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K
April 2019

Bad wedding pictures

K Smith, on July 22, 2019 at 12:49 PM Posted in Community Conversations 0 7
My daughter got married April 6 of this year. They found a photographer that they liked. She has 10 years experience and they saw some of her work and liked it. They talked about what pictures my daughter wanted taken and had them listed. The photographer came the night of the rehearsal and we showed her where we wanted pictures taken so she could see the lighting, etc.
My daughter had a list of the pictures she wanted taken. The photographer had a copy and a coordinator had a copy. My daughter had a timeline, which they both also had a copy of.
The day of the wedding started off ok, but after the wedding the photographer started taking pictures, but didn't get a lot of pictures that we had requested. When we went to the reception venue she knew that she had 30 minutes to get pictures and that was it before the wedding party was due to be introduced and the meal was to start. She completely ignored what my daughter wanted at the venue and took pictures that she wanted to take. On top of that, she ran over by 20 minutes which made the meal 30 minutes late. We had an upset caterer (rightfully so), overcooked food, a frustrated mother of the bride and a livid bride by this time.
We get the proofs, which are crooked, shadowy, poor color and many are grainy. We think, ok she hasn't edited them, they'll be better when we actually get the flash drive. No, they are JUST like the proofs that we looked at. We told her this wasn't acceptable and she said she would re-edit. They came back even worse! Besides not getting many of the pictures we wanted, we can't make anything larger that a 4X6 out of many of them! I sent her a letter telling her that the work was terrible and we wanted a refund (I went into more detail, but that is the gist of it). That was 11 days ago and I haven't heard a thing back.
On top of that, she didn't give my daughter a copy of the contract.
I'm not sure where to go from here.

7 Comments

Latest activity by Rebecca, on July 24, 2019 at 5:05 PM
  • LB
    Champion November 2016
    LB ·
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    Without a copy of the contract it's hard to say what you can do. Did your daughter sign the contract but not ask for a copy?

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  • Formerbride
    VIP June 2019
    Formerbride ·
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    I'm so sorry. Is it possible to edit the proofs she gave to you or find a professional who would be able to do so? I'm not sure if there is anything you can do legally to get a refund due to poor quality. Did your daughter sign the contract in person? Maybe she has a copy of it in her email. I would try to reach out to her and ask her why the photos seem to be so grainy and poor. The problem I see here is a lot of contracts protect the photographer to the point where they are not liable for almost anything other than being a no show. I hope it works out.
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  • Melissa
    VIP October 2018
    Melissa ·
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    Normally this is where I would tell you to consult your contract and see what the process would be, etc. But without a copy of the contract, obviously that is tricky. Having a copy of the contract is usually pretty standard and a no-brainer on their end, so this is surprising. Without a copy of your contract, I highly recommend contacting an attorney. Ask for their advice. This sort of thing is (unfortunately) more common than you think (seen it here a few times) but a contract is always on hand! Definitely consult an attorney who is familiar with this sort of thing and ask for their guidance. This is an AWFUL situation to be in, and if you can't get the photos you were contracted to receive to your standards, it would be super smart to have an attorney on your side to get your money back at the very least!

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  • K
    April 2019
    K Smith ·
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    Yes she did. She just forgot about it. with the lists that she had, passing papers back and forth, she thought she had it, but didn't realize that she didn't until after the wedding.
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  • K
    April 2019
    K Smith ·
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    I know, we honestly can't believe the the photographer's contract is the ONE that we don't have. I thought my daughter had it and didn't think anymore about it, but she couldn't find it with her other wedding related papers when I asked her about it last week.
    Like I told the photographer in the letter, it's not like these can be retaken. It's a once in a lifetime thing.
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  • Melissa
    VIP October 2018
    Melissa ·
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    Agreed! That's so awful! I hope everything works out for you in one way or another! I definitely would say at this point, gather ANY sort of information you have - emails, other paperwork, an example of the photos, anything you have sent or received. If you do go the route of finding an attorney (and only you guys can decide if it's worth your time and investment!) the more "stuff" you have to prove you have done your part to fix the situation, the easier it will be for an attorney to get to WORK! Good luck - and keep us updated!

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  • Rebecca
    Savvy September 2019
    Rebecca ·
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    Ouch... I know that's got to suck big time. If the photographer isn't willing to negotiate and/or provide a refund given the poor conditions of the photos that were taken, I may would want to take it to court or call the local news station and get them on the case. I'm thankful that we have digital copies of all of our contracts so there isn't a question about anything.

    We're actually on our 2nd photographer. When we had our first set of engagement photos done, they were done in an area where we, essentially, ended up not finding a venue nearby that suited our tastes. Aside from that, the photos we got back - we didn't get back very many, weren't all that great. If we were to keep that photographer, I feel we would have suffered greatly with our wedding photos... that and we'd have to pay for them to travel to the area where we ended up getting our venue at.

    I reviewed their portfolio over and over before we booked and their work was good.

    The photographer we booked has much more experience than the previous one we hired and is more well known. We vetted the new photographer much more heavily and the 2nd round of engagement photos we did turned out so much better than with the other photographer.

    I hope you are able to meet some resolve soon with your daughters situation....

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