Just Your Best

Maybe you’re coming to this article from my story of the scam artist photographer, Rachel Braden, who treated my wedding like it was a date night and now you’re asking yourself, “But Danielle, how do I avoid scammers like this?” Well, I can’t let this go without giving you the lessons I’ve learned. There’s a lot of things I wish I had done differently, and I unfortunately learned my lesson the hard way. This is the least I can do, and what gives me peace of mind is the hope that I may be able to spare another bride a shit show of a wedding day.

It’s safe to say I know this topic all too well. On top of hiring a criminal photographer, I also unfortunately hired the worst DJ, and I know everyone says, “Don’t hire friends” but he wasn’t just a friend of a friend – he seemed like a genuinely nice and outgoing man I had met multiple times before. He was the life of the party, and I felt he would surely make for a great DJ. Well, a quick Google search after the wedding (purely because I wanted to find a page to put my honest review) ultimately found me a lot of information that I wish I had known before giving him money and letting him near the children of my family (yes, according to the Times article I found from 2003, he plead guilty to the worst of crimes just 20 years prior to meeting me.)

And that’s my first tip and what I plan to cover in this story. For the purposes of this article, I’ll use the tactics and tools I used to find out my photographer was a scam artist, unfortunately after my wedding and after she had collected all my money, including a very generous tip.

Do 👏 your 👏 research 👏

I don’t just mean looking at their profiles or their customer reviews. The reviews displayed on vendor websites are often cherry-picked, and the negative ones won’t see the light of day if they don’t want you to see them. I am talking about googling the actual person you’re hiring and seeing what kind of person they truly are. As they always say, once it is online, it is there forever, and if they’ve committed a crime or done something unforgivable, the court case is likely available, or a public forum where victims once voiced their concerns two decades prior.

Prior to my wedding, I googled “Jane of All Trades Photography,” even though the photographer’s name was Rachel Alexandra Strada (since hiring her, she has remarried and changed her name to Rachel Braden). If I had looked her name up instead, I would have quickly came to learn her driver’s license just recently and during my wedding was suspended for driving in an uninsured vehicle, amongst other public information the courts have put out there. If she can’t even drive lawfully, that is a 🚩 RED flag that she may not be able to properly run a legal business either.

After finding that information about the scam artist, I wanted to search her husband Jesse too since he had been drinking throughout my wedding more than some of my guests; very quickly I found the public records for his misdemeanor for petty theft. It is so disheartening to know not only were there so many criminals at my wedding but that I actually gave them money I would never get back.

There are a lot of ways to find information online. With so many businesses out there called “Jane of All Trades,” for example, what ultimately led me to finding a Facebook group of women who were scammed by Strada was a Google search using quotation marks: “Jane of All Trades Photography”. Using the quotation marks around a given phrase or name shows a Google search engine that you want results that only show those words together in that order. It helps to narrow your search down, otherwise it would have taken me ages to scroll through all the pages of handy-man businesses and the like that are using Jane of All Trades as a name.

How To Use the Better Business Bureau

Step 2 would be checking the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB shares public information on businesses so that you, the consumer, can understand who you are getting into business with. When you’re planning a wedding, it’s best to make sure this is a legitimate business that turns over positive results and leaves with happy customers. Similar to grades in school, businesses have ratings. For example, Jane of All Trades Photography has an “F” rating, which is exactly as bad as the 4th grade history test you were afraid to have your mom sign. F is the worst rating you can get.

If you’re hiring someone for your wedding, you deserve an “A+” business!

The BBB will show you how many complaints have been made against a business that the BBB has investigated, as well as how the issue was resolved. Unfortunately with scammers, the BBB is not always able to get in touch with businesses to resolve the complaints, in which case you’ll see a note like you see on my photographer’s Maryland listing (you’ll see below why I mention her “Maryland” business). Under this BBB listing for Jane of All Trades Photography in Pokomoke, MD, the BBB attempted to resolve the complaints with Strada. Had she truly felt an error was made and she had done a good job, she or any rightful business owner would respond to the BBB to fix the issue and clean up their listing. However, when a fraud is caught, the last thing they’re going to do is come out of hiding.

