As most of you know, me and hubby have been together 16 years, and when we decided to marry, we wanted small and intimate, but we went all out for a gorgeous hotel with fabulous gardens for our pictures.....(Being a photographer it was important to me)
I made so much stuff for the wedding I wanted it properly documented. And I photographed a wedding for a friend last year, who did the same for me this year. She photographed a wedding with me 2 months ago and her shots were great but OUR wedding photos are AWFUL!

There are a good 70% blurred pictures, that cannot be used at all. she took 8 or 9 of the same shot, silly shots, then just 1 group shot where 4 of us were blinking.
She wasnt there at key moments like me arriving in the car, and basically the shots that arnt blurred are mediocre at best.

My friends and family took some good pictures so I can between everyones pictures, make up a decent enough album......
But I am most upset about is ALL of the ceremony shots are blurred.....ALL of them. my son walking me in, ring on my finger, the kiss one WAS clear......but half my head is missing......

I am speechless. it meant SO MUCH to me, more than anything else and they are total sh1t.

She edited some of them saying it was some of her best shots..........well here is one of them, each bridesmaid has 2 heads! she has cloned around the brickwork and done an appaling job. it WOULD have been a nicer picture if she had asked them to move away from the wall signs.......

she gave me 400 photos and I bet if I can pick out 25 , thats about it.

but the rest dont matter, it was the ceremony ones I cant get from my guests, that I wanted. because the guests were not taking pics of the ceremony, only SHE was, and they are diabolical. there are loads of things you can do with darkness, or colour , but if its blurred its only fit for the bin. I can get rid of a certain amount of blur by sharpening a little bit, but these are way past that.....

I paid her, and although it was mates rates, I feel I paid her too much. This meant so much to me, and she never once checked what she was taking.......there were loads of blinks, feet cut off. I am sitting looking at them in despair.

OK I can tell her I hate them, even ask for my money back......but it wont put any of this right will it.....

here is one she is proud of.......look at the extra hair and heads ....HOW can she think this is accaptable?

i can see that two on the right have an extra head/ hair, hope im looking at the right one. also what you mean about the brick work.
i really dont no what to suggest apart from talk to her about how you feel. sorry im useless at this kinda thing :(

What would you do? what should I say to her? I am not great at this sort of thing.

Maybe suggest she pay for someone to correct them? but I doubt it can be done

I think her photo is too dark, although this could probably be slightly fixed with a photo editing programme, and its awful set up being by the brick wall. I wouldnt be proud of that photo at all.

I would speak to her hun, ask her if she would be happy with this set of photos of her own wedding, point out the things you arnt happy with and see if she can refund you. At least your son managed to get some half decent phtos for you, although i know thats no consolation x x

Did she not take all these photos in RAW? At least then they can pretty much saved no matter what, unless like you say they are blurry. I would write her an email pointing out why you are not happy and that you feel you have not got your moneys worth and there is now no way she can rectify this as the day has come and gone, so a refund is the only way to go. Possibly if she could send you ALL photos in raw format you might be able to save a few more? So gutted for you hon, this is any brides absolute nightmare xx

Oh no D: I can't imagine anything being more dissapointing that not liking the wedding photos, I hope you can salvage some good ones from them. ): x

I'm so sorry that you didn't get the photos you wanted, tell your other guests about it and maybe they will have some nice photos you dont know about. Did you have a lovely wedding day? xxxx

Thanks girls, I have spoken to family and friends and have seen their pictures, and between them all I think I can pretty much do a decent enough album.......the one above that my son took is not that great quality as its been uploaded to flickr to re-size, then downloaded to my PC, then uploaded here......so its lost quality and sharpness, but the original image is perfect. he took quite a few, and they are all good ones. But no one took ceremony pictures as she was the one with prime position.......and messed them up.

What mystifies me is.....she is PLEASED with them????// WTF? what are her standards then?

It wouldnt upset me so much but the wedding she worked on 6 weeks ago.......perfect! mind you I set the poses up for her, but no focussing issues at all on that day.....only mine!

