Warning: ridiculously long post-and-run rant ahead. I promise this will be the last time I vent about this guy, but I just have to get it all out.
My photographer was ridiculously unprofessional on our wedding day. He was disorganized (even forgot our shot list), bossy, wouldn't listen to what I or anyone else wanted, and didn't get half the formal shots I was hoping for, because he's ploddingly slow and overdirects all of them.
As for candid shots, well, I have no idea what he got, because it's been three months since our wedding and we still have nothing besides some teasers. I got in touch with him multiple times about how things were going and kept getting, "oh, I'm working on the wedding before yours, it'll just be another month or so". After he'd called yesterday to say he finally finished up, I thought the wait was over. I was wrong.
As it turns out, he refused to turn anything over to us because he hadn't been paid in full yet. Why hadn't he been paid in full? Because he hadn't bothered to bill anyone yet, or tell us that he was anywhere close to finished. He asked to meet in person to get his final check, and I told him he'd have to get in touch with my MIL, who was paying. He refused to call her, insisting that I have her call and set up a meeting with him. She can't meet with him because she lives four hours away. So anyway, she called him and arranged to set up a check. During that discussion, some interesting things came to light:
He called us the most confused, disorganized bunch of people he's worked with, because usually he "only speaks to the MOB". Speaking of confused, he refused to accept that he'd misdialed my phone number, insisting that I must have changed my number. He demanded to have a meeting with me when I'm in Boston and he's in Knoxville. He keeps, despite correction, referring to MIL as my mother because "the MOB always pays for photography". Yeah, just because she offered to pay does not make her my mother.
He has not edited our photos. No retouching, no redeye removal, no color adjustment. NOTHING. He has held onto out pictures for the last three months so he can make them into a fucking slideshow that I will never watch. he suggested I take the CDs of photos to Walgreens so they can adjust any images that need it. WALGREENS. What the fuuck did we pay for?
I'm so mad right now, I'm shaking. When I get home I'm going over the contract with a fine tooth comb.