There are a lot of things you need to do when planning your wedding, which is why hiring experts can take a lot of the stress off the bride and groom.

What would you do if you hired a professional wedding photographer, but then, as the big day approached, they told you that they were sending an ‘associate’ (who turned out to be a teenager who had never done a wedding before) instead?

That is what happened to the bride in this story, and while the photographer admitted that things didn’t go well, they refused to give a refund or even provide the raw photos.

She wants to remind everyone that this is why you need to be extra careful when hiring any type of vendor for your wedding.

Worst Wedding Photographer Ever That Ruined My Big Day

I am INCREDIBLY angry, hurt, and frustrated by everything about my experience with my wedding photographer.

She should offer all of the raw photos and give a refund if she admits things didn’t go well.

I got hardly any bridal portraits, NONE of my must-shoot photos from my wedding day, am missing family formal photos and what I did get are poorly shot and edited photos.

Though she admitted she was wrong, She refuses to give me any of the raw images from my wedding, as I know more was shot than what I received, or any money back to try to make it right.

I’d be upset as well. She didn’t pay for an associate.

Things were off from the beginning. As soon as I paid in full, the wedding photographer messaged me on Instagram to say she would be sending an associate to my wedding instead of shooting it herself.

When I asked for clarification, she brought up the contract I signed accounting for sending associates.

So, the main photographer is lying about this whole thing.

She assured me this was a main associate she worked with multiple times and would have a sit-down meeting with this associate to tell her about me and my wedding.

After things on my wedding day started to unravel, I talked with the “associate” who not only told me she never worked for my wedding photographer before but was under the impression she would be a second shooter on my wedding day and was never given any of my inspiration photos.

I almost feel bad for the associate.

She had the Instagram conversation receipts to prove her side of the story.

The “associate” sent to shoot my wedding was an 18-year-old who not only has far less experience than my wedding photographer but was the cause of a truly insane amount of stress and chaos on my wedding day.

This is very unprofessional.

Because the “associate” was so inexperienced and came to my wedding with no information, she had a bit of a meltdown and started crying while taking family photos, and my bridesmaids had to calm her down and encourage her to keep shooting.

All of my important photos and “must shoots” that I communicated to my wedding photographer were missed. The “associate” offered no direction, so my bridal party shots did not turn out great.

How terribly disappointing.

There were not nearly as many photos as there needed to be and the poses we were put in did not look good.

The photos that I got were not the same quality that my wedding photographer has in her portfolio. I truly got better photos from people’s cell phones.

What are they even paying for?

The photos she did claim to edit are clearly not retouched. For instance, there are water bottles in frame, lighting and faces look bad. Things that could have easily been retouched.

The bottom line is, my wedding photographer “contracted” (in quotes because there was no contract, just Instagram DMs) my wedding out to a young, inexperienced photographer and did not communicate or ensure that important information about me, my wedding, or my photography must shoots/inspiration got to this “associate.”

You only get one shot to shoot a wedding, and I was failed by her.

How does someone like this stay in business?

On top of this, my wedding photographer never scheduled my engagement shoot, said it was too late to schedule it by the time my wedding was approaching, and offered to do a couples shoot after the wedding.

She refused to set a date, and after all the chaos of my wedding, this is obviously not happening.

It is downright awful to do this on someone’s big day.

I feel like she never cared about my wedding and never wanted to shoot it. She saw it as easy money and could not be bothered to do the bare minimum to ensure that I had beautiful photos for my wedding.

I feel very disrespected and hurt by the way I was treated throughout this whole process.

There is only so much you can do when they are holding your photos hostage.

Right after the wedding I asked for money back, because this was not what I paid for. She refused, and ultimately, I wanted my wedding photos, so I let it go.

When I got my photos back, I again reached out to my wedding photographer asking where the rest of the photos are, because I know I’m missing shots and I don’t even know if they were taken.

Ok, now it is time to file a claim with the courts.

She won’t respond and blocked me on Instagram.

To any brides reading this: please vet your photographers before letting them shoot the biggest day of your life.

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You always want to believe teh best in people, but sadly, they often let you down.

I wish I trusted my gut when things seemed off with my wedding photographer, but I trusted her. After the comments about my looks, I wouldn’t want anyone like this near a day I spent so much money, time and energy on.

While pictures aren’t the most important part of your wedding day, they are an essential piece of the puzzle. She paid for professional photographs, but got nothing of the sort. How awful.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a sister who canceled a family dinner after realizing she’d been the only one putting in effort for years.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this sad story.

This commenter has some very helpful information.

I agree, she should sue them for sure.

It is a good thing this person caught it before the wedding.

This commenter says she likely breached the contract.

I agree, flood her with bad reviews. 1

When you hire a professional to take pictures at your wedding, you expect that a professional will arrive. The fact that this photographer sent out a teenager with no experience is absolutely unacceptable.

It is beyond time to file a lawsuit and get this issue working its way through the courts. I would be devastated if this happened to me, and letting the photographer get away with it just means they will do it again to someone else.