Local search.  No, you don't have to sort through vendors from here to New York.  Local search technology now makes finding someone downtown as easy as finding someone anywhere.  If you use Google, you only have to enter a place name along with your keyword to get a list of local businesses.  Try "wedding planner ahmedabad/baroda/surat/etc.." (without the quotes) and see for yourself.

Real people.  The people you are buying from online aren't "virtual."  They're as real as the people you'd meet in person.  In fact, especially with local business, the website is just a first contact.  You can always call them up or arrange to meet in person. Dedicated wedding information websites.  There are now websites solely devoted not just to planning a wedding, but to catering, wedding cakes, wedding clothes, venues, caterers, bands, even dying shoes for weddings.  These same websites often have directories of wedding vendors arranged by location.

The web has a lot of advantages over most other ways of discovering and evaluating wedding vendors.  Just look at what your other options are:

Recommendations from friends and colleagues.  How much do your friends and colleagues really know about wedding planning?  Very often, one person's idea of wedding elegance is any sane person's idea of bad, bad taste.  Just look at anyone's wedding pictures.  You can't trust this decision to your friends.  This is your big day.  It deserves a little research.

Bridal fairs.  If the vendors at bridal fairs were so great, why would they be trawling for business?  Do you want an in-demand wedding vendor, or one who has to set up a booth and hand out free samples?

Yellow pages.  I remember the time my mother used the Yellow Pages to find a contractor to install some new doors.  During the holiday season, the draft would blow out the candles in the window if they weren't electric.  Anyone can get in the yellow pages--and believe me, anyone does.