Monthly Archives: April 2009

Wedding Photograph – Destination Wedding in Hawaii

San Jose Wedding Photographer – Destination Wedding in Hawaii

As a San Jose wedding photographer, I travel to Hawaii twice a year for leisure and business. Since I will be going to Hawaii anyways, I’d like to offer my service to you with NO travel expense which is about $750 – $1000 savings to you. This offer is only good for those who chooses my Standard Package (with engagement) and above. You must live in the Bay Area and arrange the wedding with me four to more months ahead of time. Contact me if you are interested. This is only offered once or twice a year so the sooner that you let me know the better your chances getting a free travel expense.  In addition, the wedding has to be in June, July, 1st week of February, & August.

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Your Wedding Photographer Canceling the Last Minute

Wedding Photography – Your Photographer Canceling the Last Minute

I am trying to find ways to blog more so that I can be helpful to you, when you search for a Bay Area / San Jose wedding photographer. So, in the next couple of months, I will be using actual reviews of bride about their wedding photographers. All business name of theses Bay Area wedding photographers will be deleted.

Again, this is NOT a bride’s review of my business.

From MARGARET C. review of a San Jose Wedding Photographer:

This was a brides worst nightmare- A message left on the cell phone less than one hour before the ceremony saying that my wedding photographer would not be there and did not have a replacement. Did not even have the courtesy to give a reason for this. DO NOT TRUST THIS PERSON!!!!!

Yikes! This is really a sad case. A professional wedding photographer canceling the last minute is not something that happens all the time. At least, I don’t hear it often enough. Usually, when a wedding photographer cancels his or her wedding coverage, the wedding photographer will find a replacement for him/herself. Furthermore, a wedding photographer canceling the last minute should be a good damn reason. I do not know about Margaret C’s wedding photographer excuse for missing the wedding but I just hope it was a good one. The only good reason for missing a wedding are – the wedding photographer is bedridden sick or died on the way to the wedding, family death or emergency, car crash the day before or during the wedding, and car breakdown (there is always a taxi).

As far as for my business, I have a network of San Jose wedding photographers that I can rely on just in case that an emergency occurs. It has not happen to me yet but a good wedding photographer needs every bit of back up. Make sure that your wedding photographer has a network of people that he/she can rely on just in case an emergency happens. Furthermore, call them the day or two before to remind them about your wedding. I was told by one wedding photographer that he forgot to attend the wedding since he over slept!!!

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Wedding Photographers MUST HAVE BACK UP EQUIPMENT

Wedding Photography – Why it is important to have a back up equipment.

I am trying to find ways to blog more so that I can be helpful to you, when you search for a Bay Area / San Jose wedding photographer.  So, in the next couple of months, I will be using actual reviews of bride about their wedding photographers.  All business name of theses Bay Area wedding photographers will be deleted.

Again, this is NOT a bride’s review of my business.

From DAVID O.  review of a San Jose Wedding Photographer:

“Some decisions can haunt you for the rest of your life.   My wife and I choosing Adrienne Niemann to do our wedding photography proved to be one such decision.

The web site certainly looks professional enough.  I have no doubt that Adrienne takes beautiful pictures.  In fact, one thing that appealed to us very much was the fact that the pictures on her web site are candid, not staged.   That’s what we wanted for our wedding pictures.

What’d we get?  Absolutely nothing.   No pictures.   It turns out that her memory cards were corroded or something and Adrienne only realized this and/or bothered to check after she went home.   Of course, we realize this isn’t her fault but damn… you’d think that standard operating procedure would be to check, somehow and carry replacement cards.

Of course she didn’t charge us and she offered to make an album, free of charge, of the pictures that we and our guests took…   So basically most of the pictures we have were taken on disposable cameras that we left on tables at the reception…  Thank god for even having that idea or we’d have no pictures at all.    When it came time to actually get our album made, it took forever for us to receive it so our experience mirrors Willie’s.

All in all I’m sorry but I cannot recommend Adrienne.  She’s a sweet person but she fucked up our wedding pictures.   I highly recommend you find yourself someone who won’t leave you without any pictures at all”.

This complaint by David stems from a faulty CF card that the photographer was using.  This is very unfortunate for both the wedding couple and the photographer.  Most people think that a CF card are all the same but that is not true.  There are only a few CF cards I thrust to avoid getting “error” messages from a my card.  CF cards errors occurs more often with the cheaper brands – even the cheaper name brands are not good enough for wedding photography.  

Furthermore, as a San Jose wedding photographer, I have back-up equipments for everything I use for a wedding.  I have two or three of everything just in case something fails.  Imagine if your photographer do not have a backup, and his camera fails, or his battery dies.  He or she can’t leave the wedding to buy one because he/she will miss all the important shots.  Having two of everthing is a standard practice amongst wedding photographers.  Make sure you ask your potential wedding photographer you are hiring that they have two of each of equipment to avoid missing any important shots during your wedding.  

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Hiring a Cheap Wedding Photographer Does Not Save You Money

Wedding Photography – Why having a cheap wedding photographer is not so cheap at the end.

I am trying to find ways to blog more so that I can be helpful to you, when you search for a Bay Area – San Jose wedding photographer.  So, in the next couple of months, I will be using actual reviews of bride about their wedding photographers.  All business name of theses Bay Area wedding photographers will be deleted.

Again, this is NOT a bride’s review of my business.

From Katey L.  review of her  San Jose Wedding Photographer:

 
“Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Br*****d Sh****d’s wedding photography services. I contracted with him to take my June 2008 wedding pictures. He was very service oriented up until the wedding – my experience with Br****d after the wedding has been a complete nightmare. After he got his money, he seemed to forget about us.           

It took him months to post my pictures, and he only posted half the pictures online because he accidentally posted the other half on someone else’s account. 

Getting my prints was a nightmare – it took months of phone calls and emails. My wedding was 10 months ago, and I am still without the album he is contractually obligated to produce for me. Often times his email box is full and he is unreachable by phone. Working with Br****d after the wedding has been extremely frustrating and I would not want another bride to go through this mess”.

 

This is another unfortunate case where I suspect that the wedding photographer either went bankrupt, or just quit.  The wedding photography business is so saturated with brand new wedding photographers thinking that it is so simple to do.  Taking the wedding photos are fun enough but they do not understand that the business is tougher than they think.  Once they find out that it is not simple as pie, they change their mind and simply quit or go into another photography specialty field.

How can you avoid this?   You can’t.  It is hard to really figure out who will be screw you in the end.  You really have to be good judging people to figure that out.  Don’t just go for a certain wedding photographer just because he/she is a cheap wedding photographer and he/she is giving you all you want.  Find out how long has he/she been a wedding photographer.  Figure it out.  If he or she has been in business for two or more years, then they should have a more establish place to see you and provide you with quality service / products.  There are plenty of professional photographers out there that meet their clients in some business office, their converted studio home, or an actual photography studio.  The more serious and legitimate wedding photographers have an actual place to meet you.  On the other hand, there are other photographers who meet you at Starbuck or coffee places who are most likely new to the business (some are actually not new but prefers to meet there because they don’t like meeting their clients at home due to safety or lacking a clean house).   The other reason why Kathy L. is not satisfied is perhaps, this wedding photographer is just overwhelmed by the number of weddings he / she does in a years period.  

As a San Jose wedding photographer, I meet all my clients in my photography studio.   Also, I limit my wedding services to 30 weddings a year and I offer portraits photography services when not doing weddings.  This way, it keeps me fresh and will treat your wedding with a gusto.   Your wedding photographs will be posted online in 2 to 3 weeks.  Album design will be available for your viewing and editing on the 4th week from your wedding date.  I would like to deliver everything to you by the end of second months of your wedding (this depends how fast you approve your wedding album for ordering).

I hope this helps you deciding to hire your future wedding photographer. 

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Poor Customer Service-Cheap San Francisco Wedding Photographer

Wedding Photography – Poor Customer Service

I have been looking at other photographer’s review and found this online. Apparently, the San Francisco wedding photographers in question are not answering their customer’s correspondents. Late delivering albums and other products is definitely not a good sign of customer service. One reason why I keep my wedding photography in San Francisco – San Jose – Oakland – Monterey area to 30 wedding a year so that I can deliver a quality service. Unfortunately, there are so many photographers out there practically giving away their services that everybody budget conscious brides and grooms are booking with them.

If you are a bride or a groom looking for a photographer, the initially communication should give you a clue. The wedding photographers should respond within 24 hrs to 36 hours of your email or less than 24hours for a phone call. If they have not called or emailed you for more than the specified time, then most likely it will be worse once you sign the contract since they got you on the hook already. To be honest, most photographers are honest and they love what they do. Unfortunately, no everyone is honest so you just have to be watchful.

Furthermore, tell your San Jose wedding photographer – portrait photographer how you want to communicate with them. I personally like email since I get emails through my cell phone and can answer them immediately if needed. However, email to some people is very impersonal, so if you prefer phone conversation, you should let me know.

My current review online is just two so far. However, if you should become my client, I’d be very happy if you write a review about my business.

The following review is not about my business but of some other San Francisco wedding photographer.

HERE IS A REVIEW by Christina L. about her San Francisco wedding photographers:

“I really want to give P****a five stars — they were wonderful to work with on our engagement shoot and wedding day. Great funny guys, really interested in doing good work. And the pictures were absolutely gorgeous. Everyone that we showed them to was blow away. If this review was limited to the photo sessions and pre-wedding service it would be five stars, no questions.

However, their follow up has proven to be non-existent, if not deceptive. Our initial preview images were delivered more than three months after the wedding, and only with much prompting. Their excuse was that they had overbooked themselves. That’s fine, but it would of been nice of them to tell us.

Now we are about to celebrate our first anniversary, and we still do not have an album of our wedding photos. Our last few emails have gone unanswered. I get the feeling that they have moved on to their new customers (undoubtedly paying more than we did now that they have been around a little while) and could care less about their past clients.

This has been a huge let down for us, because we really loved them at first. But no wedding photographer is worth the trouble if they cannot deliver an album a year after the wedding.

Bottom line: good wedding photographers, but customer follow up is at your own risk. Like many wedding photographers, they are interested only in taking photos, not on the rest of the wedding package they promised.

EDITED FEB. 2009: Since posting this review, I have been contacted by two other y****s who have had similar experiences. These customers have received NO photos of their wedding at all (we at least have digital files) and P****a will not return their calls. Since posting this review, my calls and emails have also been ignored. Use this vendor at your own risk”.
It is true that you really are taking a risk. So, wise up and find that wedding photographer that you really deserve and will provide you with what you want.

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