My bride to be and I first met Kate and her sister at the bridal show at White's of Westport on…read moreJanuary 29, 2017. They were very friendly and recommended their friend as a DJ. We made our decision and gave Kate our deposit that very day, confident that we'd made the right choice for our photographer.
It is important to note that, from this first meeting, Kate told us:
The price for the package that we chose
We would have full ownership of all the photographs that would be taken during our wedding
We would get all our pictures 4-6 weeks after our ceremony
We would receive 10-12 edited or touched up pictures, chosen from all the pictures, these would be the ones that they felt really 'popped'
As our wedding approached, we received, signed and returned our contract, we met at our venue a week prior to the wedding and discussed specific shots, locations, etc. with Kate and when we parted ways, we were sure that we made the right choice in photographers.
The day of our wedding, Kate and her assistant were all over the place, snapping picture after picture. Our sense was that they got all the shots that we asked for and in the locations that we asked. Later that night, we got a preview of 2 of the pictures when she posted them to her business' Facebook page.
That was the last we would hear from Kate until 39 days later (3 days short of 6 weeks) when my wife sent an email asking when we would get a chance to see our pictures:
"Hi Kate,
I hope all is well with you! We were wondering when we would get the chance to look at our wedding pictures from 6/11? It's been almost 6 weeks and we are dying to see them! Please let me know when you get a chance.
Talk to you soon!
Thanks"
Kate replied later that evening with:
"Hi!
Yes! I will be mailing them out in the next 10 days or so :) I'll be sure to send you the link to the gallery too!"
21 days passed and no attempt at communication was made by Kate, so I sent an email:
"Kate,
When can we expect our pictures?
-M"
It took a day for her to respond but when she did, we received this excuse:
"Hi!
I am so sorry for the delay - and my horrible communication the last 2 weeks. My time frame went from 1 month editing to 2 months time - which puts us at today. :)
I will have a link to a gallery tonight for you - when I arrive home. And I will be providing tracking by Monday for your flash drive of photos!
Again - terribly sorry for the delay on my part!
Talk to you soon! :)"
This was the first time we'd heard from Kate and she tried to laugh off a 4 week change to the schedule with no advanced warning or communication. She missed that fact that it had been 3 weeks, not 2 since she made her first empty promise. Her cavalier attitude was off-putting but we really wanted our pictures so we waited to see what she would do.
Later that night, we received an email with a link to a Google Drive containing our photos. The first thing we noted was the woefully small number of pictures. Then, we saw that there were only 3 files that weren't time-stamped with the date of our wedding, indicating that there were only 3 files that might have been edited.
Over the next 2 days, 6 emails were exchanged concerning the lack of quantity of pictures and the lack of specific pictures that we knew were taken.
When all was said and done, we received roughly 850 photographs and none of the promised 'edited' or 'touched up' photos. If any of these photos were touched up, we couldn't tell and the time stamps all either matched the date of the wedding or the date of the uploads, there was no evidence of any sort of artistic retouching of any of them, except for one image that was, again, posted on her business' Facebook page. The pictures of our family have the subjects looking at different cameras. Kate and her assistant stood next to each other during these pictures, ostensibly to maximize the number of pictures. The end result are lots of pictures that are useless because the subjects were never told where to look by the photographers. This shows a distinct lack of experience and attention to detail, the latter of which should be a photographers number one trait.
We never received the promised tracking number OR the actual flash drive itself. We have no idea if we have all our photos, we have no idea what the status of the drive is, and truthfully, at this point, we have given up the hope that we will. In fact, at this point, 81 days (11.5 weeks) later, TWICE what we were promised, I don't want to hear any more excuses or lies from Kate.
Kate has shown that her business ethics and acumen are severely lacking. She took our money and only delivered on some of her promises when directly confronted and prompted. Even then, she made promises that she failed to follow through on.
I am disappointed that we invested in Kate and trusted her to deliver. I am offended that she explained away a 4 week slip in schedule and lack of communication with a dismissive smiley face. That nonc
