Post # 1
Member
799 posts
Busy bee
So I’m going to get gripey, which is not my usual style but I’m irritated and in need of a vent!
Early in our wedding planning process we were looking into affordable photography for engagement and wedding photos. A friend of mine from college runs his own “studio”. It’s a small business so he wasn’t going to charge us more than a couple hundred dollars plus cost of prints. Fine. We set up a day for our engagement photos (in October earlier this year), have a place and a time and I’m starting to get excited!
Two days before our engagement photo session, he cancels, saying he doesn’t feel like he’s prepared enough to photograph a wedding, he doesn’t know if he really has the right equipment and his little one man shop feels too small. Okay. Fine. I call my mother, who’s taken photography classes and ask her advice, she offers to do it all for free. Yay!
Fast forward. Today I’m on Facebook and his little studio’s page pops up with the photos he’s taken of a full-blown wedding from start to finish! What happened to the “I’m not comfortable photographing a wedding” thing?!
Anyway, things worked out for me it just caused me minor irritation. Anyone else had experiences with a vendor like this? Need to vent? I’d love to read them!
Post # 2
Member
31 posts
Newbee
Aw, so sorry you had to be frustrated over this! I always tell people to hire someone that they don’t know, because a stranger earning a paycheck, even an amateur expanding their portfolio, has pressure to make sure they do a great job. Some brides and groom who hire friends turn out having great photos, but more often they end up having mediocre photos and a lost friend. I can’t tell you how many brides call me a week before their wedding, saying “I know this is last minute, but are you available? My brother/uncle/cousin was going to shoot our wedding, BUT….”.
I’m so glad things worked out for you. Here is my actual vent story:
I hired an amateur photographer whose portfolio I loved. She ended up asking to leave a little early because she wasn’t feeling well. Kind of an inconvenience, but I understood and had friends/family take lots of pictures toward the end. It actually took her almost 6 months to get my photos back. She made the mistake of adding me as a Facebook friend, and she is very active on FB, so I saw all of the things she was doing when she should have been working on my photos. After 2 months, I started politely emailing her. After 4 months, I started emailing/leaving voicemail that was less polite. At 5 months, unknown to me, my mom left her a voicemail to call her by x date or else her next step was legal action. Suddenly, I got my photos. Thank goodness they were beautiful!