Complaint Review: Capes and crowns - Select State/Province

Birthday Express did not cut ties with me nor I them. I do not feel like they are the best fit for the kind of styling I do with their current lines. They mainly do large commerial themes. I absolutely havent insulted another company, including yours...saying they are not a good fit for me is just not the same thing. I love what they do, I just am unable to have the kind of styling themes that allow me the kind of freedom I would want. They were super understanding and supportive of that. I think youve managed to do enough name calling and mud slinging.

Im trying to end this as politley as possible and it seems its you that wants to keep the drama going. I sincerly wish you the best in your pursuits and have no ill will towards you. Continuing to argue on a public forum makes us both look bad honestly and thats not what I want. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future and I hope we have both learned a lesson from this as well as took something postive from it. We share a wonderful magazine cover together and at the end of the day I hope you can enjoy it as much as I have.

Sincerly,

You have been a nightmare to work with, you are a very dishonest person that loves to be involved in drama! You praised Birthday Express and when the company decided to cut ties, you turned around and started bashing Birthday Express! How "Professional" of you! Bottom line is that you got caught in all you hypocritical lies and I have all the proof! You can tell your side of "Your" story and have your "Team" back you up, but in all honesty it was YOU that did NOT hold up your end of the agreement & did NOT return designs! Trust that I do NOT care to be associated with anything that represents your name! The problem is NOT with Danielle or Gemma, it is with YOU! Why dont we do this...I forward all the photo screen shots of our conversation and let your "oh so loyal, Lauren has such haters, groupies so they can see for themselves how much of a liar you really are?? Finally expose you and all your lies? YOU contacted me!! Not the other way around! I do not go around bashing people and saying hateful things as you seem to do since according to you, you have "Haters". It's YOU LAUREN AND ALL YOUR DISHONEST LIES! Yes, the images are property of Danielle but the designs showcased are mine & I don't want to have my designs showcased anywhere that is associated with your brand! It's pathetic you have to resort to contacting your party click to chime in. Bottom line, is that you LOVED my designs even after they "Fell" apart and wanted to continue collaborating with me on future shoots. The logical thing to do would be to cut ties quickly especially with a designer who does not make quality designs and cost you a great loss! YOU LAUREN, did NOT cut ties after such a horrible ordeal but proceeded to contact me to designs for upcoming photo shoots...We can go back and forth with what you believe is customary of what designers do and don't do etc. etc..... YOU caused all of this, had you followed through with OUR AGREEMENT, I wouldn't have resorted to expose your lies. Funny thing is that if you ask party people about Lauren & her click, their response is....."Drama". I don't need to have your photographer discuss rates as I did not reach out to her to shoot my designs! The agreement was with Lauren not everyone you are involving. Still I cannot fathom your continued desire to showcase my designs on future collaborations if my designs were of such bad quality and it was such a problem working with me.....hmmmmm guess we'll never know!!! 

I am ending my correspondance with you immidately. I have no desire to continue to argue on a public forum. I will answer your question that was posed. I would have used you for the next project for two reasons....#1 the designer that Gemma used for her other cover was booked....#2 items dont have to hold up for shoots just look good...they are worn for one day only...simiar to desserts that have to look good but not be ediable. I never expected to have to return items...my incorrect assumption apparently...thats why I will continue to work with the other ladies that understand the opporunities provided and dont want used/worn items back. I wish you luck and hope your future endeavors lead you to other publications COVERS that are showcased at the GOLDEN GLOBES celebrity suites! Best of luck to you...Im still out my $150 fee on the rental facility and Danielle already quotes her losses...we have all lost time and money but we have lost far more on our end. Best of luck to you and Im being sincere!

 You are obviously enjoying this drama and I refuse...just as I did before to do this. I already have a team built. You are not distroying my reputation nor do I care if you continue to slander me. This is my hobby!! Danielle McCann photography owns the rights to these photo and you are absurd thinking you can demand them removed. Even if I still had the pieces of remaining material any court of law would call it a wash since we LOST money waiting on your items to arrive. Its quite simple. You got free QUALITY professional pictures AND FREE advertizing with a magazine and a COVER...stop whining and get over yourself. I know I said I would try to send back but honestly I was embarrassed to tell you the truth bc you seemed so sweet and always put Christian views on your page and I really didnt want to hurt you...thats the Honest truth. I wasnt pleased but they turned out great for the pic after they FINALLY arrived.

 As the photographer who works with Lauren of Capes & Crowns on a regular basis, I feel as if this is absolutely appalling. 

The outfits in question were, in fact, three days late.  My hourly rate is $250; most shoots that involve hair, makeup, etc such as this one take about 3hrs.  For this, I had blocked off four hours for our original shoot date.  Do the math -- that's $1000.  When the outfits did not arrive, we couldn't shoot and had to reschedule.  That's $1,000 that I could have made elsewhere, but could not make up because Jessica Ruiz could not bother to ship her outfits on time.

As if that's not bad enough, the outfit on our boy model was practically ripping apart.  Although Jessica had obtained measurements for the outfit, it was snug... too snug.  We did what we could to get it on as best we could and I photoshopped the rest. 

Never, in any of the shoots that we have done, has a costume designer requested outfits back.  In exchange for their outfits during these shoots, they receive endless publicity (being on a magazine cover, anyone?!), FREE commercial photography (see rates above), and wonderful networking opportunities. 

