Photographer Heartbreak

As promised a post about the heartbreak we had with our wedding photographer.

I feel as though I should have seen some sort of red flag when we interviewed our wedding photographer. I feel like we did everything the right way. We did our research and found a photography style we loved and then found a local photographer with that style and whose pictures we loved and who was within our price range. Our price range was not small. I believe that wedding pictures are a place to allot a larger amount of money as that is the only thing from the wedding day besides the relationship and the rings that lasts. So we allotted a large amount of our wedding budget to the photography. To our particular photographer with the particular style that we loved and with a portfolio that we loved. Clean beautiful clear pictures.

Sadly by the time we realized what we were really dealing with it was…TOO LATE.

With only four months to plan our wedding we did not have time or extra money to find a new photographer once we realized truly what we were going to have to deal with.

It did not take long to learn that our photographer was quite impossible to communicate with. We had to contact her several times to get a response. And anyone who has planned a wedding knows that in the midst of everything you have to do to pull off a wedding the last thing you need is to have paid someone any amount of money and have them not communication well with you. Our photographer was a terrible communicator, a source of immense frustration.

When we finally nailed down a date for the engagement shoot at literally the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning our photographer arrived late. We did not mind the crack of dawn part as we knew the lighting was good then and we all wanted to get done before it got too hot. It was the middle of summer. But the arriving late part was a bit concerning but that early in our relationship with our photographer it wasn’t a great concern yet.

As the shoot progressed we realized that we were going to be the ones coming up with poses and ideas for the shoot. She gave little to no instruction and that did bother me a bit. Thankfully Mr. Wonderful did a really great job coming up with great ideas!!

Following the photo shoot we were given a time line which was not met. I then had to contact the photographer multiple times and was finally given another timeline that was not met. Again let me remind you readers that we got lots of promises and we paid for specific things and we had only four months to plan our wedding and the photographer knew this. We got a print to go in our signature mat the day of our rehearsal dinner…four months later. Frustrating…Yes! We only had our complete gallery open for a little while at that point. But God is faithful and we did get a print just in time for the wedding.

I had been told by the photographer that she would help with the timeline for the wedding day. I contacted her again multiple times to get a timeline or to get help with a timeline as I had out of town guests and coordinators that were waiting for this information. When I finally received a response it was that she would try to get to it and a week later again I was told she would try to get around to it. I finally did my own research on wedding day timelines and made a timeline myself and sent it to the photographer and let her know that she would be required to follow the timeline I came up with as I received no help from her. Thanks for the follow through photographer!!!

The wedding day finally dawns and at this point I have decided that nothing is going to bother me on that day. And nothing did Praise the Lord!!

The photographer showed up 30 minutes late so my hair appointment had to be swapped with my mom so that we could wait on the photographer to get there and have pictures made throughout the whole process!

When she does arrive the first thing she does is lay down on the floor. This would not be the first time that she would lay down on the floor throughout the day. In fact my pastor found her in his office asleep on the floor. She did not ask to be in his office nor did anyone know she was there until he found her. Several times we had to find her to get a photo we wanted. The second shooter that was there that day truly SAVED the day! She took ALL of the detail pictures and ALL of the pictures of the guys that day. Sadly we do not have many photos of the guys. In fact, we only have a handful outside of the ones that were scheduled to be taken. At least we have those thanks to the second shooter! And thankfully I was pretty blissfully blind to this ALL day! I have since learned that many of my peeps in charge were beyond frustrated with the photographer and she was even quite rude to my wedding day coordinator.

So the blissful day comes and goes and we head off on our honeymoon. A cruise which blissfully takes us completely out of touch which we very much needed! Upon reaching land once again we had a very nice surprise…we did have a preview of our wedding pictures on facebook and on the photographers blog. That was the only nice surprise we had since hiring the photographer.

I waited a whole month before finally giving in to myself and contacting the photographer to find out when we would get to see the rest of the photos. I did not receive a response from her until another month later to which I was told that she was in the middle of a Christmas rush and she gave me a timeline that SURPRISE…WAS NOT MET!!!

