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Bad Wedding Photographer Delivers Horrific Photos
Imagine this scenario...
Sylvia and Marc Day of West Yorkshire, England are excited to plan their wedding day. They want to do everything right, so they attend 11 different wedding shows in search of just the right professionals for their wedding.
After meeting dozens of photographers, Sylvia and Marc settle on Gareth Bowers of Fresh Images photography. He seems nice enough...he has all his teeth and smiles broadly when takes their deposit, promising them unforgettable photographs. They pay the equivalent of $2133 for his services.
"Unforgettable photographs," is right. When the couple finally received their wedding photos, they were horror struck.
Out of 404 photos, only 22 were tolerable.
The rest were horribly cropped and poorly lit, featuring headless guests, a one-armed bride, unfocused images and shots in which the groom was completely unrecognizable. At one point the photographer missed a photo of the bride and groom exiting the limousine and was caught on video "redoing it" with an empty limo.
To top it all off, the couple's thank you cards were printed with both of their names misspelled.
Check out the evidence for yourself in this article.
When your wedding day is over...and believe me, it goes fast...all you have left are your photographs. Sylvia and Marc can never recover those lost memories.
The good news: the Days sued their photographer and WON. The court found the photography service "woefully inadequate" and ordered Gareth Bowers to pay a partial refund, damages and court fees that were enough to cover the cost they paid to hire him.
But was it enough? After all the heartache and drama, the couple was vindicated in the courts and awarded "free," albeit unflattering and pretty much unusable, wedding photography. I'm sure Marc and Sylvia would agree that it doesn't come anywhere near making it right.
This is a terrible example of what can happen if you don't check references, ask questions and read your contract (yes, even the tiny print!) Viewing a photographer's work is not enough; check them out on the Better Business Bureau, call recent clients and professional references, ask for reviews in bride chat rooms. If someone is misbehaving, it catches up with them pretty quick and chances are someone is ranting about them on the internet.
This goes for ALL your wedding professionals, not just the photographer. Most wedding service providers are good people offering a good service...but it's the few like this guy who remind us we've gotta stay on our toes.
I'm betting some resourceful brides out there could come up with an adequate, creative punishment for this bad wedding photographer.
What do you think?
Margaret never thought it would happen to her. 
She is a Hudson Valley wedding expert, the Banquet Manager at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie who knows weddings inside and out. How could a hair and makeup disaster...on her wedding day...happen to her?
Like many brides, Margaret felt guilty about asking her bridesmaids to pay for expensive hair and makeup. They were traveling from out of town and spending a lot of money already; it made sense to save by offering them a less expensive option for wedding day hair and makeup.
In her search for a hair and makeup artist, Margaret and her mother both had a trial done by the owner of a local salon. The results were beautiful. The owner took photographs of their heads, front and back. At only $25 for the trial and $75 for the day of makeup, and the bonus of additional makeup included, the price was a bargain.
The bridesmaids could get their makeup done for only $35 and take $35 worth of makeup home with them. Twelve of the girls decided to get their hair done by the professionals Margaret had hired, and five also booked them for makeup.
The wedding day arrived.
Margaret and her entourage of family and friends got ready at Vivian's Space in Highland. The makeup and hair stylists started at 8am as planned. The girls arrived in shifts to have their preparations done so they wouldn't have to wait.
Everything started out fine, although there didn't seem to be enough stylists and makeup artists to accommodate her large group. Soon, the girls were arguing with their makeup artists. One by one, Margaret saw them slip off to remove their makeup. Then her aunt's hair was teased into an afro. The little girls who had luxurious, curly hair like Margaret's, sported frizzy mops.
Something was going horribly wrong. The only woman doing hair who seemed to have any talent left at 10am. The girls needed to arrive at the church in only three hours...and none of them had acceptable hair and makeup.
She began to panic as the girls reapplied their own makeup. The normally calm Margaret freaked.
"Who is doing hair? There is something really wrong here. My girls are taking off the makeup!"
The owner shrugged her shoulders and explained that they had done what they were hired to do. If the girls didn't like the makeup, that was their problem.
"These girls will do hair." The owner pointed to the women packing up the makeup.
"I don't do hair," one of the women said to the other. "No way."