I think it says volumes that this lady is the only costume designer (or vendor in general) who has thrown such a fit.  If I could ensure that the images were not saved or printed on her end (which I cannot; it's impossible to ensure such a thing), then I'd gladly delete the images.  However, these images are my property, not hers.  She cannot demand that the images be taken out of magazines, websites, etc.  That's ludicrous.  It's my job as the photographer, with model releases from my clients, to determine where my images are placed.  I will not lose out on these magazine opportunities because a costume designer is so uppity to think that she has the rights to my work.

Another thing I want to point out is that the collaboration was NOT broken due to such said "unprofessionalism" on my part due to "Attempting to sell used designs", it was due to me simply requesting my designs to be shipped back. I do not attempt to sell used designs. The reason why this particular design was to be sold at a discounted price was bc customer wanted that exact design and was very happy to have a unique design that was going to be featured. Keep in mind that I have NEVER had any loaned design be return in a lesser condition that it was shipped, so I was confident that 1) Designs were going to be shipped back as agreed & 2) Designs were going to be return in perfect condition. Had I not asked for the designs back, the collaborations would've continued because I am confident that I can produce fabulous, unique, over the top designs. To be quite frank great minds think alike and I am so confident had it not been for this unfortunate situation and the outcome, we would've continued collaborating and would've designs some absolutely amazing fabulous parties! 

Lauren, please be honest about what really occurred. YOU contacted me and YOU agreed to SHIP MY ITEMS BACK! Even after the photo shoot wrapped, YOU again contacted ME to design more outfits for you for the upcoming shoots. Answer me this...IF my items where falling apart and very cheaply made, why contact me to design more outfits for you? Why risk your reputation or take the risk in having such horrible designs represent your work? I have every single one of your replies which contradict every statement that you have made. I WAS very thankful for the opportunity but again, YOU REACHED OUT TO ME AND CONTACTED ME AND AGREED TO SHIPPING ALL OF MY ITEMS BACK. Yes, it is theft when YOU agree to ship items back and fail to do so! I have collaborated many times and have NEVER had issues with my items NOT being returned. My designs are NOT simple tutu tulle dresses that take less time to create and less money, not to say they are not just as cute but you cannot honestly compare a simple tulle creation to a custom couture design. It's very sad that this situation happened just because I asked for my items to be shipped back. You cannot compare me to other designers. Each have their own policies and things you say are customary, are not with everyone. It was your mistake for assuming you were to keep my design.

One thing I want to point out since you are so appalled that I was attempting to sell us very very used outfit to a customer...is that I have never received any of my designs in lesser quality than originally shipped. I have yet to have a customer complaint about the QUALITY of my items....EVER! The designs were created with the exact measurements given. Perhaps maybe you did not send correct measurements. To say cheap cotton was used is very upsetting. I DO NOT use cheap textiles...I will not waste time explaining quality of textiles to someone who obviously cannot tell the difference. My designs sell themselves because they are UNIQUE, FABULOUS DESIGNS! It's a great opportunity to collaborate with other designers but you are a very dishonest person. I'm still waiting for my designs....It's quite disheartening that our fabulous collaboration turned out the way it did and that we couldn't have settled this as adults instead of blocking and deleting. We could've made a great team! We can settle this by completely removing my designs from any website or publication. I'm requesting you take down any picture that showcases my designs! 

I failed to bring up this important point in the previous rebuttal. That shot was the COVER bc of the stellar photograpy that was provided to you for FREE!! As well as the amazing job on makeup. If you look closely in the cover shot you can also see where the tie is not even facinated to his neck bc it was far too small and literally chocking him. Several things had to be photoshopped.

Again, before her unprofessional attitude of wanting to sell USED goods to consumers I would have worked with her again...the items are required to look good not nessiarily hold up longer then one shoot but they literally were ill fitting, FELL apart and were made of very cheap looking cotton. Everyone that worked on this shoot can vouch for that.

Do not order from Jessica Ruiz of Nevaeh's Baby Couture Boutique...hardly boutique quality! When someone sends something for a shoot thats hardly theft. Shes ungreatful for the oppoinuty provided to her. These were some of the beauitful shots provided to her. Perphaps if she still has issues she can discuss commercial rates with my photographer!

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  This is the ONLY unhappy vendor I have ever had. While the outfits did look amzazing they were very ill fitting inspite of custom measurements being obtained. ALL items arrived LATE to the shoot. 3 DAYS LATE. Which caused the entire crew to be out additional  funds. I had to rent the faciltiy we were using for a different day and there was also a makeupcrew and photographer that lost an entire day of work due to late items. I had two clothing vendors on this shoot and the other was amazing to work with and I still work with her to this day as well as a coulpe of others. These items absolutely fell apart from the complinant.

She said she wanted them back to sell them...this appalled me bc they were very very used after a day of shooting a dessert table with children... as ANY designer would except....as a matter of fact MOST all desingers allow the models to keep the attire as payment for their work in modeling them. Even more this lady received professional photograhy from the shoot (well over the amout of the outfit sent) as well as credit in the magazine. My party showcasing her work made the cover! Its not anyones fault but her own if she failed to order before the magaine SOLD OUT! :) I even have an extra copy I can send her. This is quite sad!

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