Wedding photographer disaster

Mollybloom22

Hi.
Just wondered if anyone has advice. Got married recently and paid€1000 up front to wedding photographer. Was supposed to cover the shots for the day and an album with 20 prints. Got photographs on a USB. They are awful, Really badly taken- no editing - terrible. In addition the photographer is now refusing to provide the album although that was the offer clearly posted on his website at the time. He says that offer only applied to mid week weddings.
Totally disillusioned and upset by the whole experience and situation.

amdublin

Was there any contract?

Or email exchanges? Or is the offer still on the web? Or a receipt for the deposit detailing the offer.

Any proof at all of what you should have got?

Mollybloom22

I have a screen shot of the offer from the time. He says the offer only applied to mid week weddings. That's not specified on web though.
Can t remember if we signed anything at the time.

Liam McPoyle

If he is been a dick tell him you will be bringing him to the small claims court unless he stops acting the bollox.

If he doesn't stop acting the bollox, bring him to the small claims court!

blindside88

Coleman Slawski wrote: »

If he is been a dick tell him you will be bringing him to the small claims court unless he stops acting the bollox.

If he doesn't stop acting the bollox, bring him to the small claims court!

As the above poster said... Also tell him you have contacted the local newspaper and they are running a story on it showing some of the shoddy photos. In this industry reputation is everything, I'd say you'd get an answer quickly enough

almorris

Yeah, reputation is everything in this business, especially with social media et al. What's worse than not being found on the net? Loads of negative comments about you on the net. €1000 is a lot for images only with no album. It's even a lot for images and an album and 20 prints.
In my experience not too many people are paying €1000 for images only with no editing. It would be interesting to know just what he/she did do editing wise. Some photographers give clients all the images so they can select which one's are to go into an album. Otherwise I would expect a reasonably heavy cull of unnecessary multiple images ( ie group shots with 3, 4 , 5, photos taken in succession ) the under/over exposed images, poor compositions, heads and arms protruding into an image etc. Also I would expect color correction to adjust for different lighting on people, ie tungsten lights in the church and venue which can make an image over orangey etc.

Good luck, take care.

Al Morris

CinSoots

Did you have a contract signed with him? I'm presuming not but if you did then it should state clearly what is being supplied and you go from there. If you don't have a contract then I'm afraid there is pretty much nothing you can do as it will be your word against his.

While its neither here nor there but somebody supplying full day plus an album for that price is very cheap and the lack of a contract also should have set alarm bells ringing.

Mollybloom22

Thanks All for advice.
I did meet him since where he edited some images. Nothing had been done to originals on disc.
He's supposedly a professional photographer but he didn t do the work himself on the day. He assured me the guy he had working for us was a professional also. I shouldn't t have taken his word!

Gatica

That's pretty bad. If you're hiring a photographer, you're hiring him, not a substitute... He'd have needed a pretty damn good reason for not shooting the wedding himself.

Toots

Exactly. Did he say why he wasn't shooting the wedding himself?

I remember when I got married the photographer went through what would happen if for some extreme reason he couldn't do our wedding (ie illness or bereavement) and he had a back-up photographer whose details he gave to us (his website, contact details etc) and also showed us some of the guy's portfolio to make sure we were happy that we'd be getting the same quality shots. I think this is pretty standard for most professonial photographers. Even if the sub shot the wedding, our photographer would be editing the images.

At this stage I'd be threatening the small claims court if he doesn't deliver your images as he was supposed to do, it might light a bit of a fire under him. You don't happen to know anyone in the legal profession who you could ask about this by any chance?

Milly33

sounds nasty I hope you get some come back from him.. Shame you have paid him all the money as I would defiantly hold off on the rest if. Special since he didn't honor what he said if he was suppose to take the photos he was suppose to take the photos..

Name and shame and spread the word you might help some other bride to be out but not going to him

Gatica

Mollybloom22 wrote: »

I have a screen shot of the offer from the time. He says the offer only applied to mid week weddings. That's not specified on web though.
Can t remember if we signed anything at the time.

Word contracts are as legally binding as written ones, it's trying to prove there was one in place that's the hard part. However, having a saved snapshot of what he offers I think is better than nothing. Certainly if he didn't provide you with a contract, that's as much his fault. I'd go ahead with a case against him, as it seems that his site is not clear in what he was offering you and he played on that.

Toots

Please do not name and shame anyone on the thread.

Fionn

The often used quote 'a verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on' might apply here!
while it may be a binding contract, it is difficult to enforce and prove in a court unless you have witness testimony to backup and verify the agreement and any supporting correspondence between you and the photographer.

Unfortunately agreements like this fall apart over the details, an oral contract might be grand for a trade of goods or buying goods, but for contracts with finer points like services being offered, you do need to set out the requirements and the best way to do this is in writing.

I know it's too late for the OP, but this has been stated many times here and other places
(perhaps this portion could be put up as a sticky re: vendors)
Make sure you get a written and signed agreement/contract.
Make sure it sets forth your exact requirements, that there's no ambiguity as to prices products and services to be delivered.
Any good photographer will, after the consultation stage and prior to the date, have a contract drawn up in duplicate where, upon agreement both parties will sign, date and retain a copy for reference, should there be any dispute further down the line.