The photographer arrived and Margaret was still without hair and makeup. She finally sat down to have her hair and makeup done. When it was finished, she didn't need a mirror to know the result. The looks on the faces around her said it all.
"Give me a mirror," Margaret said. 
Margaret's thick hair was plastered back in a messy nest, the pins in her hair so loose they fell out as she turned her head. The makeup, which she had specifically requested as natural and light, was ghostly a white matte caked on so thickly that it cracked at her hairline. When her sister tried to adjust her halo of frizz, white flakes of sprinkled her shoulders.
Horrified at her appearance, Margaret demanded that the owner produce the photographs she had taken of their trial. "I don't have the camera," the owner said.
In a state of shock and with only minutes left before the girls had to depart for the ceremony, Margaret sent the hair and makeup artists away. The job they had done was hideous and there was no time for them to make it right.
Margaret washed her face, did her mother's makeup and then her own on her wedding day. Vivian, the owner of Space, started doing hair, pitching in to help everyone get ready.
Fortunately, the resilient Margaret and her fun-loving family left their bad hair and makeup experience behind them and enjoyed the rest of the wedding day.
Update: After the wedding Margaret attempted to collect the $225 of makeup she had been promised. The owner refused to supply it. "You don't deserve it," the owner told her.
How can you avoid a hair and makeup disaster on your wedding day?
- Don't automatically go with the lowest price. If it seems too good to be true...it probably is.
- Make sure your makeup artist takes photographs of your trial or takes detailed notes so they can duplicate the look. Ask for a copy so that you can bring it on your wedding day as a back up.
- Trust your gut. If you meet with a makeup artist and something doesn't feel right...it probably isn't. Margaret told me the signs were all there: the owner squeezed in a walk-in during their scheduled appointment for a trial and introduced her husband as the "dentist" who would perform a tooth-whitening, a deliberate lie.
- Ask for referrals of people you trust. The wedding vendors you hire for your big day, especially your photographer and videographer, have seen numerous makeup artists and hair stylists. They can recommend someone who does good work. If a girlfriend or someone you know had a good experience on her wedding day, take that advice.
- Check references. Make sure you call previous clients and ask them about their experience. Did the makeup artist arrived on time? Did they perform as promised? Were they completely satisfied?
- Check the Better Business Bureau and do an internet search for reviews of the person you are considering. After hearing Margaret's story, I researched this company online. They had no complaints on the BBB website, but I did find one horrible review that acts as a warning.
- Finally, if you don't like your makeup on your wedding day, DO NOT pay until they get it right. Make sure they redo it to your satisfaction before moving on to anyone else. (This advice comes from Jenny Magliano of Makeup By Jenny.)
Margaret had an amazing wedding day...and looked beautiful in her photos...despite this ordeal thanks to her sunny personality and refusal to let it get her down. I can't tell you the name of the company who botched the service and refused to make it right, but if you contact Margaret at the Grandview she will tell you everything.
Tips From An Expert Wedding Makeup Artist
Last week I told the wedding makeup disaster story of a bride right here in the Hudson Valley.
Well, it doesn't do any good to share the story if I can't tell you how to prevent it from happening to you. Of course, I'm not a makeup artist. For that help, I turned to Jenny Magliano of Makeup By Jenny. Not only has she been providing amazing wedding makeup for years, she does makeup for professional photo shoots, fashion shows, TV, film and commercials.
She knows her stuff! Jenny reveals how to prevent a makeup disaster on your wedding day and shares the secret to natural looking makeup in this video shot at Space in Highland, NY. Here's some more of her advice that didn't make it into the video.
Four Makeup Essentials For Your Wedding Day
- 1. Loose, translucent powder. You'll want to apply this with a brush...NOT a sponge. A sponge applies the powder too heavily or smudges what your makeup artist did.
- 2. A good quality makeup brush. (See #1.)
- 3. Blotting paper, especially if you have oily skin. BLOT, don't rub.
- 4. Lipstick. You'll need to reapply this throughout the day because your lip color is rubbed off by all that eating, drinking and kissing you'll be doing.
Jenny Greene-Magliano is a makeup artist serving the Hudson Valley, Westchester and NY City areas. Contact her at Makeup By Jenny.
