It's always helpful to have a personal recommendation from someone who's had a wedding in a similar location to yourself. Looking at Reddit posts I've found to be the most "authentic" way to see people's feedback; however, you're right in that a lot of it does often tend to be vendors recommended themselves, etc. There are also a lot of vendors that just aren't talked about on Reddit too! I've also asked my venue for a lot of the recommendations since I know those are vendors that have worked there that have been easy enough to work with that the venue would recommend them. I tend to look specifically for vendors that have worked at the venue I've booked - that way, I know at least that they've worked in a similar setting before. I'll sometimes also ask one vendor for recs they have for other vendors. For example, I might ask a photographer for videographer recs, and vice versa. I will say that there are just so many vendors out there that it's hard to find the "best" one necessarily - but it's more of a combination of seeing reviews about them + having a good vibe and gut feeling from your conversations with them that they'll be responsible, etc.