From there I contacted her once every two weeks rarely getting a response and when I did get a response it was chock full of excuses and timelines that…were NEVER met.

Six months after our wedding we still had not seen any wedding photos outside of the twelve she posted while we were on our honeymoon. We then sent her a certified letter demanding our photos within 15 days. To which we received…NO RESPONSE. Nothing, not an email or call or pictures…NOTHING!! I then began to contact her everyday via email and calling and leaving her messages. To which she did not answer except once to again give an excuse and say she is working on it. UNACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABEL UNACCEPTABLE.

At that point we were past the six month mark and only one month to moving out of state. I was terrified that we would never see our photos even after paying her IN FULL and ON TIME. I then contacted her lawyer husband via facebook and pleaded my case to him. He assured me that he would get our photos to us as quickly as possible. I waited two weeks, which at that point was very generous, and contacted the photographer again. Quess what I got…yep…NO RESPONSE. So I contacted her husband again. This time it took him a day to respond to me and then another day for her to respond to me. She actually set up a time for us to pick up a disk of our raw photos…THE DAY BEFORE WE MOVED a full seven months after our wedding.

We did not get the work we paid for, we did not get some of the products that we paid for, and we most certainly did not get the experience we wanted.

I am very very thankful to have gotten the photos at all honestly. I have several wonderful photographers who have offered to edit some of the photos and for that I am beyond thankful and blessed. But I am truly heartbroken at the entire experience with our photographer and the fact that she took all of our money and in return we got only heartbreak.

I understand she is sick with an autoimmune disorder, but I feel that when you have a client that has paid you in full and been MORE than patient with your lack of communication and lack of integrity then you find a way to get that clients photos done and you get them what they paid for. I do not feel we deserved the way we were treated and I do not feel like she tried to make amends for it at all. She never offered to return any of our money to us, which honestly it is not about the money. I want the pictures more than I want the money. She just never took responsibility for the way we were treated and never tried to have integrity and do what she said she would do and what she was paid to do.

In fact my God mom has an autoimmune disorder too and even still she follows through with her commitments or finds someone who can help or take over the commitment. That is having integrity. Our photographer has had no integrity in any of this and that breaks my heart the most!

This past week is the first time I have gotten to be the slightest bit excited about our wedding photos. I think that is heartbreaking! But again I am so thankful to finally have them and am so thankful that God has opened doors for professionals to help with the editing. I have tried my hand at some editing and it just doesn’t compare to what I paid the money for. I had such an idea of the beautiful photos that I wanted and would have been proud to pay for but those hopes and ideas crashed hard.

I truly hope that no one else has to go through this with their wedding photographer and I still do not quite know what to do to make sure no one else gets burned by the photographer that we hired. I will not compromise our integrity and our character but I do feel like others need to be well informed so that they do not find themselves in the position we were put in with her.

And that my friends is the saga of our wedding photographer heartbreak. Long and heartbreaking. Still makes me angry at her and breaks my heart when I think about it all. As I was truly very sweet and understanding in the beginning giving the benefit of doubt. I WAS WRONG.

And because almost all of the photos are raw and our families have not seen them, as we were hoping to give them gifts last Christmas or at least by Mother’s Day – didn’t happen, I will not be sharing any of the wedding photos yet.

Update

Well we have been in Springfield for a lil over a month now and…

*Mr. Wonderful has two jobs that he enjoys. The first is a cook at a BBQ place and the second is a cook at a pizza place.

*I just got a job at Old Navy and will start with orientation on Friday. I am very excited and can’t wait to get started and meet new people.

*We both love the new city. There is stuff EVERYWHERE! Restaurants and stores and stuff just everywhere.

*I have been donating plasma twice a week since the first week we got here and it pays well for practically doing nothing but reading for an hour. Mr. Wonderful was able to finally get set up and began donating today. Together it will bring in $100 a week and we welcome the easy income. The most difficult part is the scheduling.

*We both have registered at our schools and have our schedules and are very anxious to get started. Classes, however, do not start until August.

*We are more than glad that we decided to move on up here and get settled before school starts and before winter hits. We are becoming very familiar with the community and will be comfortable in our jobs and such before diving into school.

