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Flashbox Photography Wedding Pictures A Disappointment Dallas Texas
When I first contacted Tony through his website, I told him that we were on a modest budget so he gave me a number that I could live with. I told him about our engagement photographer's horror story and he sympathized. Our first meeting a month before the wedding went well. The three of us chatted for 2 hours. I told him that I need A LOT of direction, I'm no model! I tend to feel ackward in front of the camera. I told him the style that we wanted, pointed out a few shots that I liked from his portfolio etc. He even showed up for the rehearsal which I thought was nice. I thought he would get some great shots of the venue.
Things were running late before the ceremony due to the rain so everything was a little scrambled. He took a ton of pictures of my MOH tieing up my corset and a few other details then went to the boys suite and took a bajillion pictures of them. One of the bridesmaids was running late but I figured he would have come back to take more pictures of me and my girls.
After the ceremony, he took all of the formal shots. Since the wedding started late, my DH and I didn't get many alone shots unfortunately but I was kind of annoyed that he spent a lot of time getting "cool" shots of my DH and his bridal party. I literally had to say ok that's enough pictures, let's move on to US.
During the reception Tony seemed really great. I had to point a couple of times for him to see a good shot but overall, he was snapping away and he wasn't in the way at all.
He sent a couple of teaser pics through email and it was only a few weeks after the wedding when he sent a link to all of the pictures. Ok, I understand there are photographers who take pictures of one thing and there are 20 shots of the same thing. Well Tony decided that he filter out of the "bad" pictures and send me only the good ones. All of the pictures that he did take were very beautiful but I started noticing all of the things that he didn't take:
-No picture of Grandma and cousin walking down the aisle (her eyes were closed so he said it wasn't a good shot but sent it to me after I requested it. Why he didn't take more than one picture is beyond me)
-No picture of FIL & SMIL walking down the aisle (he just said that he just didn't like the picture but sent it after I requested it and it's actually cute)
-Just one picture of my oldest son (he had another picture that he sent after I requested it and I liked it more)
-No picture of my oldest son pulling a wagon with my youngest son and the flower girl in the same shot
-No picture of me actually looking up during my entrance, all of the pictures I'm looking down. (I did look down a lot because as soon as I stepped out, the dj & coordinator pointed down and whispered DO NOT TRIP OVER THIS so I was a little paranoid of tripping in the grass but I know I was making sure I looked up also. Why he wasn't snapping away to make sure he got plenty of shots?)
-No picture of my mom giving me away (he said that he had to go back down the aisle to get another camera and missed this VERY IMPORTANT opportunity. I'm so POed about this.)
-No picture of the entire bridal party standing while we read our vows
-The formal bridal party picture he sent, the best man was pointing to DH. (It's a cute pic but he didn't have one where he's just standing there? Other guests took pictures off to the side where the best man wasn't pointing so I know it happened)
He also missed a couple of DIY details, I didn't think I would have to run him through my entire wedding and tell him hey don't forget this, don't forget that? I asked him why he didn't take any pictures of the venue and he said that if I told him he would have. Isn't that a common wedding detail?? During the reception, he took pictures of the same family members over and over and over. There are no pictures of our friends. There is no picture of my oldest son. There is no picture of the last dance. The last two pictures of us in the getaway car I look completely psychotic. Yes it's funny but there really isn't another of me waving to everyone??
I asked Tony for ALL of the pictures he took so I could make the decision of which to keep. He said that he never sends all of the pics and it would be $900. Then he sent another email saying there really aren't many other pictures that I would want so he went ahead and sent the dvd and said that he wouldn't accept the money even if I sent it. Funny that he thought I was going to give him another penny.
There's a couple of pictures that I would have wanted like my oldest son walking down the aisle but then I noticed that the number sequence jumps in several places-he deleted pictures!!!I asked him for a picture of the best man not pointing and he told me that he had already deleted all of the pictures off his camera. Great. I'm sure he'd find them if I sent him that $900. I also told him that it felt like I was pulling teeth to get the pictures that I had ALREADY PAID FOR.
I'm SO disappointed by this. I'm sure Tony is a great fashion photographer but I would swear that I hired at amatuer to shoot my wedding. I feel like for whatever reason he did the bare minimum, he did not go beyond the typical shots and then missed some crutial things. Truly a ripoff and I'll never get this opportunity back.