Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some honest advice from professional wedding photographers, particularly anyone familiar with consumer rights in Ireland.
I got married this year and paid approximately €2,400 for our wedding photography just up to the first dance + an extra photographer she insisted on to do special guest portraits for us. I found our photographer through our wedding venue's recommended supplier list, which was a major reason I trusted her.
Our guests had a fantastic wedding. Unfortunately, my husband, bridal party and I had a very different experience because of the photographer.
I'm now considering taking legal action, but I genuinely don't know whether what happened constitutes a failure to provide the agreed service or whether it's just an extremely disappointing experience.
The behaviour on the wedding day
I spent an extraordinary amount of my wedding day reassuring and calming my photographer.
Some examples:
We'd agreed she wouldn't photograph us in our pyjamas during bridal preparations. She entered anyway and started photographing me while I was getting my hair done.
She became fixated on a bruise on my arm, argued with my makeup artist about covering it, then took me into my private bedroom, held both my hands and begged me to cover it because she didn't want to edit it out afterwards. I wasn't bothered about the bruise and had already told her that.
She loudly asked whether I'd be wearing nipple covers under my wedding dress, in front of my bridesmaids and other suppliers.
She entered my private bedroom while my breasts were exposed - knowing full well I'd be nude as she sent me in to put my nipple covers on- and continued talking to me. I was in shock. She also attempted to talk to me in my private room while I was using the bathroom.
According to my bridesmaids, she pushed between two of them while they were opening a sentimental bracelet they'd bought me, shouted "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!", grabbed it and snapped it open. She then reportedly told them not to tell me because it would "send her over the edge". I ended up reassuring the photographer about this too.
She insisted on a first look, then complained about my groom's family while I was waiting to see him.
She announced that she'd photographed the wrong shoes and earrings, leaving me reassuring her that it was fine.
While we were signing our marriage registry, with the priest waiting for my sister to sign as a witness, she interrupted to ask my sister to apply lipstick to me. She's now pretending that picture doesn't exist.
During the few private minutes my husband and I had been promised to eat at the venue, she came in, stood over us, discussed the next photographs and took pictures of us eating.
She repeatedly approached me to warn that our guests were getting sunburned, despite sunscreen being available. I was so so lucky to have a sunny day since we're from a wet climate and she just ruined it.
Throughout the evening she kept approaching me saying, "(The groom) hates me. (The groom) hates me", referring to my husband. Again, I found myself reassuring her.
I genuinely felt I couldn't challenge her because she was responsible for capturing photographs I could never get back.
The missing photographs
This is where I think the issue potentially becomes contractual rather than simply about her behaviour.
I had provided a detailed shot list. Of the specifically requested photographs, I received only ONE as requested.
For example:
1. A portrait with all four parents. I specifically explained that we were fortunate to have all four parents alive and wanted a photograph of them together on our wedding day to frame. When I asked for it, she refused to take it at that point saying we didn't have time. WE HAD AN HOUR TO THE CHURCH. I begged her to capture it when we returned. It was never captured.
2. A solo photograph on the cathedral steps. My dressmaker wanted a side-on photograph showing the silhouette of my dress and cape. I asked THREE TIMES because the photographer kept including my husband. Eventually I asked him to move out of the shot. Both my husband and I remember her taking the photograph, but she subsequently told me it doesn't exist.
3. A photograph at my late grandmother's house. The house was being sold, so I explained how important it was to capture my husband and me outside it. The resulting photograph barely shows the house beyond the doorway, and I'm squinting.
I also noticed her taking what appeared to be just one frame of many posed shots, and quite a few delivered photographs have people squinting.
I understand that photographers cannot guarantee every individual image, but surely there's a difference between an imperfect photograph and failing to take agreed photographs altogether?
4. Other shots I had to remind her of or she just never got.
I bought special French silverware for an aesthetic grazing table and wanted a nice shot of it. Had to remind her. She ran off and got one that looked like it was taken on an iPhone with loads of half eaten food.
5. Bad photography skills in general.
She didn't take multiple shots of things I wanted. Just one. So if we were squinting in the sun or talking that was it.
The biggest issue: an entire guest portrait project was abandoned
For approximately a YEAR before the wedding, we'd been planning a special guest portrait experience in the venue's beautiful Georgian front lounge.
Before I even paid her deposit, the photographer told me what a wonderful idea this was and encouraged me to do it.
She specifically recommended hiring a second photographer to facilitate it. I took that advice and paid extra for one.
I also went to considerable lengths to organise it:
I emailed the wedding venue TWICE during the year to confirm we could use the front lounge.
I reconfirmed the arrangements with the venue again approximately one week before the wedding.
The guest portraits were included in the wedding itinerary.
I emailed guests TWO DAYS before the wedding reminding them about the portraits.
I explicitly reconfirmed the plan with the photographer two days before the wedding.
Despite all of that, the planned lounge portrait experience simply didn't happen. She apparently photographed some guests in the garden instead.
When I questioned her afterwards, she claimed we'd had a conversation in which I agreed to abandon the lounge portraits.
That conversation never happened. I never agreed to abandon the project.
I cannot understand why I'd spend a year organising it, pay for a second photographer, repeatedly obtain permission from the venue and remind guests about it two days beforehand if I'd supposedly decided to cancel it.
This is the part that bothers me most from a contractual perspective. It was an agreed service that influenced my booking decision and resulted in additional expenditure.
What has happened since
The only thing the photographer has ever apologised for is breaking the bridesmaids' bracelet.
She has not apologised for the other incidents, the missing photographs or the abandoned guest portraits.
I've requested a refund, but she's now ignored my emails for more than three weeks.
I paid approximately €2,400, and I'm considering the Irish Small Claims procedure. I understand there's a €2,000 limit, so I would need to look at whether a partial refund claim is appropriate.
I'm not expecting a photographer to guarantee every shot or produce a perfect gallery. I know weddings are unpredictable, and I appreciate how demanding wedding photography can be.
But I paid for a professional service, spent much of my day managing the photographer's emotions, and ultimately didn't receive many of the photographs and experiences we'd specifically planned.
My questions for professional photographers and anyone familiar with Irish consumer law:
Would you consider the abandonment of the agreed guest portrait project a failure to deliver part of the contracted service?
How much weight would a written shot list and the emails reconfirming the portraits carry, particularly if the contract contains standard clauses about not guaranteeing individual shots?
Is requesting a partial refund reasonable, and how would you approach calculating it?
Would you recommend a final formal demand for a refund before considering Small Claims Court?
If you were a professional photographer hearing this account, would you consider this conduct acceptable?
I have the correspondence with the venue, wedding itinerary, guest reminder email, shot list and emails to the photographer.
I'd really appreciate an objective perspective, even if the answer is that I have little legal recourse. I'm trying to work out what my next step should be rather than simply venting.
Thanks for reading.
UPDATE: I've let the venue know about her behaviour. I can't in good faith allow another bride to be subjected to this. I woke up at 7am on my wedding day, meditated, set the vibe for all my bridal party, they all commented about how calm I was, then this mess bulldozed in and everything became about her mood, her time, her stress.
What a cow.
