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The Wait for Photos?

christi.mayochristi.mayo member
First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment
in Snarky Brides

Hi all,

Whoo-hoo, we did it! H and I officially tied the knot on September 28th, and couldn't be happier. Wanted to get some advice from brides on here about how long it took to get your photos from the photographer after the wedding.

Our contract stated "Photographs are to be delivered to the client no later than eight weeks from the wedding date" - To do the math, we are just past 9 weeks. While I understand that we just went through "peak wedding season", and that this process takes time, 8 weeks seems more than adequate to me, and, based on our contract, I see no reason why it should take longer than that.

I've called, texted, e-mailed with no response hoping at least for updates, and the only response that I've gotten is that the photographer wanted to deliver the photos "before the holidays". Now, with about 3 weeks til Christmas, we are wondering if we will even be able to get prints of the photos we wanted to give as Christmas gifts.

Any advice?

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Re: The Wait for Photos?

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    HisGirlFriday13HisGirlFriday13 member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited December 2013
    I'd send another message and say that you expect your photos by X date and you expect a refund of money given the breach of contract. I would also say that you would hate to leave negative feedback and/or have to take legal action but if you are left with no recourse, you will do both.

    I think eight weeks is plenty of time and even if it's not, they are contractually obligated to meet it.

    'Before the holidays' could technically mean Dec.23, but that doesnt help you with the timing of what you want yo do with the photos.

    ETA: Fix typo.
    Anniversary

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    I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'
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    southernbelle0915southernbelle0915 mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Ditto HGF - every word.
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    misssunshine17misssunshine17 member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    HisGirlFriday13 said:
    I'd send another message and say that you expect your photos by X date and you expect a refund of money given the breach of contract. I would also say that you would hate to leave negative feedback and/or have to take legal action but if you are left with no recourse, you will do both. I think eight weeks is plenty of time and even if it's not, they are contractually obligated to meet it. 'Before the holidays' could technically mean Dec.23, but that doesnt help you with the timing of what you want yo do with the photos. ETA: Fix typo.
    This is all well and good, but what if they don't deliver any pictures and OP is left without any? I would try nicely one more time before you throw out legal action. 
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    afox007afox007 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    misssunshine17 said:
    HisGirlFriday13 said:
    I'd send another message and say that you expect your photos by X date and you expect a refund of money given the breach of contract. I would also say that you would hate to leave negative feedback and/or have to take legal action but if you are left with no recourse, you will do both. I think eight weeks is plenty of time and even if it's not, they are contractually obligated to meet it. 'Before the holidays' could technically mean Dec.23, but that doesnt help you with the timing of what you want yo do with the photos. ETA: Fix typo.
    This is all well and good, but what if they don't deliver any pictures and OP is left without any? I would try nicely one more time before you throw out legal action. 
    I second this. Try nicely one more time since they do still have all your pics. I would rather get my wedding photos than a refund. We had to play nice last night with FI ex ILs. They had FI's son for the weekend and decided last minute to come back today and just let him miss school. I wanted to flip out on them, but FI made me play nice and pointed out since son was with them they could just make it harder to get him back . Same logic applies to the pics sadly. 
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    princessleia22princessleia22 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment First Answer
    If you don't get some decent response soon, I would point out to them, in writing, that they are already past the deadline stated in your contract. I would say something along the lines of "I understand that sometimes there are delays and I feel we have waited very patiently, especially with your lack of communication & response to our inquiries. I hope that you can still deliver our photos in a timely manner, as we had expected to receive them by now and this delay is now affecting plans we had for their use. We would rather not take any negative approaches, but if timely delivery isn't possible, we may be forced to pursue legal action. If this isn't resolved very quickly, we would also expect at least a partial refund of our cost, since you are in violation of the contract agreement. We are very appreciative of all the hard work that you have done so far to help capture the memories of our wedding day and we hope that we can complete this transaction in a pleasant manner."  

    I luckily haven't come across it often, but I have had a couple instances where something wasn't getting completed as expected and just the mention of possible legal action, in writing, always got the results I was hoping to get.  I try to say it nicely though... and so far I haven't had anyone get angry with me or anything over it and I've never had to pursue any further action. There is a fine line though, because you don't want to upset them too much and have them "accidentally lose" your photos or something.  But, I also wouldn't hesitate to provide them with a deadline that you expect them by.  If you were planning to use them for the holidays, go ahead and tell the photographer that you NEED the pictures no later than Fri. Dec. 13 (or whatever date you want to insert) to prevent further inconveniences to you and delays to your plans.

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    christi.mayochristi.mayo member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment

    Thanks everyone for your input! Based on what everyone said, I sent her a firm but polite e-mail yesterday. She didn't respond, so I called her. Right after I left her a message, she e-mailed me back saying she had had a problem with one of her external hard drives and had been playing catch-up working off her back-up files. Why this wasn't communicated to me before, I had no idea.

    Long story short, she said she "hoped" to have the pictures to me by this Saturday. Is it appropriate that I e-mail back saying that I expect them no later than that (in a nice way)?

    Thanks again for the advice!

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    thelastdreamerthelastdreamer member
    First Answer 5 Love Its First Anniversary First Comment
    Just say you look forward to see them Saturday and will contact her Sunday if you don't hear from her. 
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    delujm0delujm0 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper

    Once you have the photos in your possession, I'd think about at least leaving some negative reviews...i completely understand her having equipment failure issues, but she knew she was running behind, she knew she was missing deadlines, and instead of emailing you in advance to warn you of the delay, she just missed her deadline and said nothing?  That's terrible customer service.

     

    If i was in this position, as soon as I had those pictures back i would leave reviews about my experience everywhere i could find to do so.  i wouldn't want other brides to expect professionalism from this person and then not get it.  If she had done the professional thing and emailed me a week before the deadline to explain the delay and give me a firm date that the pictures would be ready by, i would let it slide.  But she didn't do that.  I would take action.

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    Rebl90Rebl90 member
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    delujm0 said:

    Once you have the photos in your possession, I'd think about at least leaving some negative reviews...i completely understand her having equipment failure issues, but she knew she was running behind, she knew she was missing deadlines, and instead of emailing you in advance to warn you of the delay, she just missed her deadline and said nothing?  That's terrible customer service.

     

    If i was in this position, as soon as I had those pictures back i would leave reviews about my experience everywhere i could find to do so.  i wouldn't want other brides to expect professionalism from this person and then not get it.  If she had done the professional thing and emailed me a week before the deadline to explain the delay and give me a firm date that the pictures would be ready by, i would let it slide.  But she didn't do that.  I would take action.

    I agree with this, she's running a business and because she is not holding to the contract she is not running her business well.
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    orwhatuwillorwhatuwill member
    First Comment First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its
    Did you get wedding insurance? "Problems with external hard drive" could be code for "oh, crap, I deleted the files"...
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