I am waiting for her to send the RAW files, and going to ask around if anyone could salvage the ceremony pictures, even if it means sharpening, turning them black and white and making them slightly smaller so the blur isnt quite so obvious.....I HAVE to have them, they would have been lovely if she had watched what she was doing and checked her bloody camera settings.

She was inside, and although had been given permission to use flash so how come she didnt? I dont always get to use flash, but I DO know how to work my camera ....just hike up the ISO and put on a bright lens......
Maureen is obviously not good enough to cope with these situations.......just because she has a camera......doesnt make her a photographer....

in fact this picture I took without flash and I really like it

I was miles away with a long lens, and I was not allowed to use flash......but I would have been more than happy with this if it was mine...it was better than not getting one at all.....or getting something like I got

Excuse the pun but **Not looking forward to seeing pictures..** :-( hopefully you manage to get some decent ones sorted for your album xx

OK So get ready for this........brace yourselves.......

I asked for detailed shots of my dress........This I CAN re-do myself, I will just hang it up and put my bouquet and shoes near it......I do it all the time , but does she think THIS is a detailed dress shot? and then again theres the blurry-ness too



This is my son and daughter, quite a good picture apart from having no feet.....I will have to square it off and have head and shoulder shots



this has upset me the most......all the ceremony pics were blurred......this, astonishly wasn'tt the worst one!



then the giving of the ring with all our 4 kids looking on smiling......but you cant see them smiling I am afraid



Then signing the register surrounded by our 4 kids.....as they were all witnesses



This picture is not bad......but still not to my standard as I would have tidied the dress before taking the picture......I had a lovely long train and its hidden behind me and the front is puckered, but I suppose its better than the previous lot



I am going to see my brother as I know he took some, so I will see what he got.......

I dont even think having the RAW files will rectify these....

I'm so sorry for you, if you can retake the detail shots yourself and you know someone who can help out or maybe even hire a proper photographer for a post wedding shoot? We're having a post wedding shoot next month and for 4 hours it's 325 including having hair and make up done, post editing and all photos hi-res, at a location to be decided - could be a lovely memento and luckily for you you still have your bouquet etc to re-use - you could have your children in it too and at least have your lovely group photos re-done?

Not only sideways, but backwards too... all you can see is the lacing, not the front! I can see why you're disappointed hun, they're definitely not of the quality I'd have expected from someone I was paying. The last photo is quite nice, although even as a non-photographer I can see it could have been set up better. Seriously have a chat with her, it's not right that you've been let down so badly, I understand how awkward you feel about confronting her, if it were me, I'd ring her and say there are some problems with some of the photos, sit down together with the photos that she took at both weddings and show her where and how far the quality between the two sets had dropped.

PS: You still look gorgeous though hun, even being a little bit blurry! x

she does have a pretty good camera, and as far as I know it was a new lens......but I would never cut my teeth on new items on someone elses wedding....I like to use tried and trusted stuff......

I am finding it difficult to think of something to say, because she is obviously thrilled with them......she was proud of them, so our ideas of quality differ considerably......

Hubby just got home and is furious......he asked if she was using a fisher price camera, or was she just f****** blind or stupid......to take a blurred picture and CARRY ON taking them without even checking them in between, because surely if she HAD checked, she would have seen they were completely sh1te.

Did you get anything from her in writing or was it done as a favour for you? I would defo sit down and talk to her, she needs to understand how upset you are and for the sake of other people if nothing else tell her she needs another hobby! Xxx

:( They're terrible. Looking at them makes me so sad. I hope you get a full refund.

Surprisingly, Andy is well up for doing a re-shoot.......I think all we would need to do is borrow the registry office room for 30 minutes, and re-take those pictures. all it would mean is just us two, and the bridesmaids.....not the guests because they were not in the shots anyway. Do you think that the register office would allow it?

I dont mind paying or anything, we would just turn up after the last wedding of the day and take the pictures and go.....I know its not the perfect solution, and we will always know they were staged, but I cant show them to anyone as they are.....they are diabolical.