*We have found a church to call home while we are here. The pastor is very scripture based and fun and takes a big part in the children’s and youth ministries. I love a head pastor that recognizes the value in the other ministries of the church. We also enjoy the worship and love the great mix of people we see every Sunday. This Sunday we will begin Sunday school and I am SO excited about that. I am ready to meet people and see what God has for us here.

*We have enjoyed a lil time at the pool here at our apartment complex. As well as time at the gym that is close by. We need to spend a bit more time at the gym and a lil less time eating but it will come. Ha! I have actually gained a good bit of weight. I just eat and eat and eat. Ugh. Wish it could just be easy for us. But we have GOT to get a handle on it!!

*Tater is settling in and becoming more his old self. He has found his voice again and is becoming more playful as well. He is still spoiled Rotten and sleeps the majority of the time. He’s a lazy lil man!! But we love him so much!! Don’t know what we would do without him here with us. He helps to make this a home!

*I have been able to spend the last week working on wedding photos. I am so thankful that we actually were able to get them from the photographer before we left. (Literally THE DAY BEFORE WE LEFT!!!) To say that I am disappointed and heartbroken over the way things went down with our photos and the photographer that we hired and paid in full, well it is an extreme understatement. I have never experienced someone so unconcerned with their client and so apathetic. I have never experienced such extreme lack of communication, disorganization, and EXCUSES. I believe I will do a second post on this very subject.

*We also miss miss miss our families and friends dearly! I know this is where we are supposed to be and that this is a really good thing for us all around. But we do miss our loved ones a lot. I do feel much better every day and I don’t feel like I did when first moving here and for that I am very thankful. I actually feel more at home here and feel good about being here. But it is hard having our loved ones so far away. We can’t wait to get home to see them for the holidays this year! We love them very much!

*That’s about it. We have just been exploring our new “home for now” and clinging to the Lord. We are so thankful for His faithfulness and love and calling and support and provision. We are really looking forward to what He has in store for us while we are here. I pray with all of my heart that we dive in and receive all that He has for us and that he changes and transforms us completely!

*It truly is such an honor to lay my life before the Lord and allow Him to have His way. His way is after all MUCH MUCH better than my way. I am so excited to spend this life serving Him and loving on His people and especially His children! I can’t wait to see what He has in store!

Quick Update

We are doing well here in Springfield! Mr. Wonderful got a second job today and I am still working on getting any job. I have my eye on a specific place that I really want to work and am hoping that one pans out. I need to get an interview with the Distrct Manager & hopefully will get one tomorrow. We will see. We are trusting God completely in everything...well when my silly attitude doesn't get in the way and I try getting what I want...I am fighting against that with all my might though.

We both have our schedules for school which started the end of August and we are ready to get started!! Very ready to get started!!

Sorry I don't write much but I don't have internet and so am not online very much. I will update as I can.

Weekend Review

Twas the weekend of goodbyes…

We spend Friday night and Saturday at the lake with my family. We had a good time just relaxing together and being together. Family is such a treasure and I love my family with all of my heart. I am so thankful for their love and support always always!! They have always stood behind me and believed in me and I am who I am because of it and I have the courage to do what I am doing because of it!! I am so very very thankful that God chose to share them with me they are treasures and I will miss seeing them every week so much!! But I will definitely be looking forward to Christmas to see them again if they cannot make it up to our new home before then! (Pictures from the weekend to come, they are on my families camera as mine is lame! So I have to wait for an email or thumb drive!!)

We will get to have dinner with them Thursday before we leave so it’s not goodbye with them just yet. (Oh boy that’s gonna be hard!)

Our last Sunday at our beloved church…

I thought I would fall apart completely but let me tell you this…

God is SO FAITHFUL!!

I realized weekend before last that I did not want to go into this with a grieving spirit. I wanted to go into this with a healthy spirit and strength and dignity. I prayed hard over it and God is faithful.

I feel like I handled myself very well this weekend!!

It was very important for me to make this okay for the kids, youth, and adults that I would be saying goodbye to this weekend.

