my first wedding: horror story

[Clawed]

Edit:
I'm in a private wedding photography forum, and closely reading the horror story of a really good pro who did EVERYTHING to please the Ms. BrideZilla... it is still going to go to court, and OMG, the world of pain that this guy is going through... I think that in the future, I'll be adding one more recommendation to the "must have" list... you must be a member of PPA. Because he is, they are providing him with a lawyer and everything... and all he pays is $200. The lawyers are specialists in this field and hopefully they totally railroad the situation and set things good.

Wow, that's pretty much why I do not ever know if I could go full-on into weddings. Not sure I want to be getting sued by a bride for 'bad pics' (which can be, to an extent, subjective).

Jerry, did you get a chance to see the pictures that were given to the bride? Was this situation a result of bad pics, or the photographer missing key pictures (or something worse) :shock:

 

[JerryPH]

The guy is a fantastic photographer, the pics were incredible. The bride is a major bytch. She sent a list of greivences, mostly bogus, he counters with a factual and accurate account of how he value added close to $1500 in time and product OVER AND ABOVE what is in the contract and how she cost him money by not showing to meetings, being late for e-sesssions, not following the schedule, etc... she said b-o-l-l-o-c-k-s and said "next stop... my lawyer". He cut all communications and got the lawyers from PPA involved.

I am not going to get into more info, this is a public forum and I would not want to jeopardize his stance. The info here, let me tell you is VERY similar with at least 3 photographers that I know of currently.

The main issue is, it doesn't matter who is right, this guy can lose a ton of credibility, business over this person who, IMHO doesn't have a legal leg to stand on... in spite of this, she is counting on the fact that the photographer would rather back down, eat the loss and not risk the bad PR, which could easily ruin most small businesses.

People, if you are doing this... GET liability insurance on top of equipment insurance and if you live in the USA... join the PPA!

 

[UUilliam]

she probably couldnt afford him so she paid what she had then thought "if i sue him then he'll give me my money back + i get my images = happy me "

 

[JerryPH]

Probably something like that, I don't know 100% of all the details. Just seems so petty and hurtful.

 

[Reese's PB Luver]

Never leave items alone at a wedding/reception; ppl (non-guests) wander around such events for the sole purpose of stealing. At my cousins' wedding (many years ago), somebody had their wedding card to the couple stolen out of their purse (a lot of ppl put a money gift in cards and this card did have money in it) and my father had his Canon SLR camera stolen (he put it down when we were in the family formal shots) and such things like that. The hotel said things like that happen all the time.

Did you not have a pocket you could have put the card into? (Protect it by keeping it in the case it came with or by getting a multi-card case.)

 

[JerryPH]

Read the thread, it's pretty much all hashed out and the bottom line very clear... the cards were eventually found, not that it helped the bride any. This is a good example of why, unless you KNOW how to shoot a wedding... to not do it.

Believe it or not, though still a disaster for the bride, this is far from the saddest case I know of.