I wasn't sure which forum was best to use to post this, but I'm seeking some advice regarding the photographer we used for our wedding day and the photos we were provided from the day of.
Our wedding photography was $4,000. It included coverage from the photographer arriving at 1:30 PM and leaving at 10:00 PM, plus a 2nd shooter with him on-site during that time to take photos as well. The contract did not mention anything regarding quantity of photos, however, it did advise to allow up to 12 weeks for photo delivery.
I have followed this photographer for several years and have wanted to book him for many shoots in the past (engagement, holiday pics, etc.) but he was always booked because he's in such high demand as one of the most popular photographers in San Antonio. At the time I booked him for our wedding in October of 2019, I had seen countless pictures of his from weddings he was hired to shoot over the course of a few years (posts on Instagram plus his portfolio on his website). Several friends and acquaintances of mine from high school and college had booked him before for a number of different occasions - weddings, Christmas pics, couples photos, portraits, etc. and every review I had ever read about him was raving.
Our wedding was on Saturday, November 21st. The photographer reached out to speak prior to the wedding the Thursday before and we briefly chatted on the phone for a few minutes. Once the call was over, I sent him text with a brief bullet point list to recap what photos I knew that I certainly wanted (since I was told numerous times to advise the photographer of "must have photos").
After about 2 months had passed since the wedding day, I reached out to a friend who had used the same photographer for her wedding and asked about how long it took for her to receive her photos. She advised that she had received her photos after about 9-10 weeks.
11 weeks after the wedding on February 6th, I reached out to the photographer to request a status update on when we would receive the photos. He replied and said he would have them sent out to us the last week of the month (so the end of February).
1 month later on March 6th, (15 weeks after the wedding) I had not heard from the photographer or received any photos so I reached out again requesting an update. He replied and advised that he would be sending out the photos next week, which would be the week of March 8th (and that weekend would make it 16 weeks after the wedding).
Again, I did not hear anything back and waited another month to reach out on April 5th. I requested another status update on the photos. The photographer replied that he would have them sent out to me by the end of the week (which would be 20 weeks after the wedding) and advised that the photo gallery would be uploaded on Saturday. He said that he had "several curveballs come up" including several deaths in his family.
The weekend came and went. This was the third time we had been given a date we'd receive the photos by that the photographer did not follow through with or even reach out to us after to explain why he had not sent the photos by the deadlines he advised. Each time a deadline was missed, we never heard a word from him until I reached out to him to ask about the status of the photos.
I was going to give it another week before making contact again (which would be 21 weeks after the wedding), but I surprisingly received a message from the photographer that following Monday. He requested our email addresses to send us the photos (which he should have already had from previous correspondence when we booked him in October 2019) and within a few minutes of our reply we had finally received an email with a link to an online gallery to download the photos - a little over 20 weeks (143 days) after the wedding.
I was away from the house at work at the time and did not have my personal laptop, so I clicked the link on my phone to quickly preview the photos before I could really take a better look at them later that night on my laptop, and I saw that the TOTAL QUANTITY of photos was 380.
I was so upset with the outrageously low number of photos that I decided to wait until getting home to look at them on my laptop so that I didn't have my day completely ruined at that point since it was 11 AM and I still had plenty to get done before logging off. Once I was home and got to really look at the pictures, I was honestly so disappointed that I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
The majority of the pictures of just my husband and I are not frame-worthy photos. Many of the shots of us appeared to be mid-word/mid-movement. Like as if the shot was taken at just the wrong time, which I don't even see how or why there wouldn't be a better one to select since several photos of a single frame are shot at a time to ensure that all of the photos don't look like they were taken a split second too early or too late. How could there not be 10 other almost identical shots from that frame that the photographer could have selected instead? (Unless he wasn't taking as many photos as he should have been).
Our dog was in the wedding and had a tuxedo. I stressed the importance of his presence and involvement on our big day, and the importance of wanting many photos of him / with him included. I hardly received any photos of him at all.
There's 1 single photo of my husband walking down the aisle with our dog.
There were hardly any photos of me walking down the aisle with my dad and the majority of them are from one angle and from a distance.
There was 1 single shot was taken of each group of our bridesmaids/groomsmen walking down the aisle together and it was a shot from the side from a distance where you can only see from maybe their mid waist/chest and up - not straight on or even just a better angle, and not full body to show the bridesmaids dresses.
At/after the recessional (once the ceremony had concluded and we walked back up the aisle as husband and wife), there isn't a single shot of us both looking straight, or in the same direction, or at each other, etc.
