Nice Photography but Poor / Dishonest Communication & May Disappoint by Pulling Out
For context, while I am originally from NY / CT, I live in London and have done for the last 8 years. So when I was home for an extended period, I made a point to do as much preparation for our weekday May 2022 wedding in New York as possible so it wouldn't be as hard planning a wedding from a different country.
I spent weeks reviewing all sorts of photographers and packages available in the tri-state area - and after much deliberation, chose to work with George Street Photography and Ausrine to capture our wedding because of their large repertoire of photographers in the event one had to cancel, their pricing and based on reviews I sought out from people I knew that had worked with them. Planning and paying for our wedding myself, these were all important factors.
However, since then, I have never in my life known someone to treat someone else as badly as Ausrine has these past two weeks. Because of her actions, I was left truly speechless and beyond hurt.
Why?
1. We originally scheduled an engagement session on Tuesday the 23rd so that my partner and I could meet Ausrine. Traveling from the UK, my plans had changed slightly and so I raised with George Street if changing our session to the 22nd was an option… only to find out that although Ausrine had agreed to the 23rd originally some months prior - she couldn’t make any date work that week as she teaches during the day. This understandably made sense but came as a total surprise to me. It raised some serious concerns around whether Ausrine would be able to shoot my wedding (a Thursday / planned nearly two years in advance).
2. Having spoken to Ausrine directly, George Street confirmed with me that she had fully committed to shooting my wedding next May and that it wouldn’t be an issue.
3. Having called, left messages, e-mailed and texted (worried that Ausrine might struggle to get in touch with my UK number) I was elated when she finally responded and proposed meeting on Sunday the 21st instead at Fort Tyron Park. It was a huge relief as it would allow us the chance to meet her in advance of next years big day. Paul as a result deliberately packed appropriate clothes traveling from London to CT / as did I. We cancelled existing plans to ensure our day was clear to drive into the city to meet Ausrine. Not to mention the overwhelming relief I felt that the emotional rollercoaster of meeting her / not meeting her / not having her shoot our wedding had come to an end.
3. And yet as of 5 PM Friday (two days before we had agreed to meet) I was heartbroken and left utterly confused (and am still) not only to hear from George Street Friday night by email that despite Ausrine telling me we were good to meet on Sunday around 2 PM - that she could not only NOT make our session Sunday and had cancelled shooting our wedding next May as well
but didn't have the decency of telling me herself and completely ignored my follow up call and text.
To this day, I still have not heard from her.
So while she nor you may not know me personally - I wanted to tell you for what it’s worth that I am a deeply genuine and understanding person. I work terribly hard, and did the same when choosing a company and photographer for our wedding. It was not a small or easy decision. And so I cannot express how incredibly disappointing and truly upsetting it has been to have been completely blindsided by both George Street and ultimately Ausrine.
Whatever the issue, I can’t believe someone would just completely ignore not just a potential client, but a person trying to plan their big day. No matter what might be taking place in our lives, there is simply no excuse to not be totally honest to another person - either personally or professionally. And especially after these past two years which will have taught us all to be much more considerate, understanding and supportive (at least for me). Had Ausrine just told me that she couldn’t commit, I would absolutely have understood.
That said, if given the opportunity to choose, I would not in any way, shape or form work with Ausrine. She is evidently extremely rude, uncaring and unreliable.