So this review has been a year in the making as we did our engagement session, wedding, and trash…read morethe dress with Behzad.
At first glance everything looks and sounds amazing. He has a very boutique studio on Robertson, and his pictures are truly breathtaking. There is no doubt that he is a talented photographer and can bring that special touch to your day. My husband I were excited to sign with him because we had heard horror stories about other photographers and when we explained what we wanted and were looking for, we were given the utmost assurance that all would be done as requested. Fast forward to the actual sessions:
Engagement session: We met at a park in West LA. Beautiful pictures, all done within a 40 min session. I did ask whether more time was needed but Behzad mentioned that he got what he wanted, so I didn't ask questions. In all honesty the pictures were beautiful and artistic however I was left feeling like we could have had more positions, maybe an outfit change, maybe even a different location to mix things up a bit, but again, I was happy with the pictures. What I wasn't happy with was my bra strap showing and him never telling me to fix it, and better yet not air brushing it out of the final album he made for my guests to sign on my wedding day. Attention to detail: not so much.
Wedding Day: We had initially signed a contract asking for 2 photo and 2 videographers, but he sent 3 people to my hotel and 2 to our house where my husband was getting ready so that was an added bonus. I was getting ready at the Westlake Village Inn, and anyone who has been there can vouch it is one of the most beautiful and romantic hotels.
Behzad was somewhat solemn and in a bit of a mood that day. He seemed a bit annoyed with the pace that we were getting ready at, and my family almost had words with him and the crew because they were sitting around and refusing to take pictures of the family that was at the hotel because they were waiting for the groom to come. Once my husband came we went around the grounds and took some amazing pictures and what I thought were videos. I remember specifically asking whether we had shots of the grounds so that our final video would have a "story" and I was assured that there was enough video.
Our actual wedding was at the Los Robles Greens Golf Course, which is another beautiful venue with lots of greenery and natural beauty. I had ordered white lounge furniture and had asked that we incorporate them into our pictures but after the ceremony the entire immediate family was shoved into the small bridal room for our FAMILY pictures. There was enough room for a cough and a few chairs and our pictures have random pillows in the background and it just looks sloppy and messy.
We then had pictures at the entrance gate with the family because we got tired of being stuck in the small room, and those have shadows on our faces and half of us are squinting because the sun is in our eyes. The pictures of our first dance are absolutely amazing because we have great lighting from the sunset and such, but there is no picture of myself and my husband at the sweetheart table I worked so hard to design, no pictures of people at their tables...things you would expect as routine.
The video from the ceremony was pretty bad and had to be re-edited because there was a lot of background noise and screeching going on. The second time around things were better but the person editing the videos basically used my own songs that I chose for my recessional and first dance to dub over the 6 minute vignette, without any ingenuity or artistic touches. He also cut from video of us dancing and went to us getting dinner and then cut back to the same song and people dancing....weird and disjointed progression in a video if you ask me.
Trash the dress: I spent a lot of money for hair and makeup, got back into my dress, convinced my hubby to get back into his tux, and met at Pepperdine for the trash the dress session. Things went ok there but the final video and photo proposal that was sent to us didn't even have those pictures incorporated, after 3 months of waiting. I emailed and complained and after another month the 'retouched' and 'reedited' photo and video was sent to us; still missing the videos of the hotel grounds that I had specifically asked for in writing several times, still having the weird sound effects during our ceremony, this time with random music during our 6 minute vignette which cuts off and restarts with another song, etc.
Behzad is a great photographer but he didn't perform to his abilities, his video editing was sub-par, his delays were unacceptable, and the overall quality left me unimpressed. I'm saddened by this because he came highly recommended and we paid $$$ for this package, and I expected more professionalism and better management of the editing since he put his name on the end product.
