Weddingbee boards

Hey Bees!

I'm feeling really taken advantage of by my photogs but before I take any action I thought I'd ask the hive if I'm overreacting.  Here's the story... We just had a destination wedding about 7 hours away from where we live.  Instead of a rehearsal dinner we had a "Welcome to Our Wedding Weekend" BBQ for our 62 out-of-town guests.  I thought it would be cool to have a photographer shoot the BBQ so we would have some casual pictures of our friends and family.  We ended up hiring a young local couple who promised us "2 photographers for 2-3 hours and a dvd of edited images".  The price was right at $275 so we signed the contract and looked forward to seeing what this young couple would shoot. 

They were really cute and nice at the rehearsal BBQ so we were excited to see the finished product.  Well we got that edited dvd today and it included a total of 64 pictures.  13 of which were simply black & white versions of the same pictures in color.  We had asked for candids so there wasn't a shot list but we thought most of the guests would be included.  Of our 62 guests, 21 weren't even in the background of a single picture.  I was so upset I immediately contacted the photographers to see if they would send us more photos, even if they were unedited.  They responded that since there wasn't an exact number of pictures in the contract they chose what they thought was "a decent amount".  They said that when they shoot weddings for 8 hours they provide 200-300 images so they thought giving us "about a third of that" would be about right.  They also said that if we wanted specific people included in photos we should have provided that info and they felt they captured the ambience of the event because the majority of guests (41 out of 62 were in a photo.

I'm just sick about this!  But very grateful we didn't use them for the actual wedding day!  Before I post a negative review for them and before I drive my new husband crazy as I walk around muttering "64 &^%*&$$#@* pictures!!" tell me if I'm justified in being furious or if I'm just suffering from some kind of post-wedding letdown.  Would love to hear from any professionals out there as well.  Thanks hive!  Sorry for the long post

I think it's possible that this couple was not that experieinced and that they took hundreds more photos.  The only ones that were of high enough quality to give you were the 62 photos.  You did not contract for unedited images, so there's no way to know how many of those they shot.

I guess a good rule of thumb would be to ask to see all the unedited images from a photographer's shoot and the resulting edited images from the same shoot.

Thanks everyone for your input!  I'm still feeling pretty bad about all this, especially since I really only received 51 photos (13 being b&w versions of the same color photos) and some of them are useless- like the one we call "closed chafing dish" or another favorite, "backs of heads".  Trying to at least find some humor in the debacle.  There are also another 5 that are restaurant/resort signs- "Cold Beer", "BBQ Sandwiches", "Cabin Guests Only". 

We did contact the photogs and politely ask for additional unedited shots and explained that clearly we had different expectations based on the wording of the contract and are hoping that they will provide these as a resolution.  The quality of the edited images was good- and I told them so, it is really just the quantity that is so disappointing.  Fortunately, we have friends who took photos as well so we can piece together a decent collection.  I'm starting to think though that even though I know they took many more images they just didn't take any that were of high enouqh quality to edit and give to us.  In total there are 21 pictures that I like and am glad we have.  The rest are just OK, not something you would put in an album or scrapbook.  I think that 21 "good" photos for 6 hours of photography and $275 is a pretty crappy return.  Once again, I'm so thankful that we didn't use them for the day of!

Hind sight is 20/20, and like pps have said a more clearly worded contract may have prevented this from happening.

That said, I would be hugely upset if this were me, and I would definitely ask for ALL of the images they took. If you're asking for them unedited, what could their justification possibly be in refusing to give them to you?

I am a photographer. I currently do not shoot weddings, but shoot a lot of family, baby, engagement pictures as a side business.

This is a tough matter with photographers because they technically did not do anything wrong because it was not specified in the contract that a certain number of pictures had to be delivered as a final product, or that would be required to provide you with all unedited images...

That said, I do think that you have every right to be upset. I do not think it is acceptable to provide you with a color and black and white version of the same photo and count that as a final photo. I will normally give my clients a CD of all color photos and then tell them that we can create black and white or other effect photos if they want them. The number of photos is strange. I shot a family session two weeks ago where I shot for 1.5 hours and provide them with 50 final photos. I am also confused why they did not try to systematically get pictures of a mojority of the guests!

Anyways, I am rambling, but I will just say I do not think what they did is right, but you may not get far complaining because they did not break their contract with you.

Update:  The photographers have agreed to send me an additional 26 unedited images.  It's better than nothing I guess but I'll know for sure once I see them.  An interesting note- they are sending 26 because they said that would bring the total number of images to 100.  Sooo 64 + 26 = 100?  I'm hoping I will actually get 36 but I'm not holding my breath.  Thanks everyone for your support on this- I feel better knowing I'm not alone in thinking we got slighted.  We definitely learned to make sure any contracts we sign are explicit in the details as there are no surprises.

Wow, 64 photos for 2-3 hours? That's terrible. Yes, you didn't specify who you wanted pictures of and what pictures you wanted, but they should definitely have been able to provide more than 64 photos out of 3 hours. That's ridiculous. Especially because there were 2 photographers. I would definitely post some negative comments about this couple.

LOL DaisyBride.. and then I started thinking about that and got worried.  But I'm hoping by at least asking for unedited images that won't happen.  Of course that doesn't mean I won't get 26 images of the same scene taken in sequence over 26 seconds.  Maybe it will be a 26 page flip book of a busboy replenishing the ribs on the buffet.  Can you imagine?  Gotta laugh so you don't cry sometimes! 

Jessie- we're not getting the remaining images.  Only the 26 that they are choosing to send to us because we aren't happy with only receiving the original 64 (which is really 51 since 13 are b&w copies of color pictures- a point that irritates me more and more each time I think about it!)  But I am grateful that they have agreed to that much at this point. 

Here's another thing I'm kicking myself over... We also tipped them before getting the images.  (I know, I know).  But they were so fun and seemingly nice that we never dreamed they would have such different expectations on the number of photos that would be appropriate.  And to their credit, once again, on the photos that they did give us they did a nice job on the editing.  Nothing fancy mind you, but the pictures are very clear with sharp colors and contrast. I do have 20-25 "favorites" that I'm glad to have.  I just think I should have considerably more.