Choose our engagement photographer or no?

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Choose our engagement photographer or no?

posted 3 years ago in Photography

Member

11 posts

Newbee

Miss Nepal 07/25/2009

Hey All,

I've been addicted to weddingbee since I got engaged a few weeks ago, but finally have a question I haven't really been able to get an answer to anywhere else.

We just got engaged, but need to plan our wedding quickly to get married before September (immigration issues and both sides of our families said they would be very hurt if we got eloped or just had a civil ceremony and bigger wedding later). The part of the wedding that is most important to me (outside of having my FI and rest of our families there) is having a kick ass photographer. This is already a hard task, made even harder by my short time-line for planning and my rural location. We had our engagement photoshoot before we were officially engaged because I found this photographers work who I really liked, who was in the area, and offering free engagement shoots at the location of our choice. He, at the time, was even available on our wedding date.

The problem is that he said we'd have our photos 7-10 days after the shoot. I waited 14 days with no pictures, then contacted him. Didn't hear a reply back for another 4 days. He then emailed to say they would be up within two to three days and that he just had some stuff come up. I thought, whew, great, everyone gets a little bit behind, it's all good. Another two weeks go by and still nothing. I emailed him on Friday and still have not received a response.

If we do get our engagement photos, should I even consider booking this guy? I was so happy to find someone whose style matched what I was looking for in our small town and during the shoot it was really fun. He let me preview some of the photos on the screen and they were exactly what I was picturing. However, now I'm terrified that if I book communication might fall through before or after the wedding. Should I take a chance on getting the photos I really want and hope that he'll be better once I'm paying him for his services or see this as a sign? What if I can't find another photographer I like in such a short amount of time? Sometimes it makes me wish I lived in a bigger city so I could have more of a choice!

3 years ago

Member

1,428 posts

Bumble bee

ErinMarguerite July 2009 DC Area

Eek! It sounds like quite a headache on top of trying to plan everything quickly with a couple of extra kinks in the way. My gut says that you're not going to be comfortable with this guy, even if the engagement photos turn up and are beautiful. Don't cut him loose yet, but I'd definitely start searching again.

Good luck!

3 years ago

Member

614 posts

Busy bee

emileee San Jose, CA

Definitely start the hunt for a new photographer! Would you consider paying extra to have someone travel to your wedding?

I had similar issues with my wedding photog. In the end, I did get my pictures but it was an excruciatingly long process and I thought I might never see my pictures. He had some good reasons for the delay but he didn't communicate that to us - in fact, he chose not to communicate at all and just go MIA. I try not to think about it too much because really, I'm just so relieved to get my pictures that I don't really care about anything else anymore. He did apologize profusely and I believe that he is sorry and that he was going through some tough times. Even though I love his pictures and his prices are ridiculously reasonable, I have no way of knowing if this was a one time thing or if this is a regular habit of his. Luckily, I'll never have to find out for myself again!

3 years ago

Member

385 posts

Helper bee

ipodgirl August 8, 2008 Living in Bay Area/Wedding in Cancun

@Miss Nepal -

As a wedding photographer, this already raises multiple flags.

I think it's better if you start looking for someone else. There will always be other photographers that would shoot in the style you like. It is pretty unprofessional for your e-session photographer to delay by this long with no good reason. We always sign a contract with our clients to specify when they will receive the images by. Did you sign a contract?

Good luck with the search and of course we are all here to help.

3 years ago

Member

11 posts

Newbee

Miss Nepal 07/25/2009

Thanks for all the input guys. I did not sign a contract because the whole point of the free couple shoot was supposed to let me try out the photographer before making a commitment. I am definitely looking around some more now, especially since I called the phone number for the photog twice with no response. Ugh. Now it's time to find someone good at taking great action shots. Sadly, I live in an area dominated by these photographers whose entire portfolio is filled with poses in a studio. I'm hoping that when my parents talk about our final budget this weekend that I will be able to adjust a little bit and bring in a photographer from DC or Richmond (I'm in VA). I'm just sad that I don't have our engagement photos that we already took and that we will have to do another round that is probably not here in my college town.

3 years ago

Member

31 posts

Newbee

razvan Columbus,OH

You're making the right decision by going with another photographer. Even if the one that did your e-session does great work it's not worth if he doesn't deliver the pictures when he promises. It's not pleasant to worry about the photographer when you have so many things to worry about.

This is such an important part of the wedding and you should feel 100% confident in the pgotographer.