“The Preferred Vendor” trick

Wedding venues list some photographers as "preferred vendors". It makes couples believe there is something special about those photographers or that they are above everyone else.

Most of the time they're actually not that great! They are simply old established relationships where some vendors provide venues commissions from these referrals, there is a special arrangement, or they are simply “buddies”. Just make sure you truly check them out and truly qualify them before anything. Remember that venues, their sales departments, their managers, etc. are not top wedding photographers or judge by technicality. They don't have a qualifications system. The “preferred vendor list” has nothing to do with quality of work.