To be REALLY worried about my wedding pictures?

[Spiceupyourlife]

😭

I know I probably Abu but I got married last weekend and (in my opinion) it’s was a beautiful wedding!

The weather was a bit patchy but hey ho.

Our wedding photographer was LOVELY and we didn’t get to take a single picture all day as were both so overwhelmed.
The day after the wedding she sent us a beautiful picture of the evening do and it was gorgeous.... but today we got a ‘sneak peak’ of 5 more pictures .... and it legitimately looks like a funeral!

The photos are beautiful but so strongly edited/ dark and gothic. My mother said I looked like Mrs Haversham in one of the portrait pictures.

I spoke the photographer and she explained the venue was quite dark (stateley home) and that she was going in an edgier path with her style.

I vividly recall looking at her pictures from a very similar venue when I booked her and thinking ‘wow that’s exactly what I want’ very warm and rich pictures with an almost vintage feel.

It seems like in the months since she’s got progressively ‘edgier’ judging my the pictures.

I’m about to go on honeymoon and now really worried that my pictures are gonna suck! She’s assured me there’s a mixture of ‘light’ and ‘dark’ style but I don’t really want the ‘dark’ style so feel like that’s just a total waste.

We don’t get the originals either 🙄

Please calm me down as I’m absolutely gutted and panicking!

I'd send her an email. "Hi, just to reiterate from our earlier convo. The dark/gothic theme is not to my taste and I'd rather not go down that route. I loved the style of x album and it was the reason we decided to go with you so would love it if you can edit our pics like that please. Thanks alot."

It sounds like you left it as a mixture, which you don't want. So, either be rude to someone who will have no future involvement in your life and get the pictures you want or be polite and have your wedding pictures ruined for you. Seriously, just do an email follow up.

Better for her that you're clear too.

Exactly 100% what Littletabbyocelot says.

Balance being rude to a stranger with losing the photos you wanted of the most special day of your life.

She has moved the goalposts, not you.

The last things she said was ‘we’ll focus on the lighter pictures now I know that’s what you want’ but there wasn’t a ‘so I won’t include dark ones’

DH thinks we have to ‘give her a chance’ to get it right now and not come down too hard this early on.

Sent pictures to DM and DMIL - they don’t like them either

I’d put in writing by email what you want because you should get what you’re after not just a mix

I would follow up your conversation with an email so you have it in writing you're expecting light photos/ warm, spell out your preference and then if she doesn't deliver atleast you have something to point to.

The photos are beautiful but so strongly edited/ dark and gothic. My mother said I looked like Mrs Haversham in one of the portrait pictures.

Whay! that I bet looks cool, most wedding pics are quite boring no fun at all. In all seriouses i bet shes been playing around with Photo shop that progame could make me look like Adonis it's really powerfull and deceptive, suggest you have a firm word with her;!

Seems like shes misinterpreted your instructions!.

God this would stress me out. I definitely think that the time has passed for worrying about seeming rude. You will be looking at these photographs for the rest of your life!

Just tell her! Give an example of the type of photo you liked and be assertive in saying you don't like the new style you want something like this. This isn't her masters project it's a commissioned set of photos which should be produced to your taste not hers.

I would send a polite and friendly email, just reiterating the conversation and say you booked her on the strength of the lovely work in her portfolio and that’s the style of editing you want to see. I’d also say that if she wishes to edit some in an edgier way for her portfolio that’s absolutely fine, it’s just not what you want.

No professional photographer worth their salt will ever supply their RAW files though!

I can imagine what they’re like with the raindrops etc and I wouldn’t just leave it because she may try to charge you extra to redo

Email is fine
When I was at work I’d always do this as everyone is so subjective and in their own train of thought

As a photographer who does weddings from time to time, do not ask for the original files. I wouldn't give these out to anyone.

However, find pictures she has taken in the style she likes and send them over to her with a simple 'Further to our recent conversation, this is the edit style that we particularly like and have hired you based on your current portfolio. Whilst the gothic images are lovely, we would prefer our final photographs to be in the style of your images that I have attached here for reference'.

I do try out different editing styles for my own creative outlet and may use these on my own website to showcase my work. However, I would always check with my clients directly to see whether they were looking for dark, Victorian gothic, or bright and breezy summer's day, or retro film filter, or whatever, if I was considering something different for their images.

You are the client, please don't let the photographer waste days of her time editing in a style that you simply don't like.

Can you still see the "warm" examples of previous weddings on her website? I would also copy a few, to show exactly what you mean.

All the above advice about emailing her is good

It will not sound rude. Besides this is about you, not her. You are the client. You need to put what you want in writing to protect yourself otherwise this is your word against hers. Just email her and say the work she showed you is interesting but not what you are looking for so please work on the light, vintage style for every shot and reference the photos and style you saw online.

She’ll be much more unhappy if you let her know after a few days editing as will you