Signature Design & Photography Reviews (%countItem)
Signature Design & Photography Rating
Address: 1388 Erie Street East, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9A 3Z7
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My husband and I hired Signature Design & Photography as the photographers for our wedding day and they lost all of our family portraits; an estimated 20% of the total photos, but aside from the actual ceremony, the most important photos. When we first reached out to them, I made it clear that family portraits on our wedding day are important as I have a large family; they indicated that this would not be an issue. When we received the link to our gallery, I noticed that there were no family portraits included. I brought this to their attention and was assured that the entire package, including the family portraits, would be included in the USB they would send us. When we received the USB, the family portraits were not included. I texted them immediately and was left hanging for three weeks. We were finally able to arrange a phone call. Initially, they said they did not remember taking these photos and then bounced around with other excuses, blaming it on the children at our wedding, thinking they were mixed in with other couples' packages and then finally stating they were at a loss for words. Furthermore, by Signature Design & Photography's request, we asked our guests not take photos so as to not interfere with their work, so we do not even have backup family photos from our guests. They insist on recreating these photos but it just cannot be done. One side of the family lives in BC and the other side lives in Ontario, let alone all the suit rentals, hiring the venue, decorator, florist, and recreating the emotions of our wedding day. They also insist on still producing our wedding album but we did not hire them for an incomplete album. They offered us $100 "in the spirit of compromise" which simply adds insult to injury. We felt the whole situation was not handled professionally as they did not take ownership of their mistake, nor did they offer an apology. We entrusted our entire wedding day photography to Signature Design & Photography and are left completely heartbroken by the result.
Product_Or_Service: Wedding Photography
Refund In the absence of all family portraits on our wedding day, we expect a full refund of $4,226.80. This includes the original contract price of $4,200 and the shipping of the USB, as they charged us knowing it was incomplete. We do not want to recreate the family portraits or for them to produce a printed album.
Although every effort is taken to protect each and every image file from a wedding day it is with regret that that in this instance some family photos were not provided due technical failure during the transferring of images. They are the only group of photos missing but every other image captured from the day has been handed over. During each wedding each event is put on memory cards and transferred to our computer and back up hard drives immediately following the event. As much as we wish we had an exact explanation for you we just do not because we too do not understand what failed during the transfer of the files. We've taken our equipment, which is the external hard drive and memory cards, in to professionals to see if information can be recovered and until literally right now, today we haven't stopped trying but nothing was able to be done. This is just to show you that we've tried whatever we can to see if these images can be recovered. Over 11 years of providing images and this is the first time this has happened.
We were hired to shoot a wedding and engagement and we were there all day through each event of the day. All the images from the engagement and wedding day were handed over to the couple. This is including the preparations in the morning with the bridesmaids helping the brides get dressed to the ceremony which includes walking down the aisle, the handing over of the bride, registry signing, first kiss and exit. As well as the all the portraits throughout the day capturing moments between the bride and groom to the reception which also includes the entrance, speeches, cake cutting, candids with family and friends and dancing. All of which are moments that cannot be recreated. We photographed 2 hours for the engagement and 10 hours for the wedding plus 50+ hours of editing.
If we had been told that the entire wedding was riding on these family photos then we would have ensured that we received a list of