Another sign to look out for while checking the BBB is how often this business has been listed; a reputable business does not need to set up multiple business profiles, and if they do, it is because they are struggling to get business after the first few complaints and negative reviews. For example, Strada tried to register her business under another address to “clear her name” and continue booking weddings. Here, you’ll see several customer complaints were also listed.

The funny part is that several customers found her BBB listing early July and started sharing their complaints and reviews. Approximately a week later, Strada made the second listing for her business. This is another handy tool on BBB, that you can see when the business made the listing. If they truly are reputable, this wouldn’t be a date within the past 6 months if they’re telling customers they’ve been in business for years.

Pay With a Credit Card

While you may have worked hard to put the money in savings for your wedding, that’s not where you are to dip first for payments! Use credit cards to make your payments because it adds an extra layer of protection. It is much easier to cancel a credit card charge than it is to get your money back once it’s been taken from your account.

Credit cards have fraud and security protection for situations exactly like this. Had I not paid with my debit, I would have been able to contact my credit card company to alert them of the fraudulent behavior and gotten my money back, but unfortunately, and like so many other brides, Mrs. Braden has walked away with all my money and the money of many others without having to lift a finger. Sure, she showed up and took the photos, but she didn’t deliver the photos, the paid service. I was lucky enough to be able to get back some raw photos after hunting her down online when she would avoid my phone calls, but that wasn’t the case with many of the women who came before me.

Once you make payment with your credit card, you can ahead and pay it off with the money in your savings so that you build up your credit score and earn yourself some rewards. But it’s most important that you pay with a credit card, especially big purchases and for weddings.

Other Red Flags 🚩 to Look Out For

Check that the company does in fact have a website, make sure happy customers are commenting on their social media posts, and don’t be afraid to reach out. If someone comments “Thanks for photographing this moment for me!”, send them a DM and say, “I’m a new bride considering her for my wedding photographer, do you mind if I ask how you liked her and what month/date you worked with her?” I’d emphasize getting some info like the date they were married so you could confirm by looking at their photos that they did get married on that date, so it’s not some family or friend pretending to leave a positive review.

Don’t fall for the sob story. Part of the reason I booked Rachel Braden (then Strada) was because she told me she was a single mom of 4. I felt for her and wanted to support her small business while she tried to get it off the ground, but she told me a lot of personal details about her life that should have been a red flag. A business wanting you to hire them shouldn’t trauma-dump on you or try to manipulate your feelings. They should stick to the business, and maybe they do have a cute story about why it was founded or how its name came to be, but they should solely focus on selling you on their impeccable work, not their sob story.

I also would probably only hire companies that have prices listed online now that I have learned from this experience. Some companies do not want to disclose that publicly in fear that competitors will try to charge slightly less and steal their customers, but I found out that the scam artist was charging women a variety of different costs for her services, whatever she seemed to be able to get away with. I paid $1,500 + tip for my 8 hours of photography + videography of my ceremony (which I never received), while another bride paid $200 for her whole wedding, and another bride paid $2,000 for just the full day of photos. A true company would have set prices and may negotiate a deal for a customer to close the sale, but they wouldn’t charge such drastically different costs.

Trust Your Gut

The last 🚩 I’ll share is mostly for a laugh, but trust your instincts and those around you. It’s hard to do unless you’re meeting your vendor face to face before the big day, but the telling factor looking back for me is how much my sister’s dog did not want to be near this woman. From the moment she showed up (late, no less), he was very untrusting of her. You could see how different he acted around her compared to other strangers he meets, and like they say, animals know best!

If your gut is telling you something is wrong, listen to it. You have that feeling for a reason.