spin-off to private photographer question

did anyone (or anyone's FH/FW) worry about hiring a private photographer and them not following through on their contract (i.e., leaving town, taking $ and running, not being reliable)?

I only ask because ive scheduled a few starbucks meetings with photogs....meaning they dont have an office of their own. they do everything on their home computer.

personally, i dont see it being THAT big of a deal and i think you run that same risk with anyplace you go (especially in this economy)....but after the last meeting on Friday, FH told me NO MORE STARBUCKS MEETINGS!

he said he would rather pay more to go to a studio...but its the same risk anytime you are hiring a specific INDIVIDUAL to be your photographer, no? (I mean, even at big places, you usually book a certain photog because you like their style best)

idk...curious to hear your thoughts on the whole subject......

TIA!

i did... esp since i won a package with mine at twoty and am literally paying $0 ... we asked what would happen if he couldnt make it for whatever reason, and he told us about his backup... i believe i got him tons of referrals from this site so theres no doubt in my mind that he'll make every effort to be there...

Our photographer has his own business, but he also has a business address. He's been doing wedding photography for over 20 years and is very professional, so I'm not worried about him taking our money and running.

My best advice for you is to try to do as much research as you can. Check the Better Business Bureau for complaints, do google searches to see if any positive or negative reviews come up and trust your gut instinct.

The advice I will give you make sure this person is reptuable, get tons of reference,

A studio can pick an leave as well there is no gurantee with them also. Sometimes Studio know they are going belly under and they still service you and then are not around when you need your final product.

The photographer I used (Photography by Christos ) works out of his home office and meets clients at local cafes, but he also meets at his home office. I TOTALLY didn't mind meeting him at cafes or at home, and I actually think it's safer to have a home-office photographer...a store can shut down overnight and never has to open again, but for someone to pick up and move his/her entire house and home office takes a lot more time. I kept in touch with my photographer at least once every couple of months leading up to the wedding, and once a week in the month before the wedding, so I was not worried at all.

To be honest, you can run the same risk with either a private or a well known photographer.

A couple of years ago, I went to a friend's wedding in Jersey. He hired a well known vendor that had several locations. He told me that he just got back his proofs from the NJ Attorney General.

Turns out right when he and his wife submitted their final proofs for their wedding album, the company was closed down by the AG for I believe fraud and all the property was seized, including my friend's proofs. And that company had weddings booked up the wazoo. So a lot of brides got sc*rewed and had to look for a last minute photographers.

My friend only got the proofs back two weeks ago and his wedding was in October of 2006.

I know that my private photographer told me that only death or some major catastrophic natural disaster would stop him from photographing my wedding. And if something did happen to him, he has a list of back-ups to take his place. In the super worst case scneario, I would get all my money back, which I thought was super fair!!!