To Robin's response:
I hired you. You can check your contract. You spoke with me first and then my mother. You sent me a contract for three hours, and my mother a contract for 2 hours for the same amount. That was our warning, so there you go. Whether you think you were hired by myself or my mother (the emails are with all 3 of us), we still didn't hear from you until I reached out right before the wedding, you can go back and read your terse reply. So ghosting on a client helped you learn you need to communicate with people? Wow.
My husband was held up almost an hour by the hotel misplacing our car. You know this, why are you bringing it up and blaming him for being late? I wasn't going to put my dress on until my mother was there, you know that too- In any case, the wedding started on time, everything went as planned, so what exactly are you pointing out?
That there was a line item on the contract for first look sunset pics, but those weren't able to happen? It's not really anyone's fault, so you got paid for some extra time to stand around. It would have been great if you could have better occupied yourself, or at least communicated so we could suggest taking pictures of the family setting the ceremony room up. But stuff happens, again it's nobody's fault and it's unrealistic to have expectations when things get off schedule (this seems like something someone would say to a bride, not the other way around). If you think having those outdoor pictures would have made all the difference, maybe that could play into some customer service on your part. It was just a bonus thing that we tried to do with the sun out with the two of us, we are ok that it didn't happen.
Here's the bottom line: You misunderstood what was being asked for at our wedding and agreed to a job that you ultimately had no interest in or skill/equipment to perform. Although, it was always going to be at night and indoors so I am so, so tired of hearing about how you "don't shoot indoors" you usually do "a few lowlight shots" and most pictures outside. Don't take the job then, or please bring a tripod (you could have borrowed ours). The lighting was amazing and we have the pictures from our own cameras to prove it. You were told the exact room the ceremony was happening in and said you had photographed it before.
The first time we spoke after the pictures were shared you told me that you "also weren't happy with how they turned out". Now that has become me being unreasonable and having an attitude. This situation has been unnecessarily escalated by you taking NO responsibility or expressing any sort of remorse, and being so defensive. This was someone's one and only wedding, how exactly should I feel about you being dismissive and cold? Or blaming me because "everyone knows you're an outdoor photographer"? Actually everyone is an outdoor photographer in the High Desert, you can just show up and nature does the rest.
The nature of this work is such that you will not have a lot of repeat clients. It speaks volumes about your integrity and professionalism, how you treat people after you have their money and the event is over. There are pictures you took that are okay for sharing with family and friends so they can see what happened, but anything that's going to get printed and displayed needs serious adjustment. And again you missed 60% of the guests, 2 out of 4 families, in the "family pictures" part of the evening. We're still figuring out what to do.
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My review is not untrue, except for I guess Robin's demeanor having to do with the weather. I have no interest in spending time lying in such a way. In order to get my pictures I had to sign a contract saying I can't post and attribute them to her. If you would like to PM me I am happy to show you what all the commotion is about. As for this review not being 'recommended', I imagine it's because I started an account to do this rating.
I am doing this because, in all of the things that could go wrong at a wedding, I never dreamed that a photographer would cause so many issues. I'm sure there are plenty of events Robin has photographed without a problem, but her reaction when there was one? Inappropriate and disappointing, and worth warning people about so they don't have to go through it. Caveat emptor.
P.S. La Posada is aware of this situation and also not happy with the pictures or the venue being blamed for "poor lighting". I should mention Robin is not one of their recommended vendors. They have kindly offered to set up the room to do reshoots any time- which is great except we can't recreate the group that was there that night (Thank you anyway!). Ultimately we had a wonderful time and thankfully didn't hire Robin for the entire evening! Salud! read more
