Rules & Regulations.

For Couples and Friends/Family of the couple:

  1. You can vote before or after the wedding date, just as long as the wedding will take place within the current calendar year.

  2. If you used a wedding professional in the current calendar year but did not get married in the same year, please use the date you used their service. For example, Engagement photos or Boudoir photos might not happen during the same year as your wedding.

  3. You can vote once per email address. If you vote multiple times using the same email address your additional votes will be disqualified.

  4. We do our best to keep voting secure, and we will discard any suspicious or unverified votes.

For Wedding Professionals within Central & Eastern Iowa:

  1. Unless you attended a wedding as a guest, we ask that you DO NOT vote for the categories of Wedding Choice Awards.

  2. Instead, we ask you to vote ONLY for the Vendor Choice Award, to honor another wedding professional in central or eastern Iowa. This is our highest honor because you are voting for a person and not the business.

  3. All wedding professionals in a 65-mile radius of central or eastern Iowa are eligible to participate in our voting categories.
    - Central Iowa = approx. 65-mile radius around Des Moines, including towns like Fort Dodge, Pella, Osceola, and Atlantic
    - Eastern Iowa = approx. 65-mile radius around Iowa City, including towns like Waterloo, Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, and Dyersville

  4. If you are not on a category and are part of the 65-mile radius of each region, please contact us to be added to voting: info@weddingchoiceawards.com

  5. If you fall between the two regions or are outside of the regions, see below for more information or contact us at info@weddingchoiceawards.com

For Wedding Professionals outside of Central or Eastern Iowa:

  • Unless you attended a wedding as a guest, we ask that you do not vote for the categories of Wedding Choice Awards.

If you would like to participate as a business in Wedding Choice Awards and are not within central or eastern Iowa (an approximate 65-mile radius of Des Mones or Iowa City), you must meet our requirements below and submit information to be considered. Submission of information is not a guarantee you will be chosen to participate.

Please send proof of the requirements in a Word doc, Excel sheet, or PDF doc — must include names, dates, locations, and URLs when applicable. Please email this document for review: info@weddingchoiceawards.com.

The deadline for submission must be emailed to us no later than November 30 of the current year. That leaves you 45 days to still participate in voting. Once you are selected to participate, you will need to renew your status every two years. For example, if you are selected to participate in the 2024 voting, you will also be eligible to participate in the 2025 voting and will need to renew for 2026.

All businesses must meet this requirement:

  1. 40% or more of your business is within a 65-mile radius of Des Moines or Iowa City. Please send a list of all your weddings (in and outside of your chosen region) for the current calendar year. Include the couple’s names, wedding date, and ceremony/reception locations. If you have a gallery link, please include as well.

Businesses must participate in 2 or more of these requirements:

  1. Participated in one or more central or eastern Iowa wedding shows – Example: United at the Union (Ames), Pella Wedding Extravaganza, Des Moines Wedding Show, Eastern Iowa Wedding Show (Iowa City/Cedar Rapdis), etc. Please send proof of purchase — we do not need to see the amount spent.

  2. Participated in Advertising, PR, or Styled Shoots in central or eastern Iowa — Example: Paid Facebook ads, Heartland Wedding Ideas ads or articles, Google ads, Radio/TV station ads, or central Iowa Wedding Professional’s blog or social media posts. Your business’s social media posts do not count — must be from outside sources. To submit, please send photos, screenshots, or direct links of the advertising/PR/styled shoot examples.

  3. Attended in-person networking events in central or easten Iowa — Examples: Sips ‘n Social from Des Moines Wedding Show or Corridor Wedding Professionals networking events. Please show a screenshot of the event invite/ticket/email showing you were invited or in attendance.

If you are deemed eligible to participate, you will be added to voting for the current calendar year and the next year only. After that, you will be removed from our categories list and will need to submit a new document for consideration. We will not reach out to businesses to update their documents for submission — it is up to each business to proactively send a new submission. We will accept and review submissions year-round, not just during active voting.

If you are interested in Wedding Choice Awards coming to your region, please reach out to us for further information: info@weddingchoiceawards.com.

For Sponsors of Wedding Choice Awards:

  1. All sponsors are also eligible to be voted on.

  2. Sponsors will be tagged in all our general voting posts and listed on the website.

  3. Sponsors will not be tagged on our “top voting” posts unless they make it into the top voting numbers for their category. These posts are unrelated to their sponsorship and must be treated separately.

We do our best to answer any questions and work with all voters and wedding professionals. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us at: info@weddingchoiceawards.com