disputing a vendor charge
I hope this doesn't count as a "squeee" post, if so I'll delete. I wrote here http://community.livejournal.com/weddingplans/19235729.html
a couple weeks ago about getting scammed by our photographers. At the advice of many wise people here, I contacted my credit card company, and while it's not said and done yet, it does sound as though we'll get our money back :) I feel so relieved, it was actually my dad's money and I felt awful about losing his money and then asking him to pay more for a new photographer, which he did with no problem (awesome dad btw).
So I highly recommend using credit cards for wedding stuff (and other big ticket items). The charge needs to be within 60 days of purchase (other card's policies may vary) but in our case they went by the date of service since they understand for a wedding you pay for it long before you get the services. It's good to have as much information as possible such as the company's phone number that doesn't work, news articles stating that they have vacated the office, dates in which you tried contacting them etc. Hopefully this information will help someone in the future, and I wanted to say thanks to all who gave advice or support, it was definitely a stressful event.