Wedding Blog

I, like Miss Cream Puff and Mrs. Penguin before me, relieved my photographer from his contractual obligation — meaning I fired him. So, here is how the cookie crumbled… we booked our photographer way back in December. My mother had worked with the photographer on several weddings and had seen his portfolio. With a stellar reference about his professionalism, further conversations with the photographer, seeing his portfolio online and affordable pricing, I felt very confident that we had done our due diligence to book him. So, we signed a contract and sent in a deposit.

As a part of our package, an engagement session was included. We set-up a time with our photographer and did the shoot. For a week, I anxiously awaited the online proofs. As soon as the email hit my inbox, I zipped open the link. But as I opened the online gallery, my giddiness was replaced with utter disappointment. I didn’t like the photos, AT ALL!
Before I continue, I must explain my own photographic background. A professional photographer, I am not; however, I do have extensive old-school dark room experience, and in a former career life as a theatre marketer, I’ve been on a ton of photo shoots. Plus, I am a total wedding photography blog stalker. Photography is a very, very high on our wedding priority list. All these elements have solidified what overall style we want in our wedding photography — candid but not totally photojournalist, with both traditional and unconventional composition. I thought we had found a photographer that gelled with that style.

My first thought was not to fire him, but to sit down and have a conversation about why we didn’t like the photos and what we would like to see differently on the day. However, through subsequent conversations with several friends and family, especially my MOH who had been through a very similar situation with her photographer and ending up hating her wedding photographs despite spending a considerable amount of money, I decided sitting down and talking was not going to guarantee us the shots that we wanted.

At this point, I felt very uneasy and not confident in the photographer’s ability to capture our wedding. Our styles just did not gel! With photography being such a high priority, a queasy feeing about the photography would have been in the back of my mind all day. We had to let him go!

The call to the photographer and losing the deposit sucked! In all fairness, I think his style is right for some brides, but not for us.

Like Mrs. Flamingo, I suggest you trust your gut! If you have any doubts about your photographer, or any vendor for that matter, take the steps necessary to relieve those doubts for you — and if that means firing your photographer, do it!

I’ve been searching for a new photographer for the past few weeks, and I am elated to have found a dynamic duo to shoot our wedding…but you’ll just have to wait for the big reveal!