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Review 1/25/2011
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I've posted 2 reviews on yelp, they keep getting deleted. I am trying every outlet I can to help others since I had a horrible experience. The detail below posts just a synopsis of my experience with Deann.
If I could redo my wedding, I would simply for the fact that I would NOT hire Deann to shoot my wedding again. This post is very hard to write b/c as any female knows, a wedding is the day they dream about & having great pictures to look back on are really the only way to relive the day & capture the memories of it forever. I am still very raw emotionally over this whole ordeal; I got married in July 2010.
The following is long, but it details my experience. I received many false promises from Deann about delivery of my pictures (from the engagement shoot to the wedding pictures), & I had to continually keep up on her about her deadlines.
We ended up having 2 engagement shoots with Deann. The 1st shoot turned out horrible. The pictures were awful (& it took 5 weeks to get them back, unedited). I showed them to several friends w/o telling them my opinion of the pictures first so I could get their honest opinion. Not 1 person liked the pictures. We took them at Coronado Island & the majority of them were completely washed out, you couldn't even tell we were at a beach, it looked like we were standing in front of white walls. I told Deann I didn't like them & after some talk she offered to redo them. The 2nd shoot I opted for La Jolla cove. These pictures turned out wonderful. Again though, it took quite awhile to get them back & many false delivery dates from Deann. When I showed my friends the photos, they thought I had hired a new photographer; there was a visible difference in the quality. I was hoping & praying that Deann would bring her "A" game to our wedding & we'd end up with the same quality as the second shoot.
Wedding Day: Deann arrived 30 minutes late (she was supposed to be at my house at 12:30pm, she got there at 1pm). This meant that I got no pictures of me getting ready. She blamed it on traffic; she said she came from PB to Kearny Mesa. Interesting thing is the limo driver also came from PB & he arrived 30 minutes early (he was supposed to be there at 1pm, he got there at 12:30pm).
I allotted for 2 hours for pictures prior to the ceremony. I had my husband's family meet us early for pictures (he has a very large family). The idea was to photograph my husband & I first & then our wedding party photos & then family photos.
Bottom line I do not have some key wedding photos because she did not take them:
* I didn't get one picture of me (bride) with my bridesmaids. Not one! Deann ended up photoshopping one together. I've never seen anyone's wedding album without a ton of bride & bridesmaid pictures. I could cry.
* A reasonable picture of my husband with my bridesmaids (my sister's face is 1/2 cut off in them, 1 pose only, no fun ones, no different poses/variety)
* There is only 1 pose of us with our entire wedding party. No fun ones, nothing different, one pose, no variety.
* Only 1 pose of me with the groomsmen, again no variety.
As far as those photos go, it looks like an amateur photographer was leading that & taking the photos. I don't have any fun, playful photos & only 1 pose of each. This makes me very, very sad.
Another important thing to note is remember how earlier I said my husband has a large family? I asked them all (who were all from out of town) about 50 of them to get to the photo spot early for pictures. They were all there. Deann missed a huge picture here too. She lined up my husband's entire family (parents, brothers, sisters, spouses, nieces & nephews) took pictures. I was on the side with my bridesmaids. I looked over & said, "Aren't I supposed to be in those pictures?" Deann missed getting the bride with the whole groom's family!! Luckily I was paying attention & after she dismantled everyone I asked her why I wasn't in the picture & she said, "it was immediate family only", my response, "there were spouses & kids in the photo". Thank God I was paying attention!
When I told Deann about all the missing photos after we received them she said, "If I had known before& that you wanted specific photos (for example, multiple poses of__), then I would have made sure to shoot them for you." Wow! I did not know that I had to tell my WEDDING photographer that I wanted pictures of me with my bridesmaids, or various ones of my husband & I with our wedding party. Aren't those standard wedding pictures? I understand if I was complaining that I didn't get a picture of me sitting in a tree, that is a specific photo, but the pictures I was asking about are standard.
6 months later I still want to cry about the photos we are missing. I asked Deann for compensation & she said she'd give us a $100 print credit, her photos run like $26 for a 4x6, $100 isn't going to get me much. Besides the pictures I want don't exist.
I would NOT hire her again! P.S. EVERY other wedding vendor did an exceptional job!!
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