Now, this is a rather long and complicated story – but please, stay with me and you will be rewarded (it ‘s probably one of the only hitches we had during the wedding planning and may give you an insight into why my “stressed lady” persona appeared before the wedding)...
Wedding Photographs – something to hang on the wall, show the grandchildren in years to come and a reminder of your day...Naturally, we wanted lots of coverage (simply due to Fink’s love of photography), so we set aside a large chunk of budget to ensure we were covered...and below is detailed the painful process I went through, to ensure we got what we wanted...
Step 1 - Find a photographer – Rating: Easy - Whilst at a wedding fair trying to source a caterer (of all things), Fink commented on the photography in some sample menus we were reviewing “Wow, who took these shots?”...The caterer told us that it had just been produced by a company called Jellybean, who usually do wedding photography and so we came straight home, googled them and within 10 minutes of sending an email, they had called to discuss our requirements - We were simply blown away by their photography and their service, then ticked the 'find photographer' box on the wedding checklist and I entered into work mode to negotiate the package (hours/price)...
When my cousin needed a photographer for her wedding at short notice, we approached Jellybean (obvious choice, considering), they pulled out all the stops and were able to cover it. We were to find out afterwards, that they had asked their close colleague Ed (and owner of www.igrooverweddings.co.uk) to photograph the wedding, for which we are eternally grateful...(but this was not all)...
Fink and Ed “clicked” at my cousins wedding (excuse the pun) and mutual approach was discovered between their shots of the day, and therefore, after several long and painful conversations with Nick (owner of Jellybean) over the difference in photographic style, lenses and cameras, Fink confirmed that he wanted Ed to cover our wedding, not Nick. Having gone so far down the line with Jellybean, my ethics prevented me going directly to Ed and so I faced what must be the most uncomfortable conversation ever - telling Nick we preferred Ed’s style and it was he we wanted to cover our day. The upshot was this was to come at an additional fee, but our decision was final – We were to book with Jellybean but they would subcontract to Ed (not perfect, but everyone’s honour was intact and we had the guy we needed for the job)...
Step 2 – Sign the contract and pay the instalments – And so (feeling happy, and) in good faith, we made our first payment. However, the service we received from Jellybean was to slowly deteriorate, with no response to emails or phone calls. All was to be revealed when we got a call from David at “the fotoshop” – who? - in February, asking us to send a cheque for our final payment...It was then confessed that Nick and his wife (co-owner of Jellybean) had split up and were selling the company (and it must be noted that this confession only came after I said that we had already made the payment into Nick’s wife’s account as per every other instalment). Still, David was very reassuring and told me not to worry...easily said... however it didn’t take long, before I was dreaming that the photographer wouldn’t turn up on the day (especially as Jellybean’s administration had proved itself to fail on more than one occasion). Upon my insistence, Jellybean provided Ed’s details so we could talk directly. Not only did this help me to sleep at night, it also proved how poor Jellybean had been. Ed returned our calls, emails and even text messages and quickly put to rest any of the last minute doubts a bride has before her day.
Step 3 – Meet Ed for the pre wedding chat – This is when it all started to become real for me... Ed embraced our love of photography and got us very excited, showing us his ideas, taking on Fink’s requests, working through my ridiculous list of group shots and giving us all the time we needed. When he left, I smiled at fink and said ‘Thank you’ All I can think is back in October, when I had the painful discussion with Nick, Fink must have had a crystal ball to spot Ed when he appeared...
Step 4 – Photograph the day – Well, Ed really went for it taking over 900 photographs (9Gb-odd) ... The pictures speak for themselves, amazing – Ed certainly works *very* hard and captures everything – good and bad (such as my dad in his pants!). We didn’t see him sit down once (other than when driving) and he was so friendly, that some of my guests were honestly of the opinion that he was a close friend of ours. He never got in the way, was just there clicking away in the background and even when the time we had paid for expired, he hung around, smiling and suggesting shots. You simply *couldn’t* ask for more. Anyone who books with Ed *cannot* be disappointed. His service is impeccable.
Step 5 – Receive photographs - Within 1 week of the wedding, Ed called me to say the pictures were ready but Jellybean had not paid him, so he would not send the final disks to Jellybean, who would (in turn) send them to us. Fink and I fully supported his decision. Yes – we were desperate to see our photos, but we wanted Ed to get paid, so were happy to wait and boy did we wait....
Despite lots of calls to David (the new owner of Jellybean), we were given lots of excuses and Ed did not receive payment until early May (remember, we had paid in full by the end of Feb). We were promised the pictures when we returned from Mexico and you’ve guessed it, nothing on our mat or online when we got home. We simply couldn’t understand why it was taking Jellybean so long to sort it out. On Tuesday, let’s just say I did a ‘Net special’ and let rip. Very polite, professional, but the words ‘watchdog and ‘solicitors’ cropped into conversation. On Thursday afternoon, the pictures suddenly appeared online (with a spelling mistake for my name and a password that didn’t work, but finally, at least, they were on their website). The disks *should* have arrived in today’s post – and they didn’t, but I (and excuses starting to wear thin) begrudgingly suspect this is due to the Royal Mail as I have an email from David confirming they have been sent...ahem... ;)
Step 6 – Share with Friends and Family
So – for those of you still with me, you’ll want to view our pictures. Go to:
http://www.thefotoshop.co.uk/galleries.htm
Click on the drop down gallery menu and select ‘Jellybean weddings’
Click on Mr & Mrs Mayer
You will then need a password – (we don’t want to put this on the blog, so please email, text or call for this and we’ll give it to you)...
Then spend your next few hours enjoying all 61 pages of our day – the good, bad and the cringe worthy!
There is a facility to buy pictures online, but please DO NOT BUY FROM the site and talk to me.
Step 7 – Waste hours upon hours reliving the day and enjoying the photographs – Small warning – Jellybean have not uploaded in any real order, so its a bit of a mess – but the pictures are there and we are certainly not complaining...
Step 8 – Decide on pictures for the album – any suggestions?
Final comment – If anyone is wanting some quality photographs taking – contact Ed - www.igrooverweddings.co.uk and avoid – Jellybean altogether. Without Ed, we would have gone insane!
