Disappointment

So you can probably get from the title that I am disappointed. I don't even know if the word disappointed can even begin to describe how I am feeling. Just a warning, I may go into rant mode. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So I told you guys last week in this post HERE what was going on with our photographers and our wedding photos. Well, after almost an entire week, they FINALLY emailed me back. And what did they say? Well, they pretty much tried to blame everything on the people at our church and other various things. There was no give from them at all. Nothing! Let's just say there was a lot of yelling, swearing and crying on my end after reading this email.

This is probably what I looked like after reading the
email.
Source

I don't understand why they can't just come forward and say, "Ok, we are sorry. We messed up and let us help fix this." To me this email that I got back was them pretty much just trying to cover their asses. They know that the messed up and instead of being a professional and admitting that they screwed up, they are blaming everyone else for what they did wrong. For example, this is what they said about the bad lighting and the shadows on all of our formals;

"The major reason why the images do appear to be grainy has to do with the lack of light in the church. The Father of the church pulled (name) and (name) aside and specifically told them they were not allowed to use any flash inside the church at all, not just during the ceremony. Unfortunately with this kind of limitation combine with the dim lit church and no outside light coming, the images are going to look a bit graininig in compared to other images."


First of all, the church gave us specific guidelines in writing that we gave to these two photographers. In the guidelines it specifically says that commercial flash units are distracting and to not be used at anytime during the ceremony. That is it. It doesn't say that you can't use them after the ceremony and I know for a fact that the Father that married us would not have told them otherwise because he is a very by the book person. He may have said something about not using the flash during the ceremony, but he wouldn't have cared if they used it afterward because he wasn't even there during that time. Also, if they were good photographers, they would have been able to get great shots without using a flash. And to make my point even more, all of the photos that were taken during the ceremony without flash in the same location look great. There is nothing wrong with them. So again, I ask how did they mess these particular pictures up so badly?

At this point I don't even know where to go with this. It took everything that I had last night not to write back with a bitch email. And it is still taking everything I have not to. I don't know if I should just say screw it and ask for our final invoice so that I can get the discs with our pictures. Or should I keep fighting it and try to get them to lower the price for us? I really don't feel comfortable paying what we owe them considering that they didn't do their job the way that they should have. I am starting to think at this point that they probably won't do crap anyways. They obviously don't care to have happy customers because I am definitely not happy and I have expressed that and they do not feel the need to try and do anything to fix it.

Oh don't worry though, once I do have those discs in hand, the wedding websites are going to blow up with the reviews that I give them. It won't be pretty. Nor will I EVER recommend them to anyone that I know. Maybe they should have thought about that before they decided they wouldn't do anything. Especially considering that I know at least two people that are planning weddings right now and had they done a good job, I definitely would have recommended them, but definitely will not now. Word of mouth and reviews on those sites are big in this industry. Sucks for them!

Either way our pictures will not be what I want them to be and there isn't anything I can do about it. I think the reason that this is so hard for me is because first of all, pictures are what you look back on to really remember your big day and now for me, every time that I look at them, I get upset about what they didn't do or messed up on. Also, my family all being in one place at the same time and actually being cordial with each other is something that doesn't happen often or actually ever! And the fact that the only pictures documenting this HUGE accomplishment for my family are the ones that are messed up is very heart breaking.

This whole issue is a really hard thing to push past but I will have to do it. I need to just think about the shots that we did get and that we are married now and that is what is important. It is a lot easier said then done though. I am however going to have more pictures taken of me and my dress by a completely different photographer. Hopefully this will help with that feeling of disappointment.

Thanks again for reading guys. I really appreciate all the support that you guys have given me on this subject. Without you guys and your comments, I may have gone crazy and started thinking that I was being unreasonable, but you guys have been amazing at assuring me that I was very much right in what I have been feeling over this issue. Thanks again guys and have a great day and hopefully my next few posts will be a tad happier than these past few.