We had two wedding photographers from different photography groups. It was a total accident which we thought was going to be very happy and turned out not to be. Our original photographer was who we booked when we got engaged in 2018 and he was paid in full six months before our original date: October 31st, 2020. Well, the pandemic resulted in us moving our wedding out by about eight to see if things would be better by then. Unfortunately, he could not move with us to that date so we hired another photographer and sprung for two photographers from her. When we had to move it again to the date we did get married, our original could be there. We were thrilled. Both photographers agreed to them both being present because we had already paid for both.
Well, a few months before the wedding our "replacement" photographer lets us know she's pregnant and it looks like her baby will be due immediately after the wedding. We had told her "look, we don't want you stressing yourself out with the stairs in our venue and we don't want you to have additional stress of just being that pregnant and having to work through it. Let's work something else out." We had agreed that she would bring in two people she worked with regularly and had done weddings as primary photographers. Less than 2 days before the wedding we find out we are only getting one photographer and she's never done a wedding one her own before. We explain "Hey, we get it. But this isn't what we paid for. Why don't we work out some portraits after to see what we can do for a fair deal." And the photographer agrees.
Well, wedding day comes and her replacement photographer is MIA for the first 45 minutes-1 hour of her contract. The planner tracks her down and we are told that she got lost on the way to the venue. I let it slide because I get it, stuff happens, traffic sucks, and you're late sometimes. She spend a majority of the time I am getting ready taking pictures of my niece and it seems like everybody but me. I seriously have less than a dozen pictures I am in for the "Getting Ready" part of the day. And they are all so washed out/have the white balance so off I look like a victorian ghost. Our wedding was jewel tones and all the photos of the flowers and decor look almost neon. There are pictures where you can see flash hoods and flash flares. There's also a lot of weird focusing happening in the pictures.
There was also behavior issues with her the entire day. She at one point said to our ORIGINAL photographer "Well, you aren't her style" (I had literally never met this woman before that morning) and then refused to take any family portraits gif the other photographer was taking them. This resulted in my mother, my husband, and myself telling her to step aside if she couldn't handle another photographer taking family portraits. Her behavior towards the other photographer got so bad he almost left and he had to be talked into staying.
We had raised these concerns to her boss, the person we had actually hired, and were essentially told that we were lying about all of it because she had said so. When her boss "investigated" she refused to speak to any of the other vendors except for the planners who had very limited interaction with her.
Then our pictures come back. There are no pictures from the lofted upstairs of the venue. We have no pictures of our guests who were sat up there. And the guests who were sat up there were my husband's only family in attendance. Between the family portraits problem and her refusing to go upstairs during the reception, there are no pictures of my in-laws together. We sent a pleading email hoping there were more pictures and maybe they looked awful but we still wanted them to have something of my in-laws for the night. No other pictures and openly admits she never went upstairs. No refund offered. Only a half-hearted offer to take family pictures if they all happen to be here again and a secondhand apology.
We got our other photographer's photos back. We have a handful of pictures with his family in them. He also gave us about 750 more pictures than the other photographer. All sustainably better than hers.
The kicker: She cost almost $4,000 and he was $2,500.
I can't tell if we are being unreasonable to ask for a partial refund since she literally did not go upstairs during the reception, we have very few pictures of me getting ready, and she took know pictures of my in-laws. I understand it was a pretty garbage and chaotic situation to begin with and I am positive there is no money to refund because it has been spent. But I can't help but feel like Bridals and Couples portraits we had agreed to before all of this happened just don't make up for the fact there are literally not pictures of my husband with his family and she never went upstairs during the reception.
We have tried to be understanding because it wasn't a great situation but it now feels like we are being taken advantage of. I have no idea how to even ask for a partial refund. Has anybody ever dealt with something like this before?
