Suing your photographer?

That sounds horrible. Sorry! But what does the contract say about the payment terms? Were you also in breach by paying the husband?

How much money did you give her and how much money did you give the husband? You can’t sue her for money you gave her estranged husband, especially if you know he kept it (regardless of who took your photos that day).

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I don't want to sue her for money. I have no interest in the money, I solely want my photos. Edited or not. I paid the deposit to her directly when I signed the contract, which was $200, and my parents gave her husband the check for the remaining $750 since she was no where to be seen at the wedding.

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That's what I am not sure about, I will go back and read tonight. I was not aware at the time my parents paid him directly at the wedding, but i'm also like what choice did they have, she left the reception and didn't take the photos. I don't want to sue for money, I just want my pictures.

I would say that If your contract was with her and he is not included in the contract then you breached the contract because you did not pay her in full. She actually hasn’t done anything legally wrong yet if she had 12 weeks to get your photos to you and those 12 weeks aren’t up yet.



If he was also taking pictures/ helping and you have been in contact with him, why hasn’t he sent you any pictures? Did he just give everything to her except the money?
You should reach out to her by phone and try to work something out with her.

I would speak to an attorney but technically if she did not receive the money then really she is withholding her product until she gets paid. I am so sorry for this and that horribly sucks. Sadly she is being horribly unprofessional. I think it is horrible that she does not speak to you at all. Was her business based out of her home or in an office where you can speak to her. Re-read the contract and maybe text her again and not sure if it is best but imply that you will have to seek legal action if she does not provide the product.

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This is what I am worried about! My parent are getting all trigger happy with taking her to court and telling the husband they are going to pursue legal action but I don't think they realized they potentially breached the contract by paying him directly instead of her (even though she did leave and did not get in contact with us about payment at all). Her business was based out of her home, all I have is her cell phone number unfortunately. Thank you for your kind words, I really do appreciate it. This is been really hard for me.

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I can imagine it has been hard. I think where you could get her is the after the 12th week you not having received your pictures and no communication. I mean you could take her to small claims court but worse case scenario a judge could rule in her favor that she needs to be paid but that could come with the stipulation that she provide you her product and in good quality. Why did the husband not pay her? It seems like the dissolution of their marriage is not good but honestly if anything to be fair, he did half the work so IF you owed her anything I would say only half of her price but really that should come from him.

That's a horrible situation! I think a lawyer or legal aid could tell you best if you have a case against her. I would start there.
Best of luck!

This may come down to who the check was made out to. If it was written out to the wife and the husband cashed it and kept the money, you may have more of a case. However, you can always argue that you gave it to her staff (the husband) and that you cannot be held responsible that he did not turn the money over. Also, you still paid the deposit, so at the very least you should get that back as it sounds she did not fulfill her contract. Unfortunately, I've read about problems with photographers in the past, and there usually is no happy ending. I would give her another week to give you your photos, as that would put it over the 12 week mark, and if she is still ghosting you, contact an attorney to discuss options. I suggest you start asking around and see if anyone got some good pictures on their phones so that you have something to hold onto. I'm sorry you're in this situation.

I'm sorry this happened to you. Before you do anything else, you need to consult an attorney. (I am an attorney, so I know a little about what I'm talking about.) Unfortunately, legal aid is unlikely to help in this type of contract dispute (at least in Tennessee where I live). Based upon your facts, it sounds like the photographer potentially breached the contract. Depending upon the terms of the contract, you may have also breached the contract. However, an attorney will be able to go over your options in your state and based upon your contract, the remedies available to you. you have several options available to you (ranging from getting the pictures to getting your money back). Good luck to you.

Who was the check made out to? If it was her name or her business name, you haven't done anything wrong by handing her husband the check. He was there to take it, she was off pouting somewhere.

I agree with the above advice that you both most likely broke the contract. You can't successfully argue that her husband did all the work, when she did the shooting. You also can't argue that you gave her payment to someone else and that she should be fine with that. Here's the thing, your contact doesn't stipulate that a ray of sunshine would take your photos. She showed up, took them, and you paid someone else. You also have not contacted her in 3 months until tonight.


I'd send her a sympathetic note. Tell her where her money went. Maybe even offer her some extra money in exchange for your photos. You shouldn't have to... But at this point she shot engagements and an 8hr wedding for $200.
You might have a case for some hours at the reception. But that's about all. Try the extremely nice and sympathetic route.

