Hey Ladies! I need to vent!
I was married on the 19th of last month. I chose a photographer that was the wife of an attorney I work with. I'd met her in person and she'd done our engagement photos and was overall, a good person and easy to work with.
When it came time for our wedding, I again, went to her. In the weeks prior to the wedding, I confirmed the exact details with her. Since our wedding was a morning wedding, the plan was to have her meet us at out hotel on Lake Washington where we would get family photos, couple's photos, etc. This hotel was several hundred dollars out of my price-range, but it had a picturesque covered balcony overlooking the lake. Since we were getting married on a December day in rainy Seattle, I went ahead and booked the hotel for fear that we'd otherwise get drenched while trying to get photos. After the photos at the hotel, we would then go to the church where she'd photograph the ceremony. Our church doesn't allow for photos of anything other than the ceremony, hence the need for the hotel photos. I provided her with a printed itinerary and even offered to book a room for her at the hotel we were staying at so that she wouldn't have to wake up early and drive to us. The evening before the wedding, I again confirmed the details of the day with her.
Fast forward to the day of, where both families are at the hotel waiting for the photographer to arrive. The photographer calls me, telling me that she's at the church and no one is there. It turns out that she'd completely forgotten what she needed to do and where she needed to be. So we all hastily get into our cars and go to the church. I get out of the car and the first thing photographer says to me as I'm trying to gather my dress and trying not to trip over my heels is "don't worry! full refund! full refund!". And so I tell her that I can't really discuss the matter at the moment, but that we would speak after the weekend was over.
I didn't get a since family photo. Or any couple's photos. All the photographer managed to get were photos of the ceremony. On the way to the church, my mother berated me the entire car ride, calling me a worthless human being because in her eyes, I constantly made bad decisions and trusted the wrong people. Since we got to the church earlier than planned, my mother forced me to sit in a closet by myself, as I couldn't be seen by guests before the ceremony started.
After the weekend was over, I contacted the photographer several times. She then relented on her "full refund" statement, instead telling me that she could refund me for an hour of photography, or give me a full refund but that she wouldn't give me any of the photos she'd taken. I told her that I'd accept the refund for the one hour and that I'd like the photos that she actually managed to take. Since then, she has evaded my attempts to contact her about the refund. In our contract, she listed a turnaround time of 6-8 weeks for photos. It has been a little over 4 weeks since she's last made contact with me. I plan on waiting the full 8 weeks to see if she furnishes either the refund or the photos.
Am I wrong to be upset that my photographer is being shady? Am I being too hard on her?
