Hawkeye Reporter

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate allegations of fraud and deceptive business practices at The Knot, a prominent wedding planning website. Grassley’s office received nearly 200 messages from whistleblowers across the United States, including Iowa, reporting issues such as failure to honor contracts and intentional fraudulent behavior.

“These small businesses allege that The Knot didn’t advertise their businesses on the website as they were contractually required to and the leads they received were largely fake or otherwise lacked legitimacy. Further, they allege that The Knot promised discount pricing but failed to add them to their customers’ bills. In addition, I was also alerted by several small businesses in Iowa who alleged they were also defrauded by The Knot through these fraudulent and deceptive business practices,” Grassley wrote.

News coverage has highlighted more than 200 formal complaints made to the FTC regarding alleged fraudulent activity involving The Knot and WeddingWire. For example, The New Yorker reported on March 31, 2025, about numerous formal complaints since 2018 concerning these companies.

Grassley described a case where a small business owner contacted customer support at The Knot about her business being listed incorrectly and not receiving valid leads. According to her account: “One small business owner … contacted a supervisor on The Knot’s customer support team to discuss why her business continued to be advertised in the wrong section of the website and hadn’t received substantive leads … The small business owner alleges that the supervisor then turned off the call recorder and told her that she should create fake accounts and leave her own business fake reviews to boost the credibility of her profile, which would in turn help her receive a higher number of legitimate leads,” Grassley continued.

The same business owner said that after requesting promised discounts from customer service, her company’s profile was removed from The Knot’s site without explanation while charges for advertising services continued. She summarized: “They are preying on small businesses who need help growing their audience and promising things that will never happen. They don’t seem to have an issue taking my money but not providing the advertising services they promised in the contract I signed.”

Grassley previously sent a letter about these issues on March 28, 2025 (full text here). In response on April 15, FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson stated he could not disclose whether an investigation had started.

Other media outlets have also covered allegations against The Knot regarding misleading advertising practices with its vendors (New York Post, August 11, 2023; Forbes, August 3, 2023).

Grassley emphasized that “the almost 200 messages I’ve received since I sent you my March 28 letter, along with these new allegations, show they aren’t merely isolated incidents but are instead a nationwide problem that requires investigation.” He urged the FTC to examine whether these claims are accurate so affected businesses can receive answers.