How this site works
Where the facts come from, how listings are ordered, and how this pays for itself. If any of that ever stops being true, this page changes first.
Nobody pays to be listed, and nobody pays to rank
There is no featured placement, no sponsored slot, no fee to be included, and no way to buy a better position. Venue and vendor lists are ordered alphabetically, or by the criteria you chose in the finder. A venue that will never spend a cent with anyone sits exactly where its data puts it.
This isn't a stance, it's structural: the database has no column that could implement paid ranking, which is the only version of this promise worth making.
Every fact has a source and a date
Capacities, catering rules, alcohol policies, curfews, accessibility — each one is recorded with where we found it and when we last checked. Profiles show that date. Anything older than about a year is flagged as worth re-confirming, and stops driving the search filters.
"We don't know" is an answer we're willing to give
Most directories quietly turn a missing answer into a no. We don't. If a venue's page doesn't say whether you can bring your own caterer, this site says we haven't confirmed it — because the alternative is telling you something false about someone else's business.
It makes the pages look less complete than a competitor's. It also means the answers that are there can be trusted.
We don't publish individual prices
Not a figure, not a dollar-sign rating. Venue pricing moves too fast for a published number to stay honest, and a wrong one damages the venue and misleads you. Instead we collect what things actually cost and publish it as ranges across many businesses — never fewer than five reports from at least three different companies, never older than 18 months, never traceable back to one venue.
Vendors get a link, nothing else
There are no enquiry forms on vendor listings. We don't collect leads on anyone's behalf or sit between you and a business. If you want to talk to a photographer, the link goes to their site.
How this makes money
Four ways, and this is the complete list:
- The help form. If you ask us to point you at someone, we may pass your details to a Maine business that fits — only ones that have agreed to receive them, and only after you've ticked the box saying that's fine. Some of them may work with us elsewhere.
- One listing we own. Maine Wedding Websites is our own business and appears in the vendor list marked as such, in alphabetical order, next to free alternatives that may suit you better.
- Lodging links. Some "where to stay" links may earn a commission if you book through them. It costs you nothing and it doesn't change which places are listed or in what order.
- Businesses finding us. Sometimes a venue or vendor sees this site and hires us for something unrelated. That has no effect on their listing.
Who runs it
This is built and maintained by a web developer in central Maine who also builds websites for some businesses in this industry. Being someone's web developer earns them nothing here — their listing is ordered by the same rules as everyone else's, and their data is checked the same way. We'd rather say that plainly than have you find out later.
Something wrong?
Tell us and we'll fix it. Corrections from the business itself are taken at face value and marked as confirmed by them.