Wedding Photography and Videography Forum

How bad are these missed photographer shots?

Hi Ladies! 
I just got married a few weeks ago and our photographer got back to us with a whopping 1,200 photos! They really did a fantastic job overall, bringing extra team members and working within our budget. They have said they captured EVERYTHING, but I'm not quite sure. They missed these shots which I consider key: 
1) My reaction walking down aisle towards husband. Only have shots from the back. 2) Our gorgeous escort card table with all the cards lined up. 
3) Solo shots of me. We have zero solo portraits of me in my gown and veil and bouquet. I'm pretty torn up about this.
They have given us many excuses why we don't have these from a rushed timeline to pushy guests, to no guaranteed shots... but when it comes down to it, are these photos that are acceptable to miss? 
I'm happy with the work, yet super disappointed not to have these photos, just not sure if I'm being unreasonable. 

Answers

  • Did you specifically request those shots before your wedding? And did they have a second shooter or just extra help?


  • Hi Ladies! 
    I just got married a few weeks ago and our photographer got back to us with a whopping 1,200 photos! They really did a fantastic job overall, bringing extra team members and working within our budget. They have said they captured EVERYTHING, but I'm not quite sure. They missed these shots which I consider key: 
    1) My reaction walking down aisle towards husband. Only have shots from the back. 2) Our gorgeous escort card table with all the cards lined up. 
    3) Solo shots of me. We have zero solo portraits of me in my gown and veil and bouquet. I'm pretty torn up about this.
    They have given us many excuses why we don't have these from a rushed timeline to pushy guests, to no guaranteed shots... but when it comes down to it, are these photos that are acceptable to miss? 
    I'm happy with the work, yet super disappointed not to have these photos, just not sure if I'm being unreasonable. 


    The no solo shots of you I'd be surprised about. Did you take picture like this the day of and not get any back, or did you not take any? 

    More broadly, did you give the photographer a photo list? Did you stop and request any specific photos (particularly your individual shots) the day of? 

    Some me of this might be that there aren't good photos of these times, maybe they didn't take them, but if they don't exist I'm not sure there is much you can do. 
  • Did you give them a list of shots you wanted with these included? If not, then there's not much you can do unfortunately.

    But I totally understand the disappointment with #1 and #3. Trust me, you will not give a hoot about #2 in 30 years.

    It does seem odd to me that an experienced wedding photographer would have zero solo shots. And if there were two shooters, that one didn't get the back view of the processional and one the front. Were these people actual experienced wedding photographers? You said they worked within your budget, so I wonder if this is a "get what you pay for" situation. 
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  • Thanks so much everyone! 
    To clarify - 
    No shot list given besides important family and formals. They are all about trust and had mentioned they get put off when brides give shot lists of the things which they consider a given. I almost have to agree - aren't these shots pretty much a given? Thats my struggle. What's considered standard and what's not? 
    Or is there really no standard? 

    My photogs aren't a huge established name, but they are getting there. While they were gracious enough to work with our budget, it wasn't as if we went cheap and mediocre.Very talented and have done some high profile weddings in the past year since we hired them. They added extra team members on their own. We were contracted for 2 photo 1 video and got 3 photographers and 2 videographers as a surprise. So you know, they are good people. 
     
    Solo shots - they never set them up, so they don't exist. I didn't even realize until the day after the wedding and prayed I must have forgotten a part of the day. But nope, no solo shots which is definitely the most disappointing. At least we got the ceremony from a couple other angles. We asked for an unplugged ceremony (go figure!) so not sure what out guests have. And maybe one of our friends/family grabbed a pic of the escort card table. 


  • They are all about trust and had mentioned they get put off when brides give shot lists of the things which they consider a given. 


    Hindsight is 20/20 but this would have been a red flag for me. My photogs missed shots I thought were given too. We never gave them a list - it's our bad. If they had said "oh we don't want to be told what shots to take" I would have been like "well I'm paying you, so here's my shot list and I want you to take all the shots listed. kthxbye"

    Here's the thing though, you don't have these shots and you don't have a case to mitigate (or litigate, if you were considering it) that. By continuing to revisit this, you'll just get yourself worked up and sad. It's ok to dwell for a little bit and vent, but you will be happier if you start focusing on the great photos and memories you DO have. 
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  • Never even thought of or had plans at all to pursue anything legal of course - no grounds and not worth it in any way at all.  

    Considering this is only happened a day ago, I think I'm still within an appropriate time frame to "mourn" what could have been before moving on and enjoying all the good stuff I did get! 
  • If #3 is really stuck in your craw, you could always get all fancied up and do a mini solo session with a photographer. 

    Sorry that you didn't get all the photos you would have liked. It's totally ok to mourn a bit. Congratulations on your wedding though!!  I am sure it was lovely. 
  • As far as #1 and #3 go, I don't think it's unreasonable at all that you aren't happy. I am especially surprised that they didn't do any formal shots of just you. That is very strange. #2 is a pretty standard shot nowadays, but not as serious a thing to miss as the others. Let yourself have some time to be upset about this, and then try to focus on the good photos you do have and how happy your wedding day was. Don't let this ruin your memories entirely.

    That said, I want to put this out there for the lurkers and anyone who's new to all this: while I firmly believe you shouldn't micromanage your vendors, you also have every right to speak up when something doesn't seem right to you. You are paying these people for a service; they are not friends doing you a favor. This is their business, and if they can't take someone asking questions or making reasonable requests, that's their problem. 
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  • I realize I'm late to this thread but now that I think about it, I don't think I have any solo shots of me either. I never really liked the whole pensive "bride stares out window at her future" type photos anyway. We went with a photographer who had a more photo-journalistic style. 

    I do understand being disappointed over not getting a specific shot. Of all the family portraits, we didn't have one with my parents, husband, sister, and BIL. Plenty of photos of these folks in other combinations, but none of just "MY" family. But, I blame that on myself for not writing it down on the list (yes, my photog accepted a list and even had it built into her website). 

    At the end of the day, you can't recreate the day. I second the advice to treasure the photos you DO have. With 1200 to choose from I'm sure you'll have a gorgeous album. 
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