%I wrote a more in-depth review on Facebook, but then Facebook got all it's reviews for businesses…read moreremoved. So I apologize if this is not as detailed as it could be. I met Emily in 2015 when my now husband and I wanted to do a couples' shoot for our one-year anniversary. She was about to give birth, so we post-poned it and did not schedule.
Two years later, he proposed, so I hired her to do our 2018 wedding, complete with engagement shoot. There were some things I was dissatisfied with, and I expressed these to Emily in a professional manner. One was that during the engagement shoot, I had assumed that my ring would be featured, and it was not. I apologized for not making it more clear that I wanted this beforehand, and said I wanted to make that up since it's my grandma's ring and won't be in the wedding. Instead of responding in a way that made it clear she had heard me, there was a lot of arguing and trying to convince me that I should wait till my wedding day, when I already said it wouldn't work. If she had flat out said she couldn't do anything about it, I would've been angry, but at least I would've felt heard. I was persistent, and she scheduled with me again, saying it was no problem. I don't understand why there was so much arguing and pushing if it was no problem for her. I prefer my vendors to be honest with me about their feelings, and I am a very direct, but respectful person. I know not everyone is like this, but when running a business, you kind of have to be.
After my wedding, I was dissatisfied with my photos for a number of reasons. I can't explain them all, but will do my best. One of these turned out to be a technical difficulty resulting in half the images simply not being there when she said they would. Another was an overabundance of photos of my wedding license being signed when I never asked for that, the officiant did on the fly, and I was left with two or three pictures of me and my dad with his eyes closed. I had asked him to be photographed first during the bridal party sessions due to his disabilities, not rushed or minimized. There were other issues as well, and I did bring them all up. I did not expect them all to magically be resolved, as you can't go back in time.
What I had expected from Emily was for her to communicate clearly with me and do what she said she would do. I had asked for more guidance on posing from her due to the size of my dress, which she promised, and I did not receive it. I also expected her to handle a customer's issues with professionalism, which I would define as clarifying, trouble-shooting, and then finding a resolution that was acceptable.
Instead, I I received what usually happens when someone has poor customer service skills and not what I'd expect from someone who has been doing this for ten years:
"this has never happened before" and long paragraphs about her feelings regarding what happened that were almost instantaneous to my complaints that I took a long time to word carefully. Like I said, I want my vendors to be honest about their feelings, but this did not feel honest. I was basically cut off and it became about how she felt, not me. This made it hard to assert myself and can be perceived as manipulative. I want her to know that.
It's not easy to receive criticism. But we grow as artists from constructive criticism and making mistakes. To never have experienced a dissatisfied customer in a decade of work, even one who is being unfair, really surprises me and makes me surmise that customers are not being honest. No one is that good that their work is seen as perfect. I know this as an artist myself who has received fair and unfair criticism. I would never want someone who works hard to feel I was angry or being harsh with them. But the response made me feel as if it was to avoid conflict instead of address the problem. Conflict can be good, it makes us stronger and more creative.
I am not trying to be friends with my vendors, I am trying to do business. The happiest day of my life and $2k is important to me, and I have a right to have someone handle it professionally if they have made an error.
In the end, we came to a resolution that I could live with, but it will take awhile to get past this interpersonal experience and the resulting photos. Pictures are forever, and so is the self you show people as an artist. I wish Emily all the best, and a successful career from here on out. She is a good photographer with years of experience, and I hope she has learned from this one as I have.
