Avoid Getting Scammed By Fake Wedding Vendors
The day when two hearts become one should be one of pure joy - sadly, planning a wedding can also come with moments of stress and turbulence. One matter that no couple wants to face is being scammed by a vendor in the midst the chaos of florals designs and food choices! Unfortunately many couples book vendors only to discover they have nothing at all on their most crucial day. This predicament arises from crafty conduct when vendors manipulate other people's pictures or clumsy videos as part of their own portfolio.
I was recently a part of a bridal show where I came across a booth pretty close to the entrance that didn’t sit too well with me. Their videos looked inconsistent and their attitudes were not what you expect from a good hearted vendor. I wanted to give them the benefit of doubt so I decided to look at their social media to see if they have worked with some of the people I’ve worked with before. To my surprise they had no social media and only a website that could only be found by typing in the web address fully. Their website was loaded with stock photos and videos from stock websites.
In the wedding videography space, I have been called in last minute a few times by coordinators and couples who were absolutely devastated when they learned their videographers had taken their deposits and blocked them or just flat out never showed up to their wedding.
Hopefully some of these tips will help you avoid making the same mistake these couples made. I may not be the right videographer for everyone but I always strive to make sure everyone is happy with who they decide to go with. This blog post has some essential measures that confirm your vendors' authenticity before granting them contract approval- assuring you enjoy a smooth event worry-free from vendor deceit. Additionally, we will state why investing in top-notch wedding videos prove worthwhile.
How to identify a scam
Reverse Image Search. This is something anyone can do easily on google chrome. As you go through your vendors website, right-click on an image and select “search image with Google” in the drop down menu as shown here.
If the photo pops up on any stock website or you are seeing it all over blog posts. Most likely it is a stock image and not a reflection of the vendors true work.
The vendor at the bridal show not only had stock photos for every image on their website, but they also used a stock logo and stock videos pieced together with music to show off “destination” weddings.Check Reviews and Testimonials. An easy way to verify your vendor is a real vendor by looking through some of their reviews. Wedding Wire, The Knot, Google, and even Yelp are great places to look at to see if your vendor has worked with real people. If they do have reviews, look at the dates. If all the reviews are brand new around the same date, there is a possibility the reviews are false.
Review Their Whole Portfolio Not Just The Good Stuff. Don’t just settle for what they show on their website. As I said earlier, the vendor that I encountered was using stock videos from Adobe Stock pieced together as “highlight videos” and sold off as their work. A genuine vendor won’t be scared to show work outside of their portfolio. I offer documentary edits to my couples. While these videos aren’t on my website of youtube, if a couple asks for examples of these, I gladly share them.
The Value of a Legitimate Wedding Videographer
You only get one shot at capturing the moments. Finding the right vendor can make a major difference not only in how your day is captured but also how you live out your day.
You know that one coworker that doesn’t really do anything wrong but you just can’t stand them? They do their work, they get things done. Maybe they do the work but you don’t like the way they do it. Professionally they are great, but you just wouldn’t invite them out for a drink or to a party.
Finding the right vendor should be fun and stress free. You want to make sure their goals line up with yours. Some videographers capture cinematic masterpieces that look beautiful but have absolutely nothing personal about the couple in the video. While that may be what that couple wanted, it may not be what you want. These might be the people who pour the milk first and the cereal second so that it looks great on top. You might want the cereal in first and the milk after. That’s what I look for in my videos. I want to get to know my couples first, find out what makes them unique and find the passion between them and sprinkle the right amount of cinematics on top of that so that you watch your video back and remember why you two loved each other so much that you got married.
There’s hundreds of videographers out there. Surely there’s one out there that wont make terrible cereal references while still capturing your day how you like it. Maybe they shoot handheld and you like the raw shaky look to your film. Maybe you hate voice overs and would rather your video look like a music video over one of your favorite songs rather than remembering those precious little exchanges throughout your wedding day that would otherwise only live in your memories.
Make sure you watch multiple videos from your potential vendor and put yourself in that couple’s shoes watching the video back. Did the videographer capture their personalities? Did the videographer use fruit loops on a couple that really wanted cheerios?