I would also like some taking in the gardens too, that might be more of a challenge because of the lighting....it has to be the same kind of day as we had, but if we couldnt get them, then just the inside ones would be great to have.

Sorry to hear this, I would ask for your money back and it's worth asking the registry office x x

oh hun i have to say they are absolutely rubbish!!! the first picture you posted the girl in the lilac dress has some form a deformaty coming out of her shoulder and i can see all the hands and extra heads! i mean WTH!!!!!! i would seriously tell her that her work is absolute garbage and she needs to go for some more training!!!

Have you had a chance to have a word yet? I have had a look on my iPad so the pics are bigger, and you're right they are practically unusable.

Xx

Well I have written her a letter......I cant ring her because I cant string 2 words together without getting upset about it. I told her not to ring here, because I am still so cut up about it and she definately dont want Andy answering the phone.

She is SUPPOSED to be a professional, a photographey teacher.....WTF???

ANYWAY, I have emailed the registry office, but no reply yet, and I am pretty sure the hotel will accomadate us for the garden shots and staircase shots she missed......I mean for christs sake, thats why we booked the hotel because of its beautiful grounds and how stunning the pictures would be.

I have contacted a photographer who is brilliant, and wanted to book him for the wedding but he was booked for Barbados on our wedding day so it would be great to have the photographer I originally wanted.

I actually am thinking about suing her, its not the money, I dont care about the money. She has robbed me of my memories. She cant ruin what was a perfect day, but I have nothing to show for it. I told her the very least she could do is pay for the re-shoot......

luckily we all have our dresses and bouquets.

Andy mentioned about the girls hair styles etc.....but if Kev can do all the pics, then the continuity will still be there because we would be using HIS photos.....apart from the odd ones that she took.......

The cake cutting shot is good, so we will use that, and also that saves on buying a cake to cut.
I know that I will always know they are fake pictures, and that its a mock-up, but I want to be able to look at some lovely pictures, whereas the ones I have will never be put into an album at all, because I cant bear to look at them.

A photoshoot wouldnt be a problem at all, in the grounds of somewhere beautiful, but I NEED to have those ceremony pics, and I think the only way to get them is by going to the register office to re-create them.

Legobride.......I constantly asked her are you ok with this, if you dont think you can do it then dont........but she assured me it was fine and that she had experience. (in what I am not sure)

I have urged her to either get a new camera, or a new lens, then some glassess and a new bloody job, because photography is not the job she should be doing, and I would hate any other couple to go through what I am going through now.

I just cant get over how ALL the ceremony pictures are rotten......if she checked her camera then she would have SEEn they were rubbish.......so if she DID check and still carried on shooting then I am amazed.

this was her email to me

Hi Anne,
I understand from your post that you are very unhappy with your shots. Note that they are unedited. I think the best way to deal with this is to send you the Raw files as said, plus give me 6 weeks to do my own editing and I will also return the money you gave me. I didn't want to spoil your day and am devastated that this has happened. I will get on it asap. The Raw files will be with you by tomorrow




But she cant edit to save her life!

omg anne ive just come across this now....i hope u copied and pasted her status etc and u can get her on slander etc....what a *^&&%^&*^&$%£
so sorry for you and hope it turns out for the best!!!
love xxxx

This has made me cry, Raggedy Anne, i am so sorry they're bad :'(

I know it isn't the same but could you not organise a photo shoot with someone else and stage wedding photographs of you, husband kids etc etc?

That way at least you'll all look lovely in your finery etc etc

Oh Anne I am so sorry to hear this, after all your hard work leading up to the day.

I'm afraid I'm not good at advice on what to say to your friend but I really hope that you can salvage some of the pictures and get use of the registry room again to do a re-shoot.

HUGS!!!

xxx

Oh no what a nightmare!! I am so sorry that this has taken over from your amazing day. And now she has blocked you!?!?! Well not much of a friend really is she!

I have eyes, toes, fingers and legs crossed that you can use the registry office room. xx