How to Avoid Getting Scammed by Your Wedding Photographer

Unfortunately the horror stories of couples getting scammed by their wedding photographer are much more common than I’d like to hear. Stealing other people’s work to advertise, ghosting, taking money and running, and having a polished Instagram but showing up the day of and clearly not having a clue what they’re doing. What a nightmare. And that’s the last thing you want to deal with on one of the most important days of your life, especially one that you don’t get re-dos on! So what can you do to help ensure that your wedding photographer is someone you will trust and love? I’m here to help answer that with 3 questions you should be asking your wedding photographer before hiring them and why.

I’m Kate, owner of Captured by Kaitlyn, and I’ve been photographing weddings for almost 3 years. It’s so important to me that my couples can fully put their trust into me and my work, so it absolutely shatters my heart when I hear weekly horror stories about these so called “wedding photographers” scamming wonderful people who just wanted their love story documented in a beautiful way. Here are the 3 things I would recommend asking your wedding photographer before hiring them to avoid disappointment, regret, or getting scammed.

What do you do to make sure my photos are safe in the event the worst happens?

Memory cards corrupt, accidents happen, and things break. Be sure your photographer has back up gear (camera, lenses, flash, batteries) and photographs on dual SD cards on your wedding day. Should one SD card corrupt, your photos will be backed up on the second one. It is also important that your photographer is backing up your photos on a separate external hard drive, especially before gallery delivery.

While disaster is unlikely, you want to be confident your photographer has a plan in place to deal with it. Honestly, it’s a simple question and should be easy for your photographer to answer. For example, I have a main digital camera with dual card slots, I have a backup digital camera, I carry 3 lenses that fit on these cameras, that are all high quality and I trust that each and every one could do the job if I needed it to. I also have a main film camera as well as many backups. I have nearly 10 backup cameras, backup SD cards, and a backup flash. As soon as I get back home or to my room, I download the wedding photos to my computer as well as an external SSD hard drive. Up until gallery delivery, your photos are backed up on the SSD hard drive, my computer, and on two separate SD cards. I will not format the cards or delete any of the files until after your wedding gallery has been delivered and I will keep your photos on the SSD for a minimum of a year.

Can we see a full wedding gallery?

A polished Instagram is so wonderful and is a great place to start! With a full gallery, you can be sure to look for consistent quality throughout their photos and all parts of the day! Besides this ensuring that you really do love their work, I’ve heard so many horror stories of scammers who will steal others beautiful work and put it on their insta. Knowing that your photographer is actually a photographer and not just stealing others art, will surely give you peace of mind.

I love to send a wedding gallery right upon inquiry. I also send an investment guide when you first inquire that links a few wedding galleries and engagement sessions that you can take a peek at before we even meet face to face! It is really important to me that I build trust with my clients so I love to have that all out in the open before we even officially get started! It’s also very important to me that we meet “face-to-face” over a Zoom call so we can make sure our personalities click, you can know I’m a real person (also a great way to avoid getting scammed) and we can truly talk and connect about the best way to approach your wedding day.

Are you comfortable in all sorts of different lighting situations?

We all love a perfect golden lighting situation but that is simply not the reality of wedding days. Weather is unpredictable, indoor and outdoor lighting are very different, and a bright sunny day is just not the same as a cloudy one. While it  of course will all photograph differently, please be sure your photographer is comfortable in all situations. Harsh lighting, soft lighting, indoor lighting, and lighting situations that require flash. A photographer that cannot work within all lighting scenarios is not the photographer you want for the most important day of your life.

It is shocking to me how many people in this industry are not comfortable shooting indoors or in harsh lighting. I won’t fight anyone that golden hour is the best lighting perhaps but I absolutely love the ambiance of indoor lighting, the contrast of flash, and the beautiful contrast of midday harsh lighting. But most importantly, I feel absolutely so comfortable and confident in any lighting situation, no matter how different or “difficult,” the lighting. It’s essential your photographer knows where to place you, how to pose you, so you’re not squinting into the sun, standing with shadows all over your face, or something lame like that. Lighting is everything in photography so I cannot stress enough how important this one is. Anyone can take an incredible picture in the most perfect golden hour with a beautiful pose. Another reason why it’s important to view full galleries because one thing none of us can control is the weather.

I sincerely hope this is helpful to you and keeps you on the right track so you’re blown away and in love with your photographer and their work. Scams and deception are heartbreaking to see in this industry. Sending all the love and good vibes!