There are 2 TOTAL photos of me with my parents and they're basically IDENTICAL. One was taken landscape orientation and the other portrait orientation but we're in the same exact positions with the same exact expressions/look/everything in the photo. So I really only have 1 TOTAL photo with my parents. I'm an only child and my parents are my only immediate family. I'm incredibly close with them. They paid for the whole wedding day. I stressed the importance of wanting many photos with my parents and instead I have 1 TOTAL from my wedding day.
There's 1 photo of us with both of our parents. He actually sent over 2 but my mom is blinking in 1 of them so really we only have 1.
THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PHOTO OF ME ALONE IN MY WEDDING GOWN. I understand that this was not a bridal shoot and it was our wedding day, but there is NOT ONE SINGLE PHOTO OF JUST ME IN MY WEDDING DRESS. There are a few photos of my husband by himself.
I also don't have any photos of me and my bridesmaids with them in their gowns and me in my wedding dress. I was sent 1 PHOTO OF ME AND MY BRIDESMAIDS and we're in our matching pajamas getting ready. My husband had several photos taken of him with his groomsmen and shots of him with each one individually.
There are not shots of each bridal party member for the grand entrance into the reception. We were sent 3 photos from the grand entrance of 3 groomsmen/bridesmaid groups; but missing 3 other groups and not a single shot of us for our grand reception entrance as husband and wife.
We have about 50 photos of our guests at the reception that my husband and I are not in at all; not even in the background. Just 50 pictures of different guests. About half or so are PICTURES OF THE GUESTS TAKING PICTURES AT THE PHOTO BOOTH. Yes, you read that correctly! The photographer took pictures of guests taking pictures of themselves at the photo booth. You can physically see the photo booth station itself in the pictures to obviously see that he took photos of people taking photos. We received all of the photos from the photo booth from the photo booth company directly. I did not need pictures of people taking pictures, especially when we hardly received any photos at all. If I had received 3,000 photos then 50 guests pictures would have been fine, but that wasn't the case.
There aren't ANY PHOTOS AT ALL of my parents with me, other family members, friends, etc. during the cocktail hour or reception. My parents, at the top of my list for the most important people in my life, who paid for the whole expensive day and I'm their only child, so this is the only wedding that they'll ever host, and you wouldn't even be able to tell that they were physically present if you looked at the reception photos.
We received zero photos from about 45 minutes of the day after the ceremony and in between the grand entrances for the reception even though people were mingling for cocktail hour and my husband and I were with our whole bridal party celebrating post-ceremony in the upstairs bridal suite (where we would make our grand entrance from). WHY ARE THERE NOT ANY PICTURES OF US DURING THAT PERIOD? No idea where or what the photographer was doing during that time.
There aren't any photos of any of my family members (like extended family other than my parents) and there aren't any photos of my family friends post-ceremony during the cocktail hour or reception. There are a couple of photos of my husband's family and family friends, and 1 group photo of us with his family.
We have very little photos of all the details - the signs, guest book, floral arrangements, favors, decor, rings, invitation, etc. There's maybe 1 photo of a few different "details" shots, but there aren't shots of everything to look back on and remember all of the little things.
THERE ISN'T ONE SINGLE PHOTO OF OUR GRAND EXIT WITH SPARKLERS. We went up and down our aisle of guests that lined up outside with sparklers for our grand exit into a limo SEVERAL TIMES - like at least 5 times - in order for the videographer and photographer to get the right shots; and yet, WE DIDN'T RECEIVE ONE SINGLE PHOTO OF IT.
It took me a few days to collect my thoughts and calm down a little bit to be able to send the photographer a very long nice and polite message regarding the low quantity of photos, missing pictures from parts of the day, etc. I was very clear and detailed about what photos were missing/didn't receive at all, which photos we weren't satisfied with, wanting more photos in general, etc. The photographer replied and said that he double checked the photo gallery and said that he "left out some, but not many" and that he wanted me to get on a phone call with him when we were available to chat more about everything I had to say about the photos. My husband is an anesthesia resident who works outrageous hours and has 0 flexibility with his schedule. I wanted him to be present on the phone call with me because I feared getting on the call with the photographer by myself and being too worried about trying to be nice and not really expressing how I really felt (out of fear of coming off as mean), and then end up in the same situation. I replied to the photographer and let him know I would find out a date/time that my husband and I would both be free for a call, and I clearly explained and outlined my comments and concerns regarding the photos again. There was nothing left open to interpretation about how we felt about the photos or what the issue at hand was. It was clear as day what we were unsatisfied with and I expressed everything that we expected from the photographer to resolve the problem.
