Illinois-Chicago

Shoot the Bride - Any positive reviews lately?

I have been off the boards for a while because I have been so busy and I just read all of the stuff about Jeff from Shoot the Bride.  We booked him for our June 25th wedding and I am pretty freaked out about the whole thing.  Can anyone give me any advice?  Should I just kiss my deposit goodbye and look for someone else or should I give him a chance?  What do you ladies think?  TIA!

Re: Shoot the Bride - Any positive reviews lately?

  • kellym050370kellym050370 member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I have nothing to offer but we are date twins!
  • peeweea213peeweea213 member
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Have you tried contacting him? I have my wedding on August 13th and I got in touch with him about a month ago. He obviously knows of the bad rep he got and I think really is trying to turn himself around. (I hope! :-/) Im still so sorry and sad to hear about all the bad things the other girls went through but I hope it's different for us. We put a decent amount of money down and I couldn't just walk away from that. Let's keep our fingers crossed everything goes well.
  • edited December 2011
    Ladies,
    He had not turned anything around. There are still ladies from last July who have N.O.T.H.I.N.G.  There are some from a year ago who have nothing. We have a private FB page where we all have been communicating and keeping each other up to date. At one time there were 22 couples that had received nothing from him.
    If it were one or 2, that's one thing. BUT 22????? come on.... this is a solid behavior pattern. Oh and he's a pathological liar too. He tells people it's in the mail and they will get it by x date and it never happens, he's done this hundreds of times.

    And if you think you are protected by the contract, think again. One gal took him to court, won her case because he didn't show up in court, there is a judgement against him and he still would not deliver. The gal did some investigation and found his wife who knew none of this was going on. She begged the wife for help after almost a year of trying to get her videos and winning her case. She finally received it and the long form was poorly shot, but they were pleased with the short video.

    One guy said he just got his video from last September (after filing a lawsuit) and there was "no sound, very shaky and out of focus for the entire video" his short video, was the same.

    These are just a few stories in addition to what is in previous posts. I finally got my video after 6 months. I was pleased with the short and long edited video. But it seems his work is hit or miss. Some are good and some are bad.

    I cannot tell you what to do, you have to make your own decisions based on the information you have. The one common thread through EVERY SINGLE WEDDING HE'S SHOT IS THIS: It is a complete nightmare working with him after the wedding trying to get your final product.  I don't know of anyone who got their video in the timeframe that was stated on the contract.

    If you got your video without headaches feel free to post it so the ladies coming up know.

    He totally picks and chooses who he wants to deliver to. So if he doesn't like you for some reason, he'll just blow you off. Based on his history, the contract means nothing to him.

    Good luck.
  • Bimbi284Bimbi284 member
    Ninth Anniversary 1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Would it make sense to make some sort of sticky post regarding this so any newbies will be aware of these issues before asking questions about him?
  • netgrl22netgrl22 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    All I can say about Jeff is this - my wedding was last August and I currently have no DVD's to show for it.  And I haven't been able to get any response from him in over a month now.
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_illinois-chicago_shoot-bride-positive-reviews-lately?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:72Discussion:76e39c11-d7a3-4e5a-a6ef-03048bc6c1a1Post:069f4b42-7717-4100-8a08-d65545e1a0d5">Re: Shoot the Bride - Any positive reviews lately?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Would it make sense to make some sort of sticky post regarding this so any newbies will be aware of these issues before asking questions about him?
    Posted by Bimbi284[/QUOTE]

    From what i've heard he is not taking on any more clients once he is done with 2011.  He's taken down his website and everything already.  But I can't sticky a thread bashing a vendor, that would be abuse of power unfortunately.  I, too, lost my deposit because he never responded to me when I addressed some of the concerns I had... so believe me, id jump at the chance to sticky something like this, but its just against the rules.  Im always hopeful that newbies will try and search first before keep starting new posts, but to their credit TK doesnt always function as it should.
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks for all of this info ladies.  Can anyone who broke their contract with him tell me how they went about doing it?  I am kind of thinking that I would rather not have a videographer at all, then pay for one to be there that never gives me a video.  

    The whole thing is such a shame.  I am so sorry for all of you ladies out there who didn't get what you paid for.
  • Mecier2011Mecier2011 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Alpha Bride, not sure what you are talking about. My sister just had him video her wedding on April 30th and she not only had her "sneak peak" delivered the following Monday to her, but the full video was done under a month! Disks of all footage are in the mail and on their way to her. I'm using him for my October wedding and can't wait because he was not only a pleasure to work with, but super professional and the end result was nothing short of amazing. Jeff, unlike many other videographers, actually trained in film and how to operate a camera that doesn't do everything automatically.  (Ask Fig Media to shoot DSLR and see what response you get).
  • megary5megary5 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi, I sent him a certified letter which he never picked up, (along with letters via regular mail) a certified email with a return receipt, regular emails, phone calls.. I can go on and on but he never responded to anything. Hopefully he got the point. Our lawyer helped us with everything. We are just calling it a total loss for the deposit and we have already hired another Videographer... good luck!!!
  • edited December 2011
    Mercier,
    Perhaps you don't know what I'm talking about because you failed to read that I have personally communitacted with over 20 couples now that report a completley different experience (a horrible experience) than your sister had.

    SHE IS THE ONLY ONE out of all the brides that are on this forum that had a positive experience with Shoot the Bride Films. And she is not relating this to us you are.

    Even though he is trained in Fim, he has produced substandard,shoddy work to at least 3-4 brides that I know of.

    Good luck getting final product. Future behavior is best predicted by past history and based on past history he won't deliver and will stop communicating while taking your check to the bank.
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