I would try to reach out to her repeatedly until she responds. Obviously don't go into harass mode but I would try to contact her and work things out between you two because going through the husband clearly hasn't gotten anyone anywhere. If she is spiteful or continues to ghost you I would simply send her a message saying you will be pursuing legal action. That would typically get someone to talk to you. Even if you don't end up pursuing legal action at least make it known to her that will be the case if she does not send you any pictures edited or not. Which i would ask for the raw files of the photos.

I feel the contract was with her she should have been paid bot the husband no matter what he worked for her. Her attitude while not professional she did make sure pictures were taken and the husband actually stole the money when u stated he only didnthe photos of the reception. He should be giving you the photos if he was paid however the photos are the legal hold of the owner of the camera in most states so if she didn’t get paid it may Be hard to sue. Mayb get the husband to pay her the money and he ask for the photos to be released. Good luck.

Attorney here!

I would definitely contact a local attorney. There are many options that don't involve a law suit! Good attorneys are very good at getting issues resolved outside of court - barring some issue or unreasonable party, of course.

So shooting the photos is about half (or less) of the work that goes into wedding photography. Editing and post processing the images after the wedding takes easily as much or more time than the actual shoot does. If your parents paid her husband and he kept the money, you should be following up with him for photos. Chances are she doesn't even have them.

She didn't fulfill her contract, but you didn't either by paying someone else.

If you want your photos (your priority should be the images, which it sounds like it is) and the husband has been more cordial, you need to follow up with the husband and get details about where the photos are. Does he have them or does she? Whoever possesses your images right now currently holds all the power in this dynamic. Your goal should be to get all the images you can (edited or not).

Because of the amount of work that goes into post processing, organizing, and editing photos after they are taken, and the attitude this woman had during your wedding, I would not be surprised if the photos have not been touched at all. It sounds like she gave up in the middle of your wedding. Therefore, I'd - as politely as possible - try to get all the photos from whoever has them, edited or not, ASAP. If the husband has the photos but isn't a photographer, he can probably get them to you but they won't be edited. If she has them, she probably hasn't worked on them at all, but you should still be able to get the files even if that is the case. As long as the photos haven't been deleted, you should pursue getting them and try to avoid enraging the woman. Another photographer can do the editing work (a pain, but better than losing the photos altogether) as long as you get your hands on them.

Once you get the photos, then I wouldn't hesitate to go about suing her for breach of contract, emotional distress, etc if you feel like you can afford the legal fees and stress of a lawsuit. I'd be really careful about enraging her at all prior to attempting to get the photos though, because once they are deleted and the memory card rewritten, they are pretty much gone forever. If the photos are nowhere to be seen, I'd consult a lawyer and follow their advice. Just keep in mind legal fees aren't cheap, and you could easily eat up any money you win in the suit to pay your attorney, and you still might not have photos at the end of it.

Good luck!

In the end, the photographer was not paid and has not been contacted since the wedding 3 months ago. Further, since the estranged husband was not part of the contract, he had no right to be given a check. Lastly, if he cashed the check (it must have made it out to him) then there was no attempt to pay the photographer AND instead her estranged husband was given a gift. The evidence is the cashed check - made out to the ex while she received nothing. Yet, kindness has been extended to the person who made the problem: the estranged husband should have refused the check or insisted it be made out to the photographer. Imagine his joy at being the reason that his future ex-wife and her business are suffering, while pocketing a check. I cannot believe that anyone would be kind to him after the mess he facilitated.

Breach of contract occurred but it didn't happen because of the photographer. Emotional distress cannot be claimed because of 1.) no contact with the photographer for 3 months, 2.) the distress was self-inflicted due to conscious choices: a) the check made out to the estranged husband) and b) to not pay for services received (photos were taken), and 3.) choosing to only reach out to the estranged husband for remedy. If you want the benefit of contract protections, then you have to follow the contract too - even if you are angry and believe that she wasn't a professional. Right now, there is no legal case here.

You can't successfully sue someone for goods when you didn't pay them. Make the estranged husband pay her or you pay her. But, pay the photographer if you want to see the photographs.

Also, shuttering a business in the middle of a divorce is normal - if you don't your ex can claim future profits since they 'helped' you establish the business during the marriage. I have been divorced and I am a photographer. And personally, I'd be very upset if I was the photographer.

Ok now I've got photographer anxiety lol. (Seriously, good luck working all this out, jeez!)

Wow! That's beyond frustrating. I hope you get your photos. I'd also definitely ask guests to share any photos they have. I hope you didn't have an "unplugged" wedding