Joanney Rigdon’s Photography Reviews
Reviews
1.4 out of 5 rating
1.4 out of 5 rating
14 Reviews
28% recommend it
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Kaci J. Sent on 01/06/2022
Moody and Romantic
Joanney Rigdon's husband and wide photography team made my bride's dreams come true in a pinch. They booked her last minute due to a hurricane demolishing their original wedding venue. Joanney stepped in and made magic happen. -
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![Erin]()
Erin P. Sent on 03/27/2021My December Wedding
I’m not usually one to post reviews or say something harshly about other people’s business, but after having consistent issues, I feel like my experience needs to be shared.
If anyone is getting married and looking for a photographer, or any photos in general, I would recommend everyone to not book with Joanney Rigdon Photography.
I got married in December 2020 and have not had a great experience at all when it comes to my photos. On my wedding day, she was an hour and a half late and did not go out of her way to let me know until I was messaging her. I felt like she was not very professional the day of when it came to making sure everything was taken care of. I can confidently say that I did not get all of the shots that I would have like to of gotten. I have no group shots of me, my husband and my son together. I don’t even have any photos of just me and my son, which makes me VERY upset. I also had family members let me know that for a good portion of the reception, she was not taking photos. instead she was in the back area just relaxing and not taking photos.
I was also never informed about a timeline for my photos. Once I reached out for even sneak peaks, she hadn’t even edited any yet and also said it would take 12 weeks from the wedding date for my to receive my gallery. It’s been over 12 weeks since my wedding and I only have HALF of my wedding gallery. I have no reception photos and no family photos with either sides of our families at all. When I asked her about it, she said she would work on it and she apologized. It’s been 2 weeks since I was promised them and still nothing. She said her computer is glitching and messed up but is posting photos from other projects online. That part makes no sense to me.
She is really bad at communicating properly. She will read my messages and then not reply. I am not one to be pushy and keep hassling someone, but this is the point that I am at with this whole situation. I loved her editing skills but honestly this whole situation was not worth it. I wish more than anything that I would have invested in a different photographer.
I hope this helps anyone else that is thinking about hiring her. Please do not waste your time. -
![Jessica]()
Jessica M. Sent on 06/10/2022The worst hire ever
Paid her up front, she disappeared for months with no contact, finally got ahold of her and she lost out contract. Then she tried to charge me MORE for services we had already agreed in previously. My wedding coordinator asked her for a refund and she flat out said “no” and has ignored my messages. Worst hire ever. -
Ruby P. Sent on 08/05/2020
Dont waste your time stay away
We found Joanney Rigdon about a month out from our wedding date October, 24, 2019 on a facebook wedding group. She had many good reviews on facebook and her work seemed to be very impressive and professional. She was very friendly while talking about pricing and about what exactly I was looking for and responded very fast. After we got everything aligned I sent her the money for the wedding and went to handle the other things I needed to get done for our wedding. We paid for 10 hours worth of service for $1000 starting at noon to 10pm. She gave me a $200 discount since I paid in full ahead of time. I didn't hear from her until 3 days before my wedding date asking me if it would be alright if she showed up late due to her sister in law being induced for labor. I figured since her assistant was going to be there (I did not find this out until she brought this up that it wasn't just her) that it would be okay as long as she was there by the time ceremony started. She showed up at 3pm with the ceremony starting at 4pm and acted like we had known each other for a long time and expected me to know who she was when she finally showed up. I knew something was up when we went outside to do bridals and her assistant was the one telling her all of what to do as far as taking photos. During the time of her being at the wedding she proceeded to also tell all of my wedding party and my guests about her sister in law being induced and that she was so excited for that taking away from our wedding. We had scheduled the wedding so that between the ceremony and the reception my husband and I would have the first time to ourselves alone to just enjoy each others company before the rest of the wedding. Her and her assistant decided that was the perfect time to inturupt us to ask if she could then leave early and leave her assistant there to finish up so she could make it for her sister in laws baby. Since we had already decided we liked the assistant better anyways and my husband and I are very flexible we said okay even though we were both upset that she interrupted our first time together alone as husband and wife. We put it aside and went to the reception and during this time she pulled us aside bc she had heard we were going to end the wedding a little earlier than planned due to the heavy downpour of rain but she decided to do this while I was talking to a guest. She wanted to know when we were going to end it so she knew "just how much to pay her assistant" when she wasn't even part of the contract to begin with. The wedding wraps up later and we forget all about it and start to enjoy our honeymoon. Two weeks into our