Photographer ghosts newlyweds for months while flaunting newer clients online. AITA? UPDATED 2x
"Wedding photographer posting weddings from 2025 on her socials and we still don’t have pictures from 2024."
I’m at my wit’s end and just need to complain a bit. We got married 10/19/2024. At the reception as she said goodbye she said we would get sneak peek images in about a week. We never did but I didn’t think anything of it, since they aren’t in the contract and October is pretty busy.
But now we’re nearly 6 months post wedding and she has not sent us a single photo. She has been apologetic when we message her for updates, but it is just so frustrating and disheartening to see her post other weddings that happened well after ours, when we are still waiting.
She said she would have them to us by this Sunday or issue a partial refund (she has given us two other self imposed deadlines that she has missed). We’re close to legal action, but still trying not to be too harsh as we do not want anything to happen to the photos. Any experience or words of encouragement appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
I would send one final strongly worded email stating, "A refund in this case is not acceptable. We have not seen a single image from our wedding (did I understand this correctly) and it is now nearly 6 months later. The timeline in the contract states X.
You are now in breach of contract and we require the complete package of fully edited images by Y date, or we will begin legal action." I don't see what a refund accomplishes when what you need is the images. Of course after getting the images you may decide to seek partial refund anyway due to the unprofessionalism of this?
Bad news, there's a real chance the photographer accidentally deleted all your photos.
I had something similar happen, it took us 9 months to get the photos. I have never been so aggressively patient with anyone in my life. Send the contract to a lawyer and see if they see anything worth litigating.
But you may just need to keep politely pushing and insisting that she not work on other people's photos anymore before she's delivered you what you paid for. It would be one thing if she was like hey there's been a tragedy in my life. Right now she's just giving you the runaround.
A week later, the OP returned with an update.
First of all, thank you all for the kind words, support and advice. It’s good (but also terrible) to know we are not alone. To anyone that lost their wedding photos: I am so so sorry.
Onto the update, still no photos. She texted my husband on her deadline of Sunday 3/30 saying the gallery was exporting and we got really excited. Monday she says they are uploading to her site.
Tuesday we get one last update from her saying they are 78% uploaded. My husband and I were taking turns texting her every day asking for updates. Crickets since then.
I just booked a consultation with a lawyer and emailed her that if we do not get the gallery by that appointment, then we will be seeking legal action for breach of contract.
Fingers crossed this motivates her to get us the photos and I can cancel that consult. I would love to post my photos to instagram by our 6 month anniversary….
I will keep you guys updated and hopefully my next post is some of the photos!
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
Yeah this 78% upload thing is an arbitrary number to get you off her ass. If it were 5% you’d be pissy and 99% would have you expecting it tomorrow. This photographer is playing games and will FAFO.
lysbean (OP)
I had this thought too. Does she think we’re stupid? Unless she has dial up or something they should not 24 hours to upload…
Repeating my comment from the last thread: they deleted your photos by accident. They're drawing it out because they're embarrassed and don't know how to tell you. I'm sorry but there is literally no other explanation. Save yourself time and expedite the legal process.
Eleven days later, the OP returned with their final update.
We have photos! They exist! And they’re beautiful! Thanks again for all the support and advice. My husband said it was time to update my online fanbase haha. So here I am!
We had the meeting with the lawyer yesterday. He left her a voicemail for us and that must have scared her enough that she texted me 30 minutes later… and what do you know the gallery was in our inbox at 1:30am!
Absolutely no idea why she held onto them that long. We could still pursue a partial refund but unsure if we will. I am just relieved we have photos (but also lowkey still pissed that it had to get to the point where I had to threaten legal). Finally I can breathe, we graduated!
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
Now download them before she removes them from the link.
I’m so happy for you but also wtf lol she had them the whole time?! What a nut. Enjoy your photos!
Great news! I would still ask for a refund, especially now that you have a lawyer breathing down her neck.
I’m so happy to hear this! I was so worried for you and thought that she was for sure just stalling because she had lost all the photos. I’m so glad that this stressful ordeal is over for you. ❤️
It is still SO bizarre that she held onto the photos for so long. The fact that she had time to edit and deliver photos to couples who got married after you but never got around to yours makes no sense. I know you’ll probably never know but I am so curious what the hell happened that caused her to do this.
Are these representative of what you got? The white balance is almost intentionally off. A professional photographer would know better that to send final versions out like this, so if you choose to get them fixed, use someone else. I'm really hoping the dark overlay is something from whatever program/app you used to censor your faces.