Wedding Forum - Should I panic yet?...

Booked photographer from Groupon, read reviews etc and all good.

Met up and he was lovely and really felt that he would do a good job, explained what photos we really wanted and where we wanted them taking etc and to not mention the word "parents" as H2B mum wasnt going.

Text message at 10.15am morning of the wedding to myself and my H2B to say he was ill and was sending someone else but he wouldnt be there till 12ish (wedding at 1pm) - great - burst into tears as I really wanted him there for the bridal prep.

Got to the church - no photos taken with myself and the bridesmaids or my dad or getting out the car etc, got into the church and throughout the whole service was in everyones faces taking photos - even moving my brother out of the way who was doing the video of the vows for me - then put a massive spotlight on everyone.

He had had no brief at all about what photos we wanted and we found ourselves directing him all day - his english was not great which was another barrier, we havent got any where near what photos we wanted, we had to get him to the venue as he had arrived at the church in a taxi and couldnt get to the venue. Kept shouting "parents, parents to the front" - photographed the first dance then left - he was supposed to set up a back drop and take photos till 10.30 (he left at 9 after we brought the first dance forward for him so he could get a taxi home).

I messaged the guy we had the contract with on the tuesday following the wedding to see whether he was ok and what happens now, he messaged me back "you will get your discs within 2 weeks"

Its now been over 2 weeks and he is not replying to any messages?

Should we be worried?

sounds like he's taken the pi$$ tbh, you didn't receive the service you paid for, for a start! I'd get my photo's then try to claim some, if not all of the money back.

Definitely be chasing this up. Granted I would be furious from the start, the fact he texted instead of calling (unless he could speak or something) and then changes your schedule and leaves out pictures that you wanted. I understand that the fill in photographer was just that, a fill in, but he should of been fully informed on what you wanted and not to just do as he pleases. I really hope you have some good pictures from this guy xxx

Thanks everyone - thought I might be being a bit pushy.

We are going to sue him for breech of contract (once we get the photos etc) and try and reclaim some money back but at the minute I just want a reply even if its to say its going to be longer.

Will keep you updated - If we havent recieved a reply to the latest message by 6pm I am phoning him!

part of me is wondering as because it was groupon, he pretty much took the money, bunged a mate a few quid then went off to do something else that was full price?

All the best hun! I really hope the pictures you get are good.

Chase him up as it was your day and they should of made it easy for pics and vid I really hope it all works out x

Thats what i was thinking Velcro that he got another job at full price. It sucks that it happened and if he was gonna jump at a full price job when it comes along he probably shouldn't bother with the offer as it just causes issues :( x

I really hope he is reading this thread and thinking "what a sh@t I have been"

there are a couple of addresses and it does say studio just dont know. I have replied to his email asking whether we can go over this evening and pick the disc up - if he has nothing to hide then he should say yes.

He promised us 2 discs - 1 B & W 1 Colour now he is down to disc - singular! The stand in never stopped all day taking photos so I expect alot of photos!

Finally after no communication, no answering the phone we have our "disc" - 959 photos on there.

Wow I hear you say thats a lot of photos - well not really, not when you consider that most of them are duplicated so that takes it down to under 500, 50% of those left have one of us with our eyes closed, approx 50 photos of my dad/husband/best man's faces whilst they are doing their speeches none of the guests reactions. And the rest, all I can say is that a 3 year old would have done a better job, no soft focus, no touch up, no photo shop.

Hubby said to me last night how are you going to find 50 to put in an album - I am lucky if we can find 20.

So I am now going to write a very strongly worded letter to Groupon, wait for my album and then I am going to write another to him.

Very disappointed but I am not going to let it ruin a perfect day - hindsight is a wonderful thing

I am hoping they can - just need someone who is savy with a computer to do it :(

That's such a shame. I hope you can get the photos edited. I would definitely sue the guy. Even if he was genuinely ill he should have passed the work on to a suitably skilled substitute and made sure that he was properly briefed.

I'm really sorry to hear this :-(

I'll be honest: to me it sounds like a scam. This guy acts as the front man, with no intentions of showing up, and then sends some else, possibly not even a professional, in his place. I would always be really wary of Groupon for anything like this, and I would definitely write to them. They may well have had other complaints, so the sooner they stop using this guy, the better.

Re the album, definitely see if you can edit any of them. Maybe also play around with black and white, as that can sometimes improve things. Also, ask friends and family to share their photos with you; I'm sure plenty of people will have taken photos and again, with a bit of cropping and editing they might well be album-worthy :-)

Oh sweet I am so sorry this has happened to you. Definately get in touch with friends and family and see if anyone has any photos they can share with you. Hopefully that will help.

Have done that for you lala :)

nikki40 - I really hope you can get some compensation. Good luck with the editing - as others have said sometime s a bit of cropping and changing to black and white can do wonders.

Hi guys, well we received a full refund from grouP0n today and they are not using him and have closed down his offers so a small victory but he is advertising his deals now on the book of face. No money in the world is going to give me back my day with a good photographer but I am still not going to let him ruin my memories

Please remember brides and grooms to be, if you are taking any kind of deal from a supplier make sure that should you be let down on the day you have a back up plan, ask your supplier to put in your contract what they would do in an emergency and make triple sure before your big day that you have final meetings to discuss everything. Make sure they write your requirements down to be easily passed on should the need arise but most importantly no matter what happens on the day just remember why your getting married and don't let it spoil it . Xx

I am really glad you got your money back but I am so sorry that you have suffered as a result of it :(

So pleased you got full refund :)
Could you do some re do shots like Kel suggested and maybe something different as in shots that you wouldn't want to have done on day due to risk of dirt to dress ?

Hiya, I've booked a groupon deal through grace studios in Bristol. Do you have the name of the photographer please? I get married 3 weeks today!! Xx