honeymoon she then posts on her personal facebook page that she is looking to outsource some of her wedding photos that she had taken due to the amount of work she had taken upon herself. She had people who were not photographers commenting saying they wished they could help her with her responding "I'll teach you!". We contacted her worried that she would do this with our photos and we were reassured that she would personally handle them herself. We received our photos a week after the cut off date on our contract and this was after both my husband and I tried multiple times to contact her via messenger with her not responding or leaving us on read. She was very unprofessional and at one point claimed that "other photographers take 6 months to get the photos done" as if that made any sort of difference for her contract that we both signed and agreed upon. Even after the cut off date when I reached out she was very snarky and said that her daughter had strep and that was her first priority. We received our photos after we tried to talk to her many times and were very disappointed by the results. Some are whitewashed to the point where we blend in with the backgrounds, not cropped at all, pictures are slanted, and some are so blurry that they are non usable. I will never have photos of certain times during my wedding that I would like to have due to them being so blurry that they are just not usable at all. I reached out to her to see if she could reedit them and she was very hesitant to do so and was very snarky about it. When she finally agreed bc I kept pressing her about it she had me wait two months before telling me she didnt even think she had the uneddited photos to redo them anymore. All in all we gave her time after time to make things right with no sorrys, no refunds and didnt even try to make things right. All she cares about is new cliants and my husband and I are convinced that she outsourced our photos. We were led on for months and out of the 1000 photos she sent us (some of them being doubles) only about 200 are usable which she left to me to figure out and I only love 20 of them which are the ones that her assistant took. I actively warn people about her and I would never recommend her to anyone. Save yourself the headache and stay far away from this "photographer". -
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![Anastashia]()
Anastashia S. Sent on 03/22/2021I regret ever booking
*Her Personal Facebook*
-August 25, 2020: Photoshoot
-September 13, 2020: Checked in to get an update.
*Response *September 17th* "I'll have it to you Sunday"
(9/20/2020)
-September 24, 2020: Messaged about another photoshoot with a friend who booked with her.
*Response: "I'm headed to a wedding, I didn't forget just need to send them haha" (referring to my photoshoot photos I am still waiting on.)
-September 26, 2020: Hey can you send me those pics 😊
*NO RESPONSE. WAS READ/VIEWED*
October 15, 2020: Hey, just checking in. I know you said you had more of those pics to send me. (I only had the few sneak peeks)
*NO RESPONSE. WAS READ/VIEWED*
*Her Business Page*
January 1, 2021: Hey Joanney, I have seen a lot of the negative things being said and I am sorry about that. And I am definitely not one of those people. But I was wondering when you'd send me those pics from my green dress shoot. At one point you said they were done you just had to send them to me. I'm super anxious to see them and finish my project for those pics! thank you! 😊
*Response: "Hey babe I'm gonna get them done this week I'm on the computer now"
January 25, 2021: I don't really know what to say at this point. It has been quite a while since August, and you've told me multiple times you would get them to me. I'm glad you're business is doing so well, but hopefully you can get those to me soon. Thank you
*Response: "Hey girl l will l haven’t forgot mentally l been dealing with some stuff but trying to stay focus and keep pushing! Thank you it’s nothing against anyone my Health and mental state was just going down hill dealing with some depression stress and anxiety has been the hardest thing ever. I’ve never gone through this before"
**NOTHING EVER SINCE**
There really is much I can say that everyone else hasn't. But it is true that she is very unprofessional. I have been so kind and patient. But that photoshoot was for my 25th birthday. I only received the few sneak peeks. And here we are March 2021 and still no response. But she is posting newer clients, and taking on more. I last send that I was sending positive vibes her way, and she didn't even bother to open it. I waisted $300+ on nothing. My birthday photos were done a month before September. My birthday is 9/19 and she said she would have no problem getting them to me by then. As you can see that never happened so I was never able to do my project I had instore. I have no energy left to fight her on it. And I was one that defended her, was patient, kind. More so then deserved I believe. I understand depression and more, but in 5 months it'll be a YEAR. Absolutely ridiculous. I will never, use her for anything ever again. And I am one to always support local businesses. But she burned her bridge with me. I have come to terms with the fact I will never get my money back or my photos. I cannot feel sorry for her anymore. If you want a wonderful, fun, reliable photographer. Message Hannah Hix. She is one of the kindest people I have encountered. Fantastic with children and she does so much! -
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Brandon F. Sent on 12/21/2020Very disappointed
I am very sad to say that my Wife and I had a terrible experience with Joanney Rigdon's Photography, ultimately resulting in termination of services and, thus far, a refund of $300.00, or 10% of what we paid for a service we never received.
