My Experience with [photog named removed]

[*Heather*]

Hi Everyone,

 

This post is to comment on the experiences I’ve had with [photographer name removed] after we booked her late last summer.

 

First of all I have to say that [photographer name removed] takes amazing photographs. Her work is absolutely beautiful and I was really really excited when we were able to book her for our upcoming wedding this October. I noticed that her demeanour was a little different right away, but I didn’t think much of it. At first I thought she was very warm and endearing and she seemed to care a lot about a bunch of little details which I just thought meant she was trying to be prepared and cover all of her bases. Looking back, I’m not so sure now.

 

[photographer name removed] is a very high maintenance, immature, and unprofessional vendor. There are many many examples I could give, but if I write every single one, this post will be 3 pages long. So I’ll just tell you the experience that really made me decide I didn’t want to work with her anymore.

 

I don’t want to get into details about what happened, but to sum it up, I made a comment on the Shoutbox thread one day about possibly regretting hiring her. I did not give any reasons or details or say anything negative about her. Within 10 minutes, someone (and I know who) took a screenshot of my comments and emailed them to [photographer name removed]. [photographer name removed] sent me 2 facebook messages and a voicemail within an hour of receiving that email, demanding an explanation. We had a dialogue after that of me reassuring her that everything was fine, and that she was still my photographer. She wouldn’t let it go and was demanding an explanation for why I said what I said.

 

Let me pause here to let you all know that I’m not a “drama person.” I have pretty much no drama in my personal life with any of my friends or anything like that...I’m almost 29 years old and I’m just past that point in my life where I care to get nasty with people or argue.

 

In her emails she said things like how she needed to “hear my voice” and “heal” before my wedding day, and that not dealing with this over the phone was unhealthy. As soon as I read that I became even more uncomfortable than I was before. I didn’t want to call her because I was afraid she was going to yell at me. Can you imagine feeling that way about the photographer you hired?

 

In my opinion, I hired [photographer name removed] as a vendor, and I don’t expect to have to deal with such things from a professional who I’ve hired and paid. I knew right away that I no longer wanted to work with her for my wedding photos, even though this meant that I would be out a large deposit that I already paid to her.

 

Trying to work out the details of getting a small portion of my deposit back (which she returned to me out of the goodness of her heart, because she legally didn’t have to) was just re-assurance to me that I did the right thing. There were many heated emails from her during this process and I was pretty sure I wasn’t even going to get a penny at one point. Again I don’t need to go into details here but I can only say that after this is all said and done, I’m 100% sure of my decision and I know I did the right thing by ending my agreement with her.

 

I just want other brides to know what to expect if they decide to hire her. Some people are OK with dealing with high maintenance individuals, but I guess I’m not one of them (at least not when I’m paying them and I’m expecting them to act like a professional). I know there is at least one other person on this forum who has had incredibly high maintenance dealings with [photographer name removed] as well so I know I’m not alone. If you love her photos and are considering working with her, please PM me first to make sure you have all the details and will be comfortable working with her. If you do decide to hire her, you will have gorgeous photos as [photographer name removed] really is talented.

 

I have to add one other thing – because I lost a sizeable deposit ($2K), I was really stressing about finding another photographer who was really good but also not crazy expensive, since my budget was already suffering before this whole photographer fiasco. Morgan (here on BDW) did the most amazing, generous thing and actually transferred a free 3-night stay at Dreams Los Cabos that she had won on this forum over to me so that I could use it for my new photographer and thus save on travel costs for them. Her generosity honestly blew me away, and I still can’t believe that she did that. I owe her so much, and I just wanted to give her a big public THANK YOU for being such an amazing person!!

 

You are the best Morgan!

_________________________

[photographer name removed] - the photographer has threatened legal action against this negative review. Please PM me for more information.

[JaimeLynne]

Wow, I had no idea all of this was going on. Glad you made this post to help out future brides.

 

And Holy Moly - Morgan that was SOOO generous of you to help out Heather like that! Kudos to you chica!!!!!!

 

[boscobel]

Wow, Heather, what an ordeal. I agree that [photographer name removed] takes beautiful photos, but I also agree that you don't need a high maintence photog. You did the right thing, for your sanity and everything seems to be working out! And that was super generous of Morgan!

[Amarillis]

Wow Heather, What an experience - thank you for sharing and protecting other unsuspecting B2B's.

 

Morgan, you are incredibly generous! Your generosity is a stellar example of why I love hanging out with you ladies day to day. Karma is a wonderful thing... your turn will be just around the corner.

[rodent]

I have to run off to a meeting so i have very little time to post. But, i wanted to say that Heather & I had very similar experiences with [photographer name removed]. [photographer name removed] always insisted that she did not treat other clients like she did me. If I knew she would cause someone else as much stress, I would not have recommended her on BDW. She is an amazing photographer, but also high maintenence. A wedding is stressful enough (as we all know) that it is so hard to have anything extra to deal with.

 

OK, I have to run...

[LCBride2007]

Thank you for posting an honest and well thought out review. That's what this forum is about, and why it is such a valueable resource for brides and grooms trying to plan their wedding.

 

And I am SO sorry that you had to deal with what you did, but am so happy to hear that it all worked out in the end!

[ACDCDCAC]

heather, my goodness, i am so sorry you had to go thru this. i REALLY hope it works out for you, you are such a sweet and grounded girl and you (or any other B2B for that matter) does not deserve to have to deal with that crap before your wedding. i really do believe you made the right decision, and altho that had to be very hard for you to do, it was super generous of morgan to offer that stay to you to help compensate for your costs.

 

ps

YOU rock and [photographer name removed] does not. for the record

[tylersgirl]

I feel so bad that you had to go through all of that. I am just glad that you realized that you needed a new photographer before your wedding! =) Morgan was so sweet to have donated that trip to you-what a sweetie!!!

[*Heather*]

Haha, thanks Abbie! And everyone else. It was a really rough few weeks there and it was so hard to not come and tell everyone about it but I wanted to make sure the matter was over and done with before I posted anything. I was really nervous posting this because I know [photographer name removed] has "spies" and I'm sure she'll see this post and I really don't want to deal with the aftermath that I know is coming...but I knew other brides deserved to know. So I'm glad you guys think this is helpful. And thanks Morgan for backing me up

[DallasAshli]

Heather - that was very well written and honest. Great job!

 

Morgan is fantastic! Enough said