Over the last two weeks we''ve written through the wedding vendor dispute landscape from both sides — client and vendor. Here''s the full index in one place, organized by when you''ll need each guide.
Before you sign
- Red flags before signing with a wedding content creator
- How to vet a wedding vendor you''ve never heard of
- The "preferred vendor list" trap: how to negotiate it
- Wedding insurance in Texas: what it covers and when it''s worth it
- Vendor refund schedules: what''s standard in Austin
- What $3K vs $12K actually buys you in a wedding planner
- The Austin wedding market: East Side vs. Hill Country pricing reality
While you''re working with your vendor
- How long should a wedding vendor take to reply
- Are text messages contracts in Texas? (Yes, mostly.)
- Can you record a vendor call in Texas? (Yes.)
- Who owns the raw files from your wedding photos?
- Warning signs your vendor is about to go under
- Mother of the bride kept asking for more: who has to say no?
When something goes wrong — client side
- Ghosted after the deposit: what Austin brides can actually do in Texas
- Your venue kept the deposit and closed. What happens next
- The catering guest-count problem: who pays when the headcount is wrong
- Photographer delivered 200 photos instead of 800 contracted
- The DJ didn''t show up: material breach
- Florist delivered white roses when you ordered peonies
- Hair and makeup ran 90 minutes late: calculating actual damages
- Your videographer is 4 months late on edits: when to escalate
- The officiant botched your vows: breach or bad day?
- The cake tasted nothing like the tasting
- The alterations ruined the dress: who''s on the hook?
- Transportation 40 minutes late: what damages can you recover?
- Invitations misprinted. Who pays?
- Force majeure in Austin wedding contracts: what actually counts
- Your gallery is up but something is wrong: how to address it
When something goes wrong — vendor side
- Scope creep in wedding contracts: what to put in writing
- When the client says 120 and 185 show up: the guest-count problem
- Sometimes the vendor is right: real patterns of unreasonable demands
- The bride is trashing you on Google: what Texas defamation law allows
- The chargeback nuclear option: when vendors fight and win
The legal / process toolkit
- What counts as "evidence" in a wedding dispute
- How to write a 60-day DTPA demand letter that actually works
- What the Austin Better Business Bureau actually does
- Mediation, small claims, arbitration: which one for your dispute?
- When you actually need a wedding-dispute attorney (vs DIY)
- When a bride''s bad review crosses into defamation
The disclaimer
Everything above is general information about Texas law and wedding industry practice. None of it is legal advice. If you''re in an active dispute, consult a consumer-protection attorney — many offer free initial consultations and take DTPA cases on contingency.
The bigger picture
Most Austin wedding vendors are professionals who deliver what they promised. Most disputes come from three things: contracts that weren''t read carefully at signing, expectations that weren''t aligned in writing, and communication that broke down under stress. The couples who have the smoothest weddings — and the smoothest outcomes when something goes wrong — tend to share the same habits: they read the contract, they put everything important in writing, they document as they go, and they give everyone involved a chance to make it right before escalating.
All prior posts in this series cite Texas Business and Commerce Code, Texas Law Help, Texas State Law Library, WeddingWire, The Knot, and industry-source materials.