No response from the photographer AT ALL and even though he had acknowledged that he "left out a few photos", he never sent us the photos that he "mistakenly forgot to include". After 5 days had passed without a word from him, I reached out to him again asking what needed to be done for us to work towards a solution, as I had already explicitly stated every detail of my concern and what I expected to receive from him to be able to resolve the situation. He responded and said that he was waiting to send the photos until I advised when we could connect on a phone call.... He said that the time that would work best for him would be after 8-8:30 PM. I reminded him that we're in a time zone 1 hour ahead of him (since we do not live where he is located) and getting on a phone call at 9-9:30 during the work week was not ideal. Not only does my husband have long, unpredictable hours, but he also doesn't want to work a 15-19 hour day and then come home at night only to prepare for an unpleasant conversation. No one desires to do that. I even dreaded the idea of getting on a phone call with him at NIGHT when I'm trying to wind down at the end of a 8-10 hour work day.
At this point we're into the end of April / early May, about 23 weeks after the wedding. I get a message asking what my "preference" was for receiving the missing photos that he "forgot" to include with the original gallery (uploading them with all of the previous photos sent over or to a separate gallery on their own), which he had still not sent to us even after acknowledging that we never received the full gallery when he sent it to us several weeks prior. I responded and told him that a separate upload would be preferred so I can finally see the "missing" photos on their own and not have to try to find them in the original gallery upload with the 380 other photos. Again, I get no reply from the photographer until 5 days later when he says that he's sorry for the delayed response and that his daughter "must have messed with his phone" because he didn't see a new text from me. Again, he does not acknowledge my response about receiving the "missing" photos and does not send them to us.
I reply that we have still not received our FULL gallery of photos since our wedding day almost 24 weeks ago and ask if he's going to be able to send us the photos or not.
Just this week on May 11, almost 25 weeks (172 days) after the wedding day, I receive an email with a link to a gallery with 93 photos. No message or anything other than the link on the email and no reply to my last message form him. Even though it's May 14 now and I received the photos 3 days ago, he still has not responded to my message to say that he had sent the photos, confirm that I had received him, or any communication at all.
The "missing" photos have a few new pictures that we did not previously receive, but we are still missing several major photos that are MUST HAVES - like still no more photos with me and my parents, no photos of my family members, no shots of me alone, NO PHOTOS OF THE GRAND EXIT AND SPARKLER SEND OFF, etc.
So although the 93 additional photos bring the grand total to 473 photos of our wedding day, it still does not resolve even a fraction of the concerns and issues I brought to his attention.
I'm also mind blown at the fact that we have less than 500 photos from 2 photographers over an 8.5 hour day. I don't see how it could be possible that between the 2 of them, they didn't have THOUSANDS of photos taken over the course of the wedding day. The same friend that I had reached out to back in February that I asked about turnaround time for receiving photos after her wedding told me that she received a little under 800 photos from their day and at the time she thought it didn't feel like he sent enough but now in comparison to me (receiving less than 500 pics) she says she feels lucky. I looked up the average number of photos a photographer provides to a client from their wedding day and it says about 50-100 per hour of coverage (so 425 - 850 photos total). Does this amount double with 2 photographers? Because if so then that would be 100-200 photos per hour of coverage, which means we should have received 850 - 1,700 photos total. I'm just truly in disbelief that we received so little photos from 2 photographers over such a long day, which happened to be a major milestone/life event that can never be recreated. I've received more photos from couples shoots, Christmas photos, engagement shoots, etc. The thought of having only 1 wedding photo of me with my parents to frame and look back on for the rest of my life makes me sick to my stomach. Also the fact that there isn't a single photo of me alone in my wedding dress that my parents can frame to have at their house. There are many issues regarding missed moments, moments where there weren't enough shots taken or no shots taken of at all, etc. that literally make me sick to my stomach from disappointment and sadness.
The whole situation regarding the wedding photos and the communication with the photographer has just been awful and I don't see how this could be turned around for the outcome to be better. I'm at the point where I don't have much fight in me to do anything from a confrontational angle to try to resolve this since I feel so deflated and also since this has been dragged out for so long.
When I initially expressed my disappointment, dissatisfaction, comments, concerns, etc. when we received the photos after 20 weeks, we didn't receive the "missing" photos until 5 more weeks after that. So the photographer sat around for 5 weeks, over a month, knowing that we had a problem at hand that needed to be addressed and he did basically the absolute bare minimum. Actually, it feels like he really did nothing at all to try and remediate anything, because if he truly "accidentally" left out the additional 93 photos, then those were merely photos that should have been included in the initial upload to begin with, he didn't go out of his way to look for shots that I told him he never sent any of or enough of. Even if the 93 photos had been included in the initial upload, I still would have had the same list of problems to send to him regarding the low quantity, missing shots, etc. so it seems like this whole situation was likely going to be a nightmare regardless.
If you've made it this far in my message, thank you for bearing with me through my novel long post.
If you have any advice, comments, suggestions, or personal relatable experiences; anything would be appreciated.
