountability.
- Add “Send review request” to your post-event checklist.
- Track how many review requests went out each month and how many reviews came in.
- Celebrate reviews with your team so they see the connection between their work and future bookings.
If your reviews have stalled or don’t reflect how good your team really is, we can help you rebuild the guest experience and the review engine behind it. The result is a venue that not only runs better, but proves it publicly.
If you’d like help applying this to your venue, request a strategy call and we’ll walk through your funnel together.