I loved my wedding. It was beautiful and full of love, family, and friends. I wouldn't change a…read morething except my photographer. I guess the rule is that every wedding has something that goes wrong and for me it was J. Layne Photography. I hired J. Layne Photography to take photos at my wedding for 6 hours with two professional photographers. Chelsi was lovely before the wedding and I LOVED the pictures that I saw on her website. On the day of my wedding, Chelsi called to tell me that she was "sick" but that she would send two professional photographers and an assistant in her place. I was fine with this and understood that these things happen. When they arrived at 2 pm, there was only one professional photographer and an assistant. I was less pleased at this point. I called Chelsi, while putting on my dress, and she said that when she looked at the wedding she realized that only one professional photographer was necessary. After receiving my wedding photos, I know that wasn't true. My maid of honor was smart and told the assistant to take pictures while we were waiting for the cars or I would have had even fewer photos. The assistant took bridal portraits on a staircase and didn't realize that from her angle my undergarment was clearly visible. A real photographer would have noticed that in the majority of my bridal portraits my bra was showing or would have at least had the decency to edit it out. J. Layne photography did neither, but would have taken it out if I paid them another 50 dollars per photo (also not stated in my contract). I asked for one of them (either the professional or assistant) to ride with the wedding party to take pictures in the large vehicle and they said that they needed to take their car because of their equipment. It's not like they were using special lighting. It was literally two cameras and one shoulder bag. I received 12 photos of my ceremony. I received 2 photos of people dancing (eventually she sent me 2 additional images - including the generations dance, but only because I begged her). I received a photo of the hired violinist, but not one of my sister singing a 4 minute aria. No photographs of bridesmaids, grandparents, etc walking down the aisle. No photos of a groomsmen doing a reading. Almost no photos of the groomsmen at all. I only received a posed photo of my entire wedding party at the park because I asked after she sent me my disc. I have that photo hanging in my bedroom, but wouldn't have had it at all if I hadn't spent hours begging her for more of the photos that I paid J. Layne Photography to take. Only two photos of me walking with my parents. I asked Chelsi why I didn't receive more photos, but she said that they prefer quality over quantity. That wasn't true either. Neither of the photographers bothered to take them. There weren't any photos of those events to send me. Many of the photos were taken from a low and unfaltering angle. I ask to see all of my wedding photos, but she refused to let me she any "raw" photos. If she sent me the best photos, I probably don't want to see what was left, but then again I received extra photos that I requested that I love. It hurts to think that she gets to see all of the photos from my wedding, but that I don't. I don't trust her judgment in anything at this point. She emailed me a clause about raw photos saying that it was in my contract, but it wasn't. It may be in her new contract, but it wasn't in the one that I was sent.
I received my photos months after I was suppose to and she said she would compensate me with a coffee album valued at 250 bucks. I received a cheesy album that was made at a snapfish type website.
I can't even get into it all because it hurts too much to talk about. I do have a handful of really beautiful pictures that I will cherish, but there is so much that I am missing and the quality and artistic choice of the majority of my 187 pictures that I received (for 6 hours of coverage) is truly pathetic. Brides, please consider other options before booking J. Layne Photography. I was fooled by the beautiful, vintage photos featured on their website. The potential for a unique eye and beautiful photos is definitely there, but what you get in reality is very different. Unprofessional and novice is what you should expect. They don't put the care into the real weddings that they clearly did for a photo shoot. May be they just don't have to skill to produce such stunning results in the less planned and faster paced environments of a real wedding. They spent so much time do things other than taking pictures. I wonder what was more important than taking a picture of my sister singing a 4 minute aria?
