We did not have the traditional wedding photography done. We are older and hired Stephanie to take some family pictures at our wedding; not the wedding package by any means. Just family since we would all be there together.
We really liked Stephanie at our sit-down and liked her work. Everything went very well and we were happy with the pictures taken. I don't know if the rate has changed; I notice in the FAQ section she states to pay for gas over 35 miles from Sullivan, IL. We were at 27 miles; however, we were charged for gas. But, that might be a change since our actual event in the summer of 2011. (I dated the wedding as of today's date to get the review more current)
The only negative comment I have about the pictures is that while we were paying for more informal pictures, it was still our wedding day. I have transition lenses in my glasses for medical reasons and outdoors they turn dark. I don't notice this. As a courtesy, it would have been nice for it to have been mentioned that the lenses were dark so that I could have removed my glasses. Our outdoor pictures were not as nice as they could have been. We were not paying for that type of service, but it would have been a courtesy.
When we went to purchase prints, we were getting way over where we thought we would be in terms of money. I emailed, told Stephanie this and asked to get the DVD for the $300 price she had given us at our sit-down. She replied that she couldn't have told us this, her DVD price has always been $500. I felt as though I had just been called a liar.
I talked with my husband and he, too, said he remembered being quoted $300. We pulled up the packet we received at the sit-down. The "always" price of $500 was no where in the printed materials we had been given and I had handwritten it in along the side when we asked about it.
There was no effort on Stephanie's part to admit she might have mis-spoken or to ask if we could compromise or meet in the middle, in case she had. Just a lengthy explanation of why she couldn't afford to sell the DVD's for $300.
We then ordered very minimally and spent very little money on prints. She could not have possibly made anywhere what she would have in selling us the DVD for $300 instead. We were also emailed with a request to review her work.
We waited for several months, thinking that she would see our tiny order and that we had not participated in a review and send us an email or call asking if there was a problem. As a business owner that relies a lot on recommendations, we would think you would keep tabs on who responded and what they had reviewed. We heard nothing from her.
I wasn't going to review, except that I noticed someone else on here had the same DVD issue.
Had we been asked to meet in the middle or received an "I'm sorry, if I said that" or had taken some responsiblity in the fact that she had orally agreed to a price and then disregarded it, we would have worked with her; however, there was nothing.
We also had paid Stephanie up front for gas and we overshot it a bit. We told her to just keep the extra few dollars. On the day of our wedding, we paid her a little extra for a few other family group pics we wanted done as we felt they were maybe a little outside the scope of what we had asked for (even though they probably really weren't.) So even had we split the difference in the DVD price, she would still have received a little more besides. We also thought this would have shown her that we weren't intentionally trying to get something for nothing or pressuring her into something that she hadn't stated in the first place.
So, while we were happy with the pictures taken, we decided to maybe teach a small lesson to a young entrepreneur. The lack of business maturity is the hindrance we found. If you talk about or make any plans that are not part of the packet given to you or part of the contract, write it down and have it signed off on up front.
