I will make this short and sweet as possible, while still providing the details. I thank you in advance for taking the time to read and reply.
First I'd like to say I am NOT AT ALL a bridezilla. Im laid back, go with the flow, doing the vast majority of the wedding by myself. I also am a people pleaser BIG time, I hate for anyone to be upset, and I have a REALLY HARD TIME sticking up for myself.
Now, on to the story:
I've known my photographer for quite a while, and we are somewhere between friends & acquaintances. We normally message on FB a few times a year.
She did my pregnancy pictures almost 12 yrs ago when she was first starting out with photography and they were great. Absolutely loved them.
I instantly knew I wanted her for all bridal/wedding pics. We met up, discussed what FH & I wanted, and costs of different packages. We came to a decision on the 4 hour package + 1 extra hour + Bridal portraits. This was supposed to total $1,000.00.
SHE SAID AND OFFERED to apply her family/friend discount of 25% off which we were not expecting but thought was very nice of her. This is not anywhere on her business website or her card, so I would not even know about it if she had not told me. She said this would bring us down to $750 + taxes.
The week before my bridal portraits she sends me the invoice via email which allows me to put down a deposit (which I did). Before paying deposit I look over the invoice and note that total amount is $1,537.50. Double the amount I was anticipating.
So, I don't say anything, maybe she changed her mind or forgot but either way I don't want to make any waves. Plus, the price is still better than most photographers.
Its worth the price to have beautiful lasting memories, right?
On the invoice she has $175 for Bridal portraits, $250 for extra hour, and the rest was state sales tax.
Now, I know to many of you $1537.50 isn't alot of money, but to me it its hard to justify spending that much money on one single thing. If not for my fiance surprising me and buying my wedding dress for me (it was $2,000 & I wanted to stay under $500) I would probably have a dress I hate bc I just wouldn't be able to spend that much on 1 single item.
Anyhow, The plan was to do my portraits at a location I found on the river with dock and oak trees, very beautiful and very much my style.
If it rained, the plan was to go to my FILs house and do pics on the porch, covered deck and inside the house. The house is over a hundred years old and I absolutely love it.
Well, on portrait day, she's heading to my house to meet, and I tell her its raining but she insists we go the 2 miles down the road to see if its raining there. We get there and the sky is dark, looks like rain any second, plus its thundering. She says its fine let's start pics. About 4 minutes after were shooting, here comes the rain. I suggest going to FILs but she says its fine it will just blow over. It did not blow over. She attempts to do pics for about 20 more minutes then says ok were done.
Remember, me not being confrontational, and I trusting that she is the professional? So, I say ok.
That night she sends me a sneak peek, 3 pics that i love, and Im so relieved. This was a Saturday night. On Monday afternoon she emails me the album of pics. There was 53 pics total. Out of 53 there were about 10 that I liked. But there were only 3 I would actually use or even post on FB.
When I asked where the other pictures were she sends me 2 more saying the resolution or something was off.
Idk what to even say from here.
So heres what I want to know from y'all:
1. Isn't the point of hiring a photographer to make sure your pictures are PERFECT? Isn't that what Im paying all this money for?
2. Why did she only get 55 pics when my MOH got 96 on her iphone and I honestly liked those better?
3. Isnt 25 minutes kinda short for a bridal shoot? Ive spoken to 2 other professional photographers (both in the same price range and neither that I know) and they have both told me about 1 to 1.5 hrs for bridal portraits is their norm.
4. Do the poses not look unnatural to you? My Maid, Matron and another friend were all present and helping at the shoot and all said the poses looked 'off and unnatural'.
5. Shouldnt there have been more than 53 pictures? I asked her months ago and she said normally after the "bad pics" are thrown out, the bride has anywhere from 55 to 85 pictures, but that she normally takes well over 100. I only got 53, and of those 53, several are not usable and several are exact duplicates with one in color and one in black and white.
6. I am not questioning the QUALITY of the actual pics. When you put them side by side with the iphone pics they are hands down better. But, the poses or other imperfections are what is bothering me. The iphone pics had AWESOME poses.
7. Out of 53 pictures, I only have 3 that I would actually use. I knew I wouldn't like them all, but I expected to be able to use at least 25-30% of the pictures. Is it normal to only have this small amount of usable pictures?
8. How do I tell her I am not using her for the wedding now? I do not in any form trust her with my wedding pictures. When my MOH showed her parents (whom I am very close with) they called me that night and gave me an email address of another photographer and told me to call and schedule my portraits, that they had already paid for a bridal portrait shoot for me. They were that disappointed with the pictures. Which totally shocked me because I kept thinking it was either me or I was just overreacting. Also, we have not yet signed a contract. She told me we could just do it later before the wedding, so, I don't care about the deposit. She can keep it. Just how do I tell her Im not using her now?
9. Most importantly, am I overreacting?
THEN, to make MATTERS WORSE, I think she could tell thru our messages that I was not thrilled with them. So, she decided to call me, which I appreciated.
She starts off by saying she is "willing to reshoot the pictures" and then says, and this is a direct quote:
"I KNOW YOU WANTED TO DO YOUR PICTURES EARLY, BUT MAYBE WE CAN RESHOOT THE PORTRAITS IN SEPTEMBER. MAYBE BY THEN YOU WILL HAVE LOST SOME MORE WEIGHT AND WILL BE MORE CONFIDENT. HOPEFULLY YOU WILL LIKE THEM THEN. "
Did she just blame me for not liking the pictures?
Also, as for the pictures posted, I could have kept going and adding more I was not pleased with.
