Hi Guys, I need a place to vent this...

The photographer that we hired for our wedding (Sept 05) has failed to provide us with any of the pictures. We had been going round and round with his answering service and finally got a lawyer. The lawyer had some problems contacting him but finally caught up to him. It turns out the photographer retired from the photography business immediately after shooting our wedding, sold all of his equipment. We have NO wedding pictures now! His claim is that the negatives were sent to a processing laboratory and they lost them. (note* the entire wedding was shot with digital equipment and we have photographs taken by family & friends that PROVE he used digital equipment) Our lawyer is helping us file a suit against him in small claims court. We hope to get enough back to cover a private sitting with a REAL photographer so we will at least have the couple photos. In the mean time I am not allowed to contact the photographer in any way...and that includes the good'ole boy network (I think they know me too well). Since I'm not allowed to do anything, I need to vent my frustration somewhere... what should I do to this $#%@&! jerk?

 

That's some rotten luck. Hope it works out. Remember, though, that the best memories are the ones you keep in your head. Nobody can take those away. Treat your new wife as if she's yours to lose, and be happy.

 

I have seen this happen on several occassions. It is a terrible thing. I hope it works out and you can get the pictures. A couple we knew got their pictures about a year after the wedding, I can only hope you can get yours also.

 

He did not download or keep the memory card of camera? Put it on cd? Maybe if you could only find that camera? Sorry all this happened. All the friends taking photos could put something together. Vent away.. so this problem will go away.
Photographer > < Parent venting anger

Good Luck.....

 

If it was a pretty big wedding, I'd call all the guests and see if anyone was taking pictures, and see if you could borrow them and get copies made. That would give you a starting place and some filler. My niece (pretty poor & couldn't afford photographer) lucked out last fall at her wedding. I took my digital camera, shot a ton of shots, cropped and brightened them, found albums at Tuesday Morning discount store for cheap that even matched her wedding colors, and presented her and her mother with a 30 picture album. When my daughter Angie got married, I told the DJ I wanted the Rolling Stone's song 'Angie' played for the father/daughter dance. Yea, he shows up without it--no problem--I have a cassette copy in my Ford which I hand over, and in setting it up he erases it!!!! Man, I was so p.o. I thought I was going to strangle him. Went with 'My Girl', but to this day it still bugs me.

 

Agronomist-
He is claiming that our wedding was photographed using PRINT film... never mind that the contract was for digital and we have pictures from family and friends of him and his clearly didgital camera. He also said that he has sold ALL of his equipment (cameras, memory cards, CDs, computers). He will not say who the equipment was sold to. (we were thinking they may still have the pics)

Jimbeam-
We have already gotten all the pics from family and friends. Most sentus copies without asking after we told them of what is happening. We are using some in the court case to prove his presence and type of equipment used.

 

Wow. Dude, this just sux. I think you are already doing the right thing just keep it up and be patient. I hope your lawyer is more together than your photographer!

 

I second Biker, that's horrible. I can't imagine how distraught this is making your wife. I know it would've devastated mine. I really hope your able to recover some photo's, if in fact he even took any. On a side note about wedding photographers. I found this out when I saw the bill for our wedding photographer and asked my wife why the guy cost as much as he did. It was because, beyond the usual stuff you'd pay for, time, wedding albums, etc. We also bought the rights to our pictures from him. I didn't know that the photographer legally owns the rights to the wedding pictures they take and can do with them as they please. We got the master disk of all of the photo's taken at our wedding, some 4k of them. Just something for anybody getting married to keep in mind.

 

In case this helps: I've been happily married for 22 years, did the kids thing and all, nest is nearly empty now. Our wedding photos have not helped at all really. In fact, I'm rethinking the concept of marriage all together.

I hope you end up better off than most married couples (divorced). By all means take some steps, try to recover the photos, but focus on the real important stuff - your relationship. Girls are all about the wedding and this is a bona-fide wedding tragedy. Make her so glad she married YOU that the photos become a footnote. Do it right. Best of luck!

 

Let the legal case run it's course and hopefully you will get some $$ back from the bum. After that, win or lose, it may be appropriate to get the ole boys involved.

If it is any consolation to you, I have been married about 14 years and the pictures from my wedding haven't been looked at in years. As time goes by, pictures of vacations, kids, times with family and friends will be much more important that the staged pictures taken at your wedding. That is my take on it anyway.

 

That is rough. Youll have to let the legal system work for you. I dont mean to sound like an ***, but its going to be tough to prove he had a digital camera, unless it was a cheapy or you got a pic of the model. Otherwise, you signed a contract, you should have a copy, with everyone's signatures. You paid for a service and you didnt recieve it, so you will get your money back.....but maybe not those pictures. If they were digital, he HAS copies, i dont care what he says, a professional doesnt just up and delete all his photos of all the weddings he did...they are kept, they are copyrighted, so he wouldnt just give them away. If he used a film camera...then thats tougher.

And i thought i was mad when we got all our proofs and he was asking 80 bucks for ONE blown up 5x7.

 

if anyone here is a wedding photographer- im not trying to include you in on this- but ive personally never heard of anyone having a "perfect experience" with their wedding photographers.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!! WHATS SO TOUGH ABOUT THAT JOB????!?!??!??!!!!??? heck.... with how some of my friends / relatives wedding pics turned out... i could have done a better job with a disposable camera. are these people just that lazy and careless?

 

To 'Built Tough F250'---I was married in 1972 and consider my wedding pictures 'perfect' (sure wish I still looked that good). My oldest daughter was married in 2002, and I also consider her pictures 'perfect'. On wedding pictures in general, just like all the other diversification over the world, the same is true for wedding pictures, so you can get: great, cheap, expensive, cruddy, etc., etc., etc.

 

My aunt , a professional photographer did our wedding, While no job is perfect, I have seen some pisspoor photography that people have paid for..... Hydro, That really sucks....

 

sry about your pictures, or lack of pictures. I'll tell my mom your story next time I'm on the receiving end of her "stupid wedding photographer rant." Or better yet I'll have her call you.

hahaha, yeah, I know one, getting a picture with every possible combination of people that is possible. My sister got married in Aug. and my mom still rants about how we didn't get just her cousin twice removed with her and the bride and groom etc.

JimBeam: of course you think they're perfect, you're a guy, we don't know what to look for in a perfect picture Hey look there's everybody in the picture, and, and it's not fuzzy, and, and there's everybody in the picture.