12/03/2025
You may have seen that a local photographer was arrested on Thanksgiving for scamming couples.
Here are some tips from my friend at April G Photography when you’re looking for a photographer for your big day.
(Her work is 🔥btw)
Brides. & Grooms: what to look for (and avoid) when hiring a wedding photographer
* if you know someone getting married please share this so they may see it or tag someone. It will help more people become aware if everyone just repost it and shares!
This post is calling out a growing problem in the wedding industry: photographers scamming clients or operating irresponsibly, which leaves couples heartbroken, stressed, and scrambling at the last minute.
What “Photographers Scamming Clients” Means
It refers to photographers who are:
• Not showing up on the wedding day
• Never delivering photos or video
• Missing promised deadlines
• Ghosting or blocking clients
• Sending a replacement with no warning
• Delivering work that doesn’t match the style they advertised
• Over-promising and severely under-delivering
These are all huge red flags and sadly, they’re happening more often.
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Red Flags to Look For
These are signs a photographer may not be legit or reliable:
• Slow, inconsistent, or spotty communication
• No website
• No reviews, fake-looking reviews, or reviews turned off
• Inconsistent photography style across their website (editing, posing, quality should always match)
• No social media activity (not always a deal-breaker, but a lack of recent posts can signal they aren’t actively working)
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How Couples Can Protect Themselves
These tips help ensure you’re hiring a real, established, professional business:
• Google them — their name, business name, everything
• Verify they have a real website and real contact info
• Ask for referrals
• Ask where you can see verified reviews
• Request full galleries from recent weddings, not just highlight reels
• Check the Ohio business registry to confirm they are actually registered
• Ask if they have insurance
• Ask what their backup plan is if they can’t make it to your event
• Get a contract — no contract is a
dealbreaker
• Remember: if the price seems way too cheap for what’s included, that’s a huge warning sign
Remember to have a conversation with them …never book anyone if you don’t at least speak to them , meet with them, Skype with them, etc. the most important thing is that your personalities gel well, they understand your vision, and you’re not stuck with someone who is too overbearing or not a strong enough leader 
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Why Pricing “Too Good to Be True” Is a Problem
This section breaks down the math of why ultra-cheap wedding packages aren’t sustainable:
A photographer offering:
• 8–10 hours of wedding coverage
• Free engagement session
• A second shooter
• An album/canvas
• Help with timeline and communication
• Editing and delivery
…for $2,000 cannot realistically run a legal business.
When you factor in engagement sessions, second shooter costs, editing time, travel, software fees, taxes, insurance, website costs, and all the professional overhead… the photographer might only end up with $400–$500 total for weeks of work.
That means corners are being cut.
Often that includes:
• No taxes
• No insurance
• No backup gear
• No support system
• No business structure
This is why these situations happen.
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The Hard Truth
You can’t redo your wedding photos.
If the photographer fails you, you don’t get next week to try again.
Yes, everyone has a budget — and that’s okay. The BEST way to save money is to lower your guest count, not gamble on the one vendor responsible for documenting your entire day.
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Final Point
Even if you do everything right, there’s always a small risk. But these steps dramatically lower your chances of ending up in one of these nightmare situations.
