MarketRadar
← All ideas IDEA-096 6.3 us life-event-planner developed

Forward us 5 vendor quotes — we'll show you which is actually cheapest after every hidden fee.

Problem

We're collecting 5–8 quotes from photographers and venues. Their PDFs are formatted completely differently — one shows package totals, another itemizes hours, another buries 'service charge' and 'gratuity' in fine print. The Knot caps comparisons at 3 quotes per category. We're building our own Excel side-by-side, but we keep missing line items like corkage fees and overtime rates. We just want a normalized total-cost ranking.

Audience

US couples in vendor-shopping phase (4–8 months before wedding), reviewing 4+ quotes per category for photographer, venue, caterer, florist, DJ. Same demographic as IDEA-095 but earlier in funnel — pre-booking. Median wedding budget $30K–$60K, willing to pay $19–$39 once for a normalized comparison.

Reasoning

Source signals

  • SIG-20260426-us-life-event-planner-wedding-vendor-comparison-three-cap — "Vendor comparison maxes out at three quotes per category. Hidden costs (service charges, corkage, overtime) are not accounted for. … I'd build my own comparison spreadsheet anyway because The Knot doesn't do vendor comparison."
  • SIG-20260426-us-life-event-planner-wedding-vendor-payment-deadlines — "Vendor management was still a nightmare. I'd have a vendor conversation via email, then have to manually copy all the details into The Knot."

What we ship

**Core features (MVP)**

  • Upload PDF / forward email with quote → AI extracts line items
  • Auto-detect "hidden fees" (service charge, corkage, overtime, gratuity, tax) and normalize to total-cost basis
  • Side-by-side comparison table (up to 8 vendors per category, no cap-3 like The Knot)
  • Output PDF: ranked total-cost-of-vendor + per-vendor breakdown + "questions to ask" (e.g., "Vendor A's quote excludes overtime — clarify 6h vs 8h block")
  • Free preview (1 quote), $29 unlock for full comparison

**Primary user flow**

1. Landing — "5 wedding quotes. 5 different formats. We make them apples-to-apples." ($29)

2. Free preview: upload 1 quote → see parsed line items

3. Stripe Checkout

4. Forward additional quotes (or upload PDFs) → 60-second processing

5. Comparison table + PDF download + "Questions for Vendor B" sheet

**What it looks like**

  • **Landing**: hero "Apples to apples. Finally." + ranked-table screenshot
  • **Main screen**: side-by-side comparison grid + total-cost ranking + hidden-fee callouts
  • **Output**: PDF "Photographer Comparison — 5 quotes ranked, $4,200–$7,800 spread"

**MVP build plan (8 days)**

  • Day 1: Postgres schema + Stripe Checkout
  • Day 2–4: PDF/email parsing pipeline (Claude Sonnet structured) + line-item normalization rules
  • Day 5: comparison-table UI
  • Day 6: PDF generator + email delivery
  • Day 7: landing + email-forward inbox
  • Day 8: deploy + smoke-test

Reasoning

The vendor-comparison SIG is explicit: existing apps cap comparisons at 2–3 vendors, and hidden fees are not normalized. The Knot/Zola/WeddingWire have a structural disincentive — their revenue is vendor ad-spend, so transparent comparisons hurt advertisers. That's natural moat. Two-stage product strategy: this is the pre-booking tool ($29 one-time), IDEA-095 is the post-booking ledger ($14/mo). Cross-sell funnel is tight. Stack fit is excellent — same Claude Sonnet PDF pipeline as IDEA-091/092/095, fourth use of same infrastructure (cheap incremental build).

Quick competitive read

  • **The Knot, Zola, WeddingWire**: comparison capped at 2–3 vendors, ad-revenue conflict.
  • **Honeybook, Aisle Planner**: vendor-/planner-facing.
  • **Boredtools.store, Kaiplan, Everly**: spreadsheet templates ($0–$29) — confirm demand but no AI normalization.
  • **Excel templates from r/weddingplanning**: workaround proves demand.
  • White space for AI-normalized total-cost-of-vendor sub-$50 one-shot.

Initial pricing hypothesis

$29 one-time for full comparison (5+ vendors per category). Optional $49 bundle for 3-category comparison. Free 1-quote preview as TOFU. Aligned with developed-tier WTP and high wedding-budget stakes.

Distribution hypothesis

Reddit r/weddingplanning ("I built a tool that compares wedding quotes — feedback?"), Pinterest pins ("How to compare wedding photographer quotes"), TikTok #weddingplanning POV ("They quoted $5K but it was actually $7K"). Cross-sell with IDEA-095.

Source signals (2)

  • SIG-20260426-us-life-event-planner-wedding-vendor-payment-deadlines
  • SIG-20260426-us-life-event-planner-wedding-vendor-comparison-three-cap