Posting a PSA - Photographer NOT recommended!

CollieJade

Hi ladies.  I'm a Nestie now, but was very active on this board back in the day... anyway I wanted to post for an aquaintence of mine.  Her wedding was this past weekend and she booked The Photography Shoppe to photograph her bridals, RD, and wedding.  I don't know much about them and haven't ever heard of them until this weekend (in my business, I work with a LOT of wedding and fashion photographers, but their name has never come up).  At any rate, I was thoroughly horrified by how they dealt with this wedding.  Evidently they have branches in several cities in Tx, LA, and a few other places, and I couldn't locate on their website the name of the exact photog that was scheduled for her wedding, but nevertheless, I wouldn't book any of them for anything based on what went on with the wedding this weekend.

First of all, the photographer was late to photograph her bridals. I ended up unexpectedly bringing something to the bride at her bridal portrait location after the session was scheduled to start, but the photographer was behind me walking in the door almost 30 min late!  Then after the session the bride reminded the photog to be at the rehersal dinner at the designated place/time, and the photographer agreed and said he'd be there, no problem.  He did not show up AT ALL.  The bride and bride's family tried dozens of times to get ahold of the photog both that night and all through the morning and early afternoon of the wedding, but never got a hold of anything but his voicemail.  He did not return any calls.  Finally, the groom ended up calling The Photography Shoppe's location in San Antonio to leave a message, trying to find SOMEONE from this company they had already paid to come show up for the wedding.  Finally, only a couple of hours before the wedding, a female photographer (presumably from the location in SA), called the bride to say "Oh, I've been booked for your wedding for weeks, I'm so excited!"  The bride was like, "Um, what?  Who are you?  I did not book you for the wedding, I booked [male bridal portrait photog]."  No one informed her that this gal was going to be photographing the wedding, and the bridal photographer didn't mention it at the portraits...leading us all to believe that they were just covering their butts by saying they had this gal from SA booked all along.  Regardless, you just don't change the photographer that a bride books to someone else (whose work she has not even seen) without her knowledge or approval.  NOT cool, very unprofessional.

Anyway, I did not intend for this to be such a novel, but I was just so appauled and felt so bad for the bride this weekend that I had to pass on the story so other future brides would be aware.  Keep in mind I was not *in* this wedding, just an innocent bystander, so I'm just sharing what I saw/heard by being with the bride all morning of the wedding.  But I certainly would not have wished her stress over this mishap on anyone, so I hope if you are looking to book this photography group, you use caution!

Good luck and happy planning!

BabyBlueNTexas

Thanks for the notice about them.

I again must stress, that if you are going to use a photography company of more than one photographer (or dj for that matter) that you should insist that the name of the person you want to work the wedding be on the contract. (this is to the general public, not really personally towards you Collie)

It is unfortunate that your friend had to go through this. We fired our photographers a couple weeks back due to not enough good pics from our engagements. We have learned that it is so important to shoot with your photographers well ahead of the wedding, to see how they run their business in person.

CollieJade

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-austin_posting-psa-photographer-not-recommended?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:126Discussion:8ef0872f-e600-48bc-ba0f-ae3678c03117Post:04d28afc-9a87-4e99-81bf-4d241663c6fe">Re: Posting a PSA - Photographer NOT recommended!</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks for the notice about them. I again must stress, that if you are going to use a photography company of more than one photographer (or dj for that matter) that you should <strong>insist that the name of the person you want to work the wedding be on the contract. </strong>
Posted by BabyBlueNTexas[/QUOTE]
GREAT suggestion, for dealings with all vendors. :) And IMO, asking for such specifics on contracts not only protects you as the bride/consumer, but it also protects the vendor as well.  So I wouldn't hesitate to point out to any vendor the benefit of having such a specific contract.  I can't tell you what a nightmare it was for me not to have a really well-defined contract with my wedding florist when I got married...she almost didn't show up on my wedding day and my poor WC ended up doing half of her work for her!

Sorry about your photographer, too!

BabyBlueNTexas

I have seen many brides with the same issues, but the vendor always varies. I saw one bride who was upset that an assistant set up flowers on her cake, as opposed to the florist herself. Although a valid complaint, really if it is not in the contract, all you can do is whine about it, because nothing is holding them to being there. They only have to supply you with what you ordered.

I really hope that your friend ends up with some good photos. It is hard when you have no idea what you are walking into. Thanks again for sharing your experience.

BBNT