We had the chance to have a planner, use decor, cater our food, and more through this group. Available through various forms of communication, timely, flexible, and a great team who truly cares about how they can make your day special.

Talk of the Town’s owner, Steven Curtis Morgan, was convicted of and pleaded guilty to defrauding the elderly in a previous business, as reported in these Tampa Bay Times articles:

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/08/15/suspect-defrauded-elderly-police-say/

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/09/12/man-pleads-guilty-in-swindling-case/

Feel free to contact consumer reporter Jackie Callaway at ABC Action News for more information (JCallaway@wfts.com or 813-354-2934). She has been looking into Talk of the Town.

This company takes money from couples upfront, which is supposed to be paid to photographers, musicians, djs, and other contractors, then fail to pay those workers. Couples are then put in the terrible position of having to pay again for these services — sometimes ON their wedding day — and then having to chase down Talk of the Town for repayment. Talk of the Town also fails to pay workers on time, if at all, and many of their checks bounce.

The following has been our experience as photography contractors for Talk of the Town.

Steven Curtis Morgan is a long-winded talker who promises much and delivers little to nothing. When our photo company initially discussed partnering with him in January 2023, he said the company earned millions in business the year before. He promised us a high salary and bonuses for leading his company’s new photo department.

We contracted for Talk of the Town for two months this year and received six bounced checks in that time. Steven Curtis Morgan and office manager Lauren Douglas gave us all manner of excuses, such as faulty payroll software and switching banks. They then sent out a company email saying the bad checks were due to bank error, but our bank confirmed the checks bounced due to insufficient funds (see image below).

After receiving so many bounced checks and excuses, we felt we had no choice but to withhold clients’ photographs until we received full payment from Talk of the Town.

As of July 21, 2023, we are still waiting for payment for in-office work for the weeks of Feb. 19-25, 2023 and Feb. 27-March 3, 2023.

Client Bri K.'s wedding was on Feb. 17, 2023 and we didn't receive full payment until May 16, 2023. She wrote a negative Google review on the Talk of the Town Catering page.

Payment for client Luz O.'s wedding was sent to us on THE DAY OF her wedding. It is typical practice that contractors & vendors are paid at least one to two weeks before the wedding date. This caused a huge amount of undue stress for the wedding couple and for our company, as we didn't know whether to show up for the wedding that day without payment. Luz also wrote a negative Google review on the Talk of the Town catering page.

Many of the positive reviews on Google, Wedding Wire, The Knot, Bark, social media and elsewhere are fake and written by the owner and/or his family members, who work for Talk of the Town. (See images below.) Jason Morgan and Christopher Morgan are the owner’s sons and Coreen is Steven Curtis Morgan’s wife. Sometimes the owner posts fake positive reviews as “Curtis Stevens.” You can also tell some reviews are fake because the owner is a terrible speller and makes the same mistakes in multiple reviews. (See attached images.)

The owner has also created multiple Google pages, social media pages, Weddingwire pages, The Knot pages and websites for Talk of the Town using name variations or different business names. Talk of the Town Catering, Talk of the Town Wedding Venues, and Embellished - Tampa Bay’s Planning & Catering Company are all the same crooked business.

Do not fall for Steven Curtis Morgan’s oft-repeated, Christian-esque line that he “worked in ministry.” The only ministry he’s involved in is fraud.