Chalk this one up to another downside to the internet.  With the tremendous influx of new photographers who are trying to become wedding photographers, brides have to be SOOOO careful in who they choose.  So many people want to be photographers, but they just don’t have the portfolio necessary to get the weddings. So they steal the images.

This new trend is being called: Fraudtography.

Young and inexperienced photographers scour the websites of professionals around the world and simply copy the other guy’s photographs and put them on their website. Presto! Great images that they then pass off as their own. The bride is getting an inexpensive price for her wedding pictures, but the likelihood is SLIM that this unethical photographer will be able to handle the stress of the wedding day (you only get one chance to take these photographs), comport themselves discreetly and professionally, and even dress appropriately.

As my father used to say, “you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

I found this wonderful article on Offbeat Bride that will give you some good insights, as well as hints on how not to get burned.