Nine checks before the deposit leaves your account
A wedding deposit is one of the few large payments most people make to a business they found on social media, for a service delivered eleven months later, with no way to get the date back if it goes wrong. These checks take about forty minutes in total and every one of them is free.
| Check | How to do it | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| The business legally exists | Search the company name on your national company register. In the UK that is Companies House; in the US it is the Secretary of State for the state they trade in. | No registration at all, a company dissolved last year, or a name that does not match the one on the invoice |
| The bank details match the business | Compare the account name on the invoice against the registered name. | A personal name, a different company, or details sent in a follow-up email that "corrects" the first invoice |
| They have public liability insurance | Ask for the certificate and the expiry date. Most venues require it from suppliers anyway. | Reluctance, a screenshot with the date cropped, or a policy expiring before your wedding |
| The venue has heard of them | Email your venue and ask if they have worked with this supplier. | The venue has no record, or has a preferred-supplier list this one is conspicuously absent from |
| Reviews exist off their own website | Look on Google, the venue's own recommendations and independent directories, not only the testimonials page. | Every review is on their site, all posted in one month, or all written in the same voice |
| The portfolio is theirs and is recent | Reverse image search two or three portfolio photos. Ask to see one complete wedding from the last twelve months, not a highlights reel. | Images that appear on other suppliers' sites, or a portfolio with no work from the last two years |
| They will hold your date in writing | Ask for written confirmation of the date, the hours and what is included before you pay. | "Pay today to hold it" with nothing in writing, or pressure framed as another couple enquiring |
| The contract exists before the money does | Read it in full. It should name the date, the hours, the deliverables, the balance, the due date and the cancellation terms. | No contract, a one-paragraph email, or a contract that arrives only after the deposit clears |
| You can pay by a method with recourse | A credit card or a payment platform gives you a route to dispute. A bank transfer gives you almost none. | Cash only, cryptocurrency, or a transfer to an account in a different name than the business |
The invoice redirection scam
This is the one that empties wedding accounts, and it is worth describing precisely because it does not look like fraud.
You book a supplier. Weeks later an email arrives from what looks like their address, apologising for a change of bank details and attaching a corrected invoice. The tone is right, the branding is right, the wedding date is right, because the sender has been reading the thread. You pay, and the money is gone before anyone notices — often not until the balance is chased months later.
The defence is a single rule: never act on changed bank details from an email. Phone the supplier on the number you had before the email arrived, not one in it, and confirm verbally. Suppliers expect this call. A real one will thank you for making it.
What "verification" cannot do
These checks catch a business that is not what it claims. They do not catch a real business that overcommits, and that is the more common failure. A photographer who books three weddings on one date, a florist whose supplier goes under in March, a venue that changes ownership — all of these are solvent, insured, well-reviewed and still a problem.
Two things protect you there, and neither is a background check: paying the deposit on a credit card where you can, and reading the cancellation clause before you need it. A supplier who has a written plan for what happens if they cannot attend has thought about it. One who has not, has not.
Record the checks with the booking
Put the insurance expiry, the contract date and the refund terms in the same row as the deposit, so the answers are there in month eleven.
Common questions
How do you check a wedding vendor is legitimate?
Confirm the business on your national company register, ask for the public liability insurance certificate and its expiry date, check the venue has worked with them, look for reviews that are not hosted on their own website, and read a written contract before any money moves. Nine specific checks are listed above and all of them are free.
Should you pay a wedding deposit by bank transfer?
Prefer a credit card or a payment platform where you can. A bank transfer is effectively irreversible; a card payment gives you a dispute route if the supplier fails to deliver. If the supplier only takes transfers, confirm the account details by phone first.
What if a supplier emails saying their bank details changed?
Assume it is fraud until proven otherwise. Call them on a number you already had, not one from the email, and confirm verbally before paying anything. Invoice redirection is the most common way couples lose wedding money, and it works precisely because the email looks genuine.
Is it rude to ask a wedding supplier for insurance documents?
No, and it is expected. Most venues require public liability cover from every supplier working on site, so professionals have the certificate to hand and are used to sending it. Hesitation is itself the answer.
What should be in the contract before you pay?
The date, the hours, exactly what is delivered, the total, the deposit, the balance amount and due date, the cancellation and refund terms, and what happens if the supplier cannot attend. If any of those are missing, ask before paying rather than after.