I tried to bond my materia to my gear last night for the first time when i realized, I didn't have the right class to do it, which is fine. That is not my beef. The only crafter that I "know" that could have done it for me was a friend of a friend.
I had to trade him 3 million gil in gear and cross my fingers he would give it back to me. He did, but I would feel a lot better about the whole deal if I never had to take that risk.
Please implement a way to have other users do a a materia bond of your gear without the changing hands of equipment