We signed our initial contract with Joanney Rigdon's Photography on July 25th, 2019 and upgraded to their "Queen Package" on August 27th, 2019. The “Queen Package” includes: edited engagements, bridals, boudoirs, and wedding photos, one 18 by 24 canvas, and a 5-7 minute video from the wedding. We never actually got a copy of the contract with Joanney’s signature back from her though. We also paid an additional $600.00 to cover commercial airline travel.
Our first concerns arose during our engagement photo shoot. We scheduled to have our photos taken at the Japanese Gardens at Hermann Memorial Park in Houston. The gardens were supposed to close at 5:00 PM that day and Joanney arrived significantly later than what we agreed to due to meeting with another client. We were afraid the gardens would close and we'd miss our shoot. In the end, we "shrugged it off" because we did the shoot and we weren't asked to leave the Japanese Gardens. This was, however, the first example of a pattern of poor time management and lack of general managerial skill. We received our engagement photos on March 6th, 2020, roughly two months later, and were mostly pleased.
Our second concern was over my Wife's bridals. We were very upset with the editing, which was nothing like what my Wife and Joanney agreed upon. My Wife let Joanney know that she wasn’t happy with the editing so Joanney said that she would edit one based on my Wife’s guidance and send it back for her approval, but she never did. Joanney edited them the way Joanney wanted and sent them all back that way, breaking the promise she gave to my Wife. Rather than argue or try to walk her through what she wanted a second time, my wife just asked for the originals and edited them herself. It also felt like we had to keep reminding Joanney about editing and sending them. Of course, we assumed that she was busy and "shrugged it off" again. Hindsight being 20/20, we realize now that the delay was due to overbooking in the sense that Joanney seems to "bite off more than she can chew", which impacts her ability to return products in a timely manner or in accordance with her clints’ wishes. In the end, Joanney sent the bridals on July 18th, a little over two months later. Joanney specifically stated that the bridals would be returned one month before our wedding, but they were about a week and a half late despite multiple reminders and attempts to get her to send them in time.
Our third concern was huge, and it's when we began to realize we made a terrible mistake. Two weeks before our wedding on June 6th, 2020, Joanney reached out and told us that she wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding. She booked a client for the following day, June 7th, and told us she wouldn't have time to make both weddings. I was particularly upset that she asked my Wife to change our wedding date one week before our big day. Naturally, we were upset, and I expressed my concerns and issues with her booking a client for the day immediately after our wedding. As a result, Joanney hired a local photographer, Xiaoqi Li from Charlottesville, Virginia (who did an absolutely fantastic job and was a complete professional). Last week (December 19th, 2020) we heard from the client Joanney scheduled for June 7th via Facebook Messenger. Multiple concerns and poor reviews began to circulate on Facebook and a number of upset brides have been making contact with each other in attempt to piece various stories together. It turns out, the client scheduled for June 7th, the one who contacted us, cancelled her appointment earlier in April and Joanney may have provided false reasoning for missing our wedding in June.
By her own choice, Joanney retained the right and responsibility to edit the June wedding photos taken by Ms. Li. However, it seems Joanney did not fully understand how to operate her editing equipment and was unable to download and edit the photos taken by Ms. Li. My Wife was able to download the raw files and tried to coach Joanney through the process, along with Ms. Li, ultimately to no avail. In the end, Ms. Li edited our pictures for us and sent them our way within a week.
COVID-19 threw everyone for a loop this year, and I know that many families had to postpone their weddings. Fortunately, we were able to keep our initial date, June 6th, and Ms. Li was able to take our pictures in Joanney's absence. Personally, we scaled down our June wedding to 10 people, just our immediate family, and scheduled to have a second ceremony in August. When we decided to plan a second wedding, we asked Joanney if she was available on August 1st. She said that she wouldn’t be able to do August 1st, but if we could do August 7th, she would cover the June wedding and our August 7th wedding at no additional cost. We contacted all of our vendors to change our date to August 7th specifically for Joanney. She was allegedly able to adjust the plane tickets we paid for in order to from June to August. However, once again, Joanney booked another client for the day immediately following our wedding; our August ceremony was outside Baltimore, Maryland her client for the next day was in Texas. When I heard that she booked a client for the next day across the country I contacted Joanney, expressed my concerns, and listened to her response. In the end, I decided to fire Joanney, for fear of the same incident that happened in June repeating itself in August.
That day, June 29th, 2020, I worked out a VERY modest repayment plan with Joanney. All we asked was that she send us $500.00 of the $3,000.00 we originally paid her. I asked that she pay us no more than $100.00 by the 15th of each following month. So far, she paid us $150.00 on that day (June 29th) and $150.00 on September 2nd, 2020. She has ignored every attempt we've made to contact her and refused to pay any further until January.
If you look through her business' Facebook page, you'll see that other families are beginning to post similar experiences. She has also been deleting the recent comments and posts from other clients, possibly to mask her pattern of unprofessionalism and poor business practices. I think we expected that each of us was just an isolated incident. However, we've all come to understand, now, why no one is able to post a review on her Facebook page. This behavior is all part of a pattern or history of poor business management resulting in products that leave MUCH to be desired.
This entire experience has been absolutely horrible and we, along with many other couples, are working tirelessly to ensure no other bride is put through these levels of undue stress and lack of professionalism. Simply speaking, Joanney does not possess the business or managerial skill at this point in her career to run her own operation, at least not successfully. Frankly, I think you could call this a scam.
Given the amount of people who have come forth to express their grievances with her performance, my Wife and I are afraid we'll never see any kind of reimbursement. As such, I've initiated action in small claims court to return $2,100 of the $3,000 we paid Joanney. Part of our contractual agreement was a non-refundable deposit of $300.00 and Joanney previously sent us $300.00, which we intend to honor. The $2,100 refund will include the $600.00 we paid for Joanney's travel and the services she failed provide. We expect her to keep the other $600 for the products she completed. Additionally, I’ve collected images of all communication we’ve had over Facebook, collected images from all payments made on Venmo, and a copy of our contract. We’ve compiled everything into a memorandum and filed an official complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not how you run a business and this is not an experience you want to have leading up to your big day. I strongly recommend you look elsewhere for your photography services. -
![Ashley]()
Ashley A. Sent on 01/18/2021Search elsewhere for photography
I am writing this as a caution if you or anyone you know plans to use Joanney Ridgon Photography based out of sherman ,tx. I am in touch with several other clients who have not received contact from her and were promised refunds or products. The simple review is I personally do not think she is at a point where she should run a business. It should not take months and a client asking constantly to receive a contract . I did my part as a client. I vetted her and she had great reviews.. I paid the invoices. Sometime in december 2020 her business page turned off the option for reviews. She deleted an entire apology post she made ( we all kept alot of screenshots).That post is where several wedding and lifestyle clients came out and started to share their stories.
Joanney Rigdon's photography If you see this , maybe you can respond to my refund questions? You have not responded to my Friday or Sunday message. The last contact I had with you was tuesday.
Wedding paid 11/22/18
Received contract 11/29/18, sent back to Joanney on 11/30
Received picture of her signed contract from her 01/30/19
Covid rescheduled wedding 03/19/2020
After no further contact asked her for an updated contract
She responded she just wrote my new date down on 06/15/2020
December 2020 a bunch of brides and clients come out with their own horror stories. Ones waiting for products, scheduling and refunds.
As of 12/28/20 she still has not sent me an updated contract from march. She believes she is supposed to arrive for 330pm -930pm. Really we need her from 1-7 pm
As of now she has not given us a refund date. Our wedding was 01/03/21
We hired a different photographer -
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Ashleigh P. Sent on 03/30/2021Friend turned stranger
**Pictures attached are missing a year's worth of trying** DO NOT HIRE HER. You will be disappointed. We loved her. We paid for her photography, videography, canvas picture, and an $300 extra to be our wedding planner for a total of $3200, which she harped us for because she left for Disney the next day. WHAT A JOKE! We received no copy of our contract. We wish we were more stern with her, but we became friends. Our mistake. We enjoyed her company, went over to her house, and built a relationship that she has officially killed. It took over 8 months to receive our photos we paid for, even as of today (3/30/2021), no video or canvas picture whatsoever. We have texted and called with no prevail. The one time we did get her on the phone, we heard about her personal issues and fell for empty promises once more. We were friends and were genuinely there for her. I waited my entire life for my husband and the once-in-a-lifetime memories your wedding day brings, but Joanney broke our hearts. We cannot relive the best day through captured moments and were cheated of our money. In the words of Scar, "Run away, Bride. Run. Run away, and never return." -
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Anna Sent on 09/17/2021Unprofessional
Please do not hire this photographer. She was running a special so I decided to use her service. She was very responsive in the beginning and as soon as I paid her, she wouldn't return my calls or respond to my messages. The sad part about it, she seemed not to care.
I lost $1,500 and tried to work something out with her, but she wouldn't respond.
She is extremely unprofessional.
Please don't hire her!!!!
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