I planned a party for my Sunday School class and we had a good time eating cup cakes and taking down the old decorations in the room and playing Simon Says and Hangman! Those games are ALWAYS classics!! We had fun and talked only lightly about my leaving.

In Children’s Church we sang several songs, played games, then Mr. Wonderful and I got up and shared a little bit with the rest of the kids about what we are doing and thanked them for letting us be a part of their lives and thanked our incredible pastors for allowing us to be a part of their ministry. I did cry during that part. Then we spent some time in worship and then…This is the part I cried the most…the kids with the sweetest lil hands and sweetest lil voices came and prayed for Mr. Wonderful and my. It was such a beautiful moment! Anytime children pray for me it breaks me completely!! I am so thankful for their prayers!!! Then our wonderful Pastors prayed for us as well. We are so thankful for their prayers too and so thankful for their support in this and for such a SWEET SWEET send off.

We were also very blessed with a basket of cards and monetary gifts. God is faithful. He used many yesterday to show us His faithfulness again and we are so thankful, humbled, and BLESSED! We feel very loved and cherished and missed already. It’s wonderful knowing what a great family we have here.

Sunday evening we had our small group meeting and had a great time fellowshipping with great people who have also supported us and encouraged us as we were jobless, in our new jobs, and now in our new adventure. A truly great group of people that we have come to love dearly! We will miss our monthly meetings with them as well!

That was our weekend! This week is full of goodbyes too, the big ones. Sheesh! I am praying for strength!! We work until Wednesday, Thursday is our running around day and packing day, Friday we will pack, load the truck, & clean the apartment. Saturday we are off. Our new journey begins at 4:00am.

We are ready, in spite of the hard moments, to see what God has in store for us. We trust and believe fully in our Faithful Heavenly Father, our Lord, our Provider, our Savior. We are ready to follow HIM!!

I’ll tell you this, were it not for knowing without a doubt that this is GOD’S will, I would not be brave enough to follow through with it. I know God has a plan and this is part of it and I want to please Him and be in the center of HIS will more than anything else.

Father I pray that we make you proud, that we make our families and pastors and friends proud that we make the kids and the youth proud. Father I pray that we stay in the Center of YOUR WILL no matter how hard it may be. Thank YOU for YOUR faithfulness!! I love you Father and I trust YOU. Be with us this week and all the weeks ahead for we cannot and do not want to do this without YOU!!

Saying Goodbye...

Wow is it hard.

I wanna do it with grace and strength.

Saturday Mr. Wonderful and I will be moving 9 hours north. This will absolutely be a brand new adventure.

God is calling and we are following.

It does feel good to finally be headed in a direction that leads to full time ministry. I can't wait to see what God has in store.

But first...saying goodbye...

I love my family, I am so incredibly blessed to have them, being so far away from them will truly be so hard. I love our church and it will be hard to be away from them as well.

But God is calling.

I can't wait to see what HE has in store for us. If it's this hard to follow it has got to be AMAZING!!

I trust YOU Father. We will follow! Thank you for calling. I am honored.

Announcement...

Now that everything is official and finally all out in the open I can officially announce that…

Mr. Wonderful & I are moving to Missouri.

We are very excited to follow God’s calling and go back to school. I will be attending an Assembly of God College to obtain a degree in Children’s Ministry while Mr. Wonderful will be attending the state university to obtain a certificate to teach math.

How multifaceted our Faithful Heavenly Father is! My sweet husband will have to help me pass college math. He will surely get good practice teaching on this wifey as she strives to pass this go ‘round!

God has blessed us with the most amazing and supportive families any two people could ask for. Our amazing families have supported us through our wedding and now they are supporting our decision to move north and pursue our dreams. We just simply could not ask for more. We are loved and very very blessed to have our families in our life. We love you all so much!

God just works in amazing ways! He has put every piece into place and has held our hands through all of this. We are very excited to embark on this new journey.

We know that this will not be easy but we also know that our God is Faithful and that He will see us through. We believe that the next two years are going to be years of an immense out pouring of God’s Spirit in our lives as He builds us up to prepare us for full-time ministry. We believe that we will have everything we need & that God will continue to be Faithful and provide all we need from jobs to strength & peace, to wisdom and endurance.

It will not be easy for us to leave our families, friends, and church but we know that this is the plan that God has for us and we know that we will learn a lot through it and that this is indeed God’s will for our lives. It is bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. Our families, friends, & church are so incredibly loving and supportive and we appreciate that so much. We could not do it without you all!!

So pray with us as we embark on the next leg in our journey of life. A new city, A new task, A new direction, A new church, A new dance & A different time of our lives. We truly believe that this is going to be an amazing & wonderful adventure and we are open to everything God has in store for us.

Father we can’t wait to see what you have in store and how you will work everything out. We love you and we trust & believe in You and we are beyond Thankful for your many many many many blessings. We are so undeserving but you love and bless and prove yourself to us over and over anyway. We are truly humbled at all you have done and @ all you are doing. We love you. In Jesus name. Amen.

I cannot tell you how often I will get to give updates as I believe our lives are truly about to speed up quite a bit as we work and go to school. I will update when I can though.

Photo catch up...in random order

Tater love the new furniture. I love this face.

I luvs my Tater!!

Our new to us sofa. Craigslist!

New chair.

Skating.

Ooohhh goodness I love this face.

Hanging on the Quad at the ADay game. April 2010

Our view from North End Zone.

Serious Business. My handsome Hubby.

Khloe @ ADay game.

Chelsi @ ADay game.

CHEESE BISCUITS!!! We LOVE these.

My new hair. We were headed to the Barons Game.

My new hair. Spring 2010.

Flowers my sweet hubby picked for me on his way home from church. :D

Our JBQ teams!! I LOVE these kids!!!

Trotters @ JBQ Spring 2010

Thankful

Ø My Heavenly Father & His Love & Faithfulness

Ø My Wonderful, Incredible, Unbelievable Husband

Ø My Family & their love and support throughout the years

Ø Our Tater, he’s a sweet kitty and adds so much to our lives, he’s so darn cute

Ø Our jobs – they pay the bills

Ø The Beauty of our life…it’s not always Beautiful like we’d expect but it is indeed Beautiful

Ø That God is not done with us yet – He’s only just beginning

Ø That time is winding down as I am so Ready to get started on this journey

Ø That when things fall apart and we can no longer control them God simply says FINALLY now I can do what I’ve been trying to do all along

Ø For moments that sustain us

Ø For encouragement

Ø For Sunshine

Ø For the Thankfulness I feel in my heart

Ø For the realization that we are truly Blessed with so much

Ø For the ability to run & for a hubby to run with

Ø For my marriage – I waited so long and wondered if it would ever really come – It came & I love every minute of it – God is SO faithful

Ø For Prayer – It shakes foundations – it too is BEAUTIFUL

Ø For a church body that has taught me SO much

Ø For our home & how good it feels to be there

Ø For friends who I can pick right back up with where we left off as we all have busy lives and we all understand that

Ø For our new sofa & chair – they are just what we were looking for & we were so Blessed to find at such a Steal

Ø For the way God works things out because He can see the bigger picture & I cannot

Ø That I can give HIM all of my concerns and anxieties and He will work them out & I will be surprised at how He does it & I will feel silly for spending too much time being anxious over it

Ø Many many other things i.e. grocery shopping, freshly washed laundry, a clean house, Strawberry candles, a back door that is functional, DVR, wireless internet, journals, a rounded shower curtain rod, and just many many more.

Today I am just really Thankful. Thank You Faithful Heavenly Father!

Weekend Review:

Friday:

We went to Hallmark to get a few gifts for sweet people who helped with our wedding. Terribly & Embarrassingly late gifts. But better late than never!!

We ate at Moe’s which I never liked before but have begun to love!

We went grocery shopping – which is one of my favorite things to do!!

We can home and put away groceries & then changed into our running gear and hit the track for a great 2 ¼ mile run!

Saturday:

I got up and studied for Sunday School. We learned about being “Living Sacrifices”.

I worked on wrapping gifts and writing Thank you notes to go with them.

When Mr. Wonderful woke up we cleaned out our clothes closets and the hall closet. I felt so accomplished!

We headed out to run errands: Mr. Wonderful dropped me off to get a much needed long past due hair cut. A new look! He headed off to return a shirt at Kohl’s, clean the car, and have the windshield filled (a rock hit it last week and made a pit), and to fill the car up with gas.

We headed back home to get ready for an evening of Baseball and Mr. Wonderful’s college friends. We lost the game but got to hang out with fun people and see fireworks.

We were supposed to run when we got home but it was way past my bedtime so we just went to bed.

Sunday:

We headed to church where I gave one gift away first thing. I taught my sweet preteen kiddos about being Living Sacrifices while Mr. Wonderful when to his Sunday school class where they are doing the book “Crazy Love”.

We were both in big church this week so we worshipped with the adults. Sadly I had the beginnings of a headache and did not enjoy holding my head up for the sermon but it was still good.

We had a nice Mexican lunch with my brother before heading home for a much needed nap! I was pooped and had a nasty headache.

Woke up late for small group but went anyway. We were the only ones to show (our group is struggling a bit), but we had fun playing Mexican train dominoes!

Went by my parents to drop off some clothes we borrowed on Easter and visited with My Neesie for a few minutes.

Then we headed home and ran a mile before bed.

That was our weekend start to finish! It was a very nice weekend aside from the nasty headache I had yesterday! It’s nice to have clean closets and a clean car! Lot’s more cleaning and reorganizing to come in the near future :D!!

Assuredly Not!

Hebrews 13:5 (Amp)

…For He God Himself has said,

I will not in any way fail you

Nor give you up

Nor leave you without support.

I will not, I will not, I will not

In any degree leave you helpless

Nor forsake you

Nor let you down

(or Relax My hold on you)!

Assuredly Not!

If there has ever been a time in my life that I needed this kind of assurance it is now.

God is Faithful and He has proven that to me time and time again.

I will continue to trust Him.

It sure is good to have this reminder straight from His love letter to me.

This past and current year have probably been some of the most stressful in my life.

But again God truly is Faithful and over and over again He has shown His Faithfulness to me.

I know that we will continue to see God’s Faithfulness. I want to always acknowledge it as well.

I think acknowledging the good in our lives as God’s hand increases our Faith.

It’s easy to get prideful and want to give the credit to ourselves or others but ultimately it is God.

It is God who places people in our lives or blessings in our lives or favor in our lives.

When we belong to Him, it is Him who provides.

We belong to Him. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

My Husband and I love our Faithful Lord and we seek after Him.

We will acknowledge His work in our lives and not give credit to ourselves or others or this world.

In doing so I believe our faith will be increased and God will continue to be faithful to us because we are willing to give Him the credit that ONLY HE Deserves.

John 1:16

“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.”

Hebrews 11:1

“Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

The verse from Hebrews at the top is absolutely true.

Yet it does not mean that we won’t face hard times, that we won’t shed tears, that we won’t feel at times as if the very world itself is crashing in around us. We simply must remember that in those times God is teaching us something, strengthening our faith, our walk, and preparing us for what only He knows lies ahead. Just like any parent would equip their child for things to come.

“Sometimes God uses the fight to strengthen muscles we’ll need at the next level in our lives. If yesterday’s wimp is going to become tomorrow’s warrior, something has to happen today.” (From a Blog I read last week)

Just like a good parent would not shelter their child from any and all danger because that would debilitate the child, neither does our Heavenly Father promise that life will be perfect and wonderful and neither does He shelter us from any and all danger. We must learn by experiencing things. God is a good God, and He will never give us more than we can handle but He will allow us to learn and grow so that we may 1. Grow closer to Him and 2. Become stronger in our faith and convictions and 3. Share that faith and Him with the world around us.

Randoms.

Randoms.

Spring.

Love.

Encouragement.

Happiness.

Enduring.

Ready.

Sunshine.

Home.

Jesus.

Flip Flops.

Hubby.

Family.

Journey.

Soon.

Ready.

Calling.

Trusting.

Learning.

Growing.

Sunshine.

Friends.

Jesus.

Worship.

Love.

Home.

Life.