Photographer red flags?

Our photographer was equally laid back about deposits, but turned up on the day and did a great job.

He may be super busy at the moment, so I'd give him another day or two leeway. If you don't hear then, it might be worth giving him a call. If he took time off over Christmas, he may have a LOT of emails to work through and yours might have got lost in the crowd - I'm still in touch with the photographers who did our wedding and the one who does the admin side said she had a ton of emails come in over Christmas and is going crazy trying to respond to them all.

"I'm feeling wary of a supplier not requesting a deposit to book their services & suspicious that the reason for not taking a deposit is so that he can easily bump me if he gets a better (all day) booking for the same date."

Unfortunately this kind of practice does go on. But even if they took a deposit they could just return it saying they can no longer shoot the wedding.

How much are they charging because what some will do is pay someone else to shoot yours for them while they shoot the big one.

If they are a full time pro then they are less likely to do the above kind of thing because they have a reputation to keep. When I am asked for a ceremony only coverage I price it at a figure that I am comfortable with knowing I will possibly be turning away a full day package but that usually ends up being a figure out of peoples budget expectations -- BUT I will turn up !

If the wedding is in a couple of months and out of season then I can shoot it for much less because I am confident that I will not be turning away a booking.

Emails - do they have a proper email connected to their website or is it a Hotmail / gmail one as it could be sitting in their junk box. And 2 days is not that long really for them to respond, try sending another one asking if they actually saw the last one as you are keen to confirm.

I just wondered if it was unusual when it comes to asking about payment. It seems the norm with weddings that payment I usually the first concern.

Maybe as any deposit would be very small on £200, - give them a nudge, I am not sure but I think insurance companies will need evidence of a contract and paid deposit in the event of a claim.

From what you say I don't see too much to worry about although £200 is an extremely good offer, October is still quite busy especially at the end as its half term.

I have to say it is not normal for a professional photographer to do it that way. Do you have a contract, have you paid a deposit.