<p>I have recently had a real issue with a Bride ( and now Groom) as I can see have many other Photographers on here- I suppose maybe everyone has this at some point in their career?<br>
I have been photographing weddings for around 3 years and have now shot 100 ish. I have my own recognisable editing style and shoot mainly in a reportage way.<br>
I should have seen this client coming a mile off ( you live and learn). Firstly she knocked me down on price- it was last minute and a mid-week out of season so I agreed. <br>
She arranged an engagement shoot with me months before the wedding when we met at the Venue, only to cancel the night before. I lost a days work because I swapped this shift ( I have a small PT job), I dont know if its relevant but it wasnt ideal...<br>
On the wedding day it was extremely difficult, NOBODY wanted to be photographed, I know this isnt unusual for a wedding but it doesn't help. I photographed the preparations, ceremony etc. After the ceremony I tried on several occasions to organise and take the group shots only for the bride to say ' we will do that later we just want to soak up the atmosphere, I also dont want to drag everyone out in to the cold'. We took photographs inside, however not all of the photographs on their shot list and that was again because they wanted people to soak up the atmosphere. I tried again later on in the day (fruitlessly). I managed to get some shots of the couple on their own on inside as again they didnt want to go off anywhere, I didnt want to argue but I did suggest that it would be nice to have a variety of shots in separate locations. I managed to eventually produce a few more shots from their list but that was all that I could get, in short, they wouldn't co operate.<br>
The speeches went on longer than expected, which wasnt an issue for me but it did mean the cake cutting was set back another 1.5 hours, I have to ask them several time and we did eventually get this. I then left nearly 2 hours after the time booked, I know this isn't unusual but it seems relevant now they are causing me problems..<br>
I did my usual and send the customer a few 'sneak peeks', which they plastered all over instagram and tagged me in each and every one stating how much they loved them. I then received a message asking me to remove someone from all of the photos because they were, I quote ' a piece of ***'. I would normally say no to this but I felt that they would pursue it, so I went ahead and did it. They then asked to view all of the RAW files, before I had even delivered the album. I declined.<br>
I delivered the full album via an online album sharing host and a USB stick in the post, they were delighted with them. Two weeks later I receive an alarmingly rude message stating that they are unhappy with the images, some are 'terrible' ( happy to post a link to my site if anyone wants to view my work) that they do not look as nice as other couples have done in my past weddings and that I have taken photos of them and all of their guests from unflattering angles. they also dont like the way I have edited them.<br>
This has been going on for weeks now and I have reluctantly sent them a few images back with a 'warmer' edit.<br>
I forgot to add that they also sent a huge amount of images to the venue for them to share online, which I found puzzling considering they hated them...<br>
My question really is has anybody else had anything similar to this in terms of the detail, and if so what happened next/can they take it anywhere?</p>
