Still no photos... how long did yours take?

Oh Trixie I'm so so sorry to hear this, huge hugs. You definitely deserve a refund! I know that can't make the photos better but could at least fund a photoshoot or something with your family xx

Before you take any next steps make sure that you get hold of the full res jpegs first so at least you will have those.

900 images sounds a lot which would take a long time to edit unless its just a minimal amount of editing being done. Could explain why so long in arriving.

If she can not do it then I would be happy to edit a few special shots for you and can usually swap shut eyes with open ones if there is a second shot that has other issues but the eyes were ok.

If you would like to send me an email via my website with the upload link I would be happy to take a look at them for you to see if I can help.

Oh no - I had a horrible feeling this would happen - it's what we all dread when spending so much money & it being such a special day. Have you gone back to her at all with any feedback? As Bill says, might be a good idea to get them all in your possession before you say too much.

So sorry you're having to deal with this now - you poor thing xx

Thanks all, and thanks so much Bill for your offer.
We have been sent a link to an online gallery, but can't download any images, only the option to purchase at the moment. We really want to talk to her, find out when we will be receiving the images, she normally sends them by post on USB with presentation box etc (or so we were told in the very beginning), see if there are any more, whether she plans on editing anything etc. From what she told us she's spent hours editing them?

There are some lovely shots, there really are, but a lot of the must haves are just awful, we did feel rushed on the day, but she seemed so confident she had everything she needed we trusted her. The formal shots are what we're most unhappy with - badly posed and washed out, and the instruction we gave to take pictures at each table before/during the meal so that we had pictures of everyone, but at least half the tables are missed and those we do have have half the guests obscured by others. Not enthused with the Bride & Groom portraits either.

Just feels so typical of our entire wedding planning, and it's made me hate everything about our wedding

I'm so so sorry to hear this, if there is any thing I can do to help I would be happy to edit them. Make sure you get the full res images first before you upset her.

As for using the "Hospital admission is what I term a "red flag" used by traders who are not honest"

*** I used that the other day when I had to cancel a meeting because my daughter was rushed in to hospital for a blood clot on her lung, just as well my daughter posted about it a few days later that she is fine now. So it can be true sometimes but in TrixieSaurus case I think she was just trying to stall for time.

The sad thing is we are seeing this on here all the time and sometimes its the same photographer that others are booking, they should be named & shamed if only to save others going through what you are going through now but if you do then wait until you have all your images from her first.

I don't normally agree in naming and shaming but this is now getting worse and people need to know who not to use for their wedding photography.

TrixieSaurus if there is any thing we can do then please do get in touch.

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Thanks Bruce, we really appreciate the advice.

We just spoke to her on the phone. She's upset that we're not happy, as apparently she's never had anyone unhappy with any of her shoots, particularly not weddings.

I basically got very upset, trying not to cry the entire call.

I asked about the previous broken promises and she kept avoiding to answer.

When I mentioned that the shots on the balcony are washed out and half of the frame is a mouldy ceiling, she said she doesn't crop images, it's just not something she does. Well I don't know anyone who wants to hang a picture of them, with the bride and groom and a grim looking ceiling on their wall.... It's not her fault, it was raining, it's all we had to work with. Well, there was inside the venue, there was later in the day when the park was closed, there was the option of not filling half the frame with the ceiling

I mentioned that in some of the shots people looked badly posed, not standing close etc. she said she did keep reminding people to move in close, she kept saying it, so again not her fault...

Also said there didn't seem to be any images on film (also, no one saw her use anything but a digital camera all day...) she says some of the shots are on film and they should be notably different, grainier etc. Well, they're not, at least not to us. She blames the compression of the photos.

She's really disappointed we're not happy. she never promises to have anything back before 12 weeks. The shots are all edited (which is why it takes so long because she has to edit in order).

She says she's going to go through the images and send us some more tonight... Still no idea when we're going to get the lot, properly supplied full res...

Once we have everything we're due, as good as it's going to get, then i'd consider naming, but until then i don't want to jeopardise what little we might get.

Your photographer was probably using a Contax film camera which to a non-photographer will look like a normal digital camera, I'm sure it will be ok, shes probably rushed off her feet. oh and if shes more in to film then she wont be editing any photos like the ceiling one you mentioned.

We've gone over them again, and she's sent some high res images. Cropped the image looks even worse

Maybe that's the way they're intended to be, but everyone we've shared them with agrees they look awful.

It's just that we may as well not have bothered with the formal shots because there's not one single one I'd be happy to print and put in a frame :'( That's the most upsetting. I can't get those photos back. I doubt I'd ever get them all in the same room ever again.

Nothing I can do now. It's done.

At least she managed to find a photo of my grandad looking at the camera i guess.

Oh Trixie this is awful I'm so so sorry. One of your grandad is a silver lining, I'm sure there will be few more xx

Did you see any formal group samples, its been said on here a few times about peoples group shots not being very good from their photographer.

No one likes the idea of standing around for ages doing formal groups but the reality of it is that a good proportion of weddings will have at least a small handful of groups, so to some extent ignore the sample shots that you may see that are not posed because they are pretty much bread a butter but also for others it might be an idea ask to see some samples of groups as well. Unless you absolutely don't want any groups at all.

You will be surprised at what you can do with proper editing by someone that knows what they are doing.

I have nothing constructive to add but just wanted to say how sorry I am that this has happened.

I too think that once you have everything you can get in your hands, you should name and shame- here, on FB, anywhere you can think of really... if you prevent one other couple going through what you have with this or any other 'dodgy' photographer, it will be worth doing.

Hugs Trixie, I am truly gutted for you xx

I'm sorry to hear that but unfortunately given your story I had a sneaky suspicion she was avoiding handing them over because despite what she says, deep down she knows she's messed up.

Cropping, been thinking about this for you overnight and I hope that this makes you feel a little better. I don't crop my shots either, well what I mean is not afterwards.

The native format/aspect ratio from a DSLR is actually quite wide - or tall in your case of the gammy ceiling, but mostly when I compose a shot I am filling the frame with the subject but there are times when you just can not avoid some ugly stuff at the edges, so even at the time of taking the shot im thinking "gonna sort that bad boy later in photoshop"

But the main reason I don't crop is that you would end up with a set of images all different shapes and sizes and then there is the issue when you come to print them at a standard size.

This image below is exactly as I took it in the camera and could be argued that it would look better cropped a little.

If you would like to send me the image then I will see what editing I can do on it for you, hopefully so that you can see what can be done and then enjoy your honeymoon a little better.

Thanks so much Bill.

Having slept on it and gone over and over the gallery there really are some fantastic moments captured, however the formal ones really don't fit in at all.

We don't have any raw files, only a viewing gallery where there's no option to download or even to copy/paste. We should get the files delivered to us when we come back from honeymoon - we're heading off to Heathrow tomorrow afternoon to catch a red eye on Friday morning.

Really hope the next two weeks will be the break we so desperately need!

Have an amazing honeymoon Trixie a very well deserved break xx