How to ask potential wedding photographer about low number of reviews

My fiance and I are looking at wedding photographers. She found one she says is perfect (matches our budget and preferred style). We talked with him over the phone yesterday and he seemed like a great choice. However, I'm concerned because on one page I've seen, he says he's been shooting weddings professionally for 10 years. And yet, I've only found 4 reviews for him (all positive), his domain was registered 3 months ago (around the same time as the first review), and it only has pictures from 3 or 4 weddings. This all concerns me because there are other photographers who have 50+ reviews and appear to be more established. I expressed my concerns over this to my fiance and she seemed to take offense at me being concerned. I would be much more comfortable if I had an explanation for the lack of online presence, especially reviews. While I know there are perfectly reasonable possibilities for this, my mind assumes the worst and that it's a scam, because I've had close friends get scammed by wedding photographers. How can we tactfully ask the photographer about the low number of reviews/shoots? The main concern is it might seem like accusing him of lying. My fiance and I weren't even sure how to go about wording the question without offending the photographer or burning bridges.

Apr 3, 2025 - 18:10

My fiance and I are looking at wedding photographers. She found one she says is perfect (matches our budget and preferred style). We talked with him over the phone yesterday and he seemed like a great choice.

However, I'm concerned because on one page I've seen, he says he's been shooting weddings professionally for 10 years. And yet, I've only found 4 reviews for him (all positive), his domain was registered 3 months ago (around the same time as the first review), and it only has pictures from 3 or 4 weddings.

This all concerns me because there are other photographers who have 50+ reviews and appear to be more established.

I expressed my concerns over this to my fiance and she seemed to take offense at me being concerned. I would be much more comfortable if I had an explanation for the lack of online presence, especially reviews. While I know there are perfectly reasonable possibilities for this, my mind assumes the worst and that it's a scam, because I've had close friends get scammed by wedding photographers.

How can we tactfully ask the photographer about the low number of reviews/shoots? The main concern is it might seem like accusing him of lying.

My fiance and I weren't even sure how to go about wording the question without offending the photographer or burning bridges.