Sen. Chuck Grassley speaks during Iowa’s Roast and Ride on Oct. 11, 2025, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

The chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate allegations of fraudulent and deceptive business practices by The Knot, an international wedding planning website.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a news release he is requesting the investigation after receiving “hundreds of reports from whistleblowers including Iowans.”

The Knot World Wide denies that it uses fraudulent or deceptive business practices and said Grassley has not reached out to discuss the issues.

The Knot provides wedding planning services for couples worldwide, offering vendors such as caterers and photographers an opportunity to advertise on the site. The company connects more than 4 million users with more than 900,000 small businesses in countries across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia, according to its website. It says it has operations in New York; Washington, D.C.; Barcelona, Spain; Delhi, India; Galway, Ireland; and London.

In his news release, Grassley says he's receiving complaints of “repeated failures to honor contracts and deliberate attempts at fraud.”

Knot denies allegations; one Iowa case results in default judgment

Iowa’s senior senator said he first raised issues regarding The Knot to the FTC in March. Since then, he said, his office has received nearly 200 allegations of misconduct against the company.

“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," Grassley wrote in his letter to the FTC. "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.”

The Knot in a statement said it does not engage in fraudulent or deceptive business practices.

“Our mission has always been to create meaningful connections and support the wedding community with transparency, integrity, and care,” The Knot said. “We are laser-focused on innovating to help wedding professionals grow their businesses with quality leads and support millions of couples annually on their planning journey. We remain deeply focused on continually enhancing our products, support, and safety standards so every experience reflects the values that built our brand.”

At least one court case filed in Iowa, alleging fraudulent practices and breach of contract, resulted in a default judgement against The Knot.

In August of 2021, Q Squared Systems LLC of Des Moines filed the lawsuit in small claims court seeking restitution for $3,050 in advertising fees it said it had paid, $2,550 in statutory damages as defined by Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act and $900 in attorney fees. The Knot never responded to the suit, resulting in the court issuing a judgment of $6,500 plus interest to Q Squared.

Cornelius S. Qualley, who is listed as both attorney and an owner of Q Squared Systems LLC in court documents and on the company’s website, did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Company says it is working to improve systems

Shannon Stephany, owner of Simply Stunning Events, a wedding planning company based in West Des Moines, said most of the conversations among wedding vendors relating to The Knot are about spam emails.

“You do get spam and many of the people I talk to aren’t fully trusting (The Knot),” Stephany said.

In her previous job planning events for Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Stephany said, 50% of the leads for wedding events came from The Knot.

Kelly Thomason of Bella Flora Event Design in Urbandale, Iowa, said she is aware of the allegations against The Knot.

“While many local vendors have expressed to me negative sentiments about these platforms, very similar to what is currently alleged, our experience has remained pretty solid over the years," said Thomason, a 22-year veteran of the industry. "For this reason, we have continued to remain a player, in what some would say, has been an iconic wedding platform for many decades.”

For its part, The Knot has acknowledged it is working to improve its systems based on vendor feedback. New CEO Raina Moskowitz issued a letter to vendors in March announcing the upgrade of several company processes, including reducing spam and ghosting.

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Republican senator wants investigation of popular wedding planning site The Knot

Reporting by Kevin Baskins, USA TODAY NETWORK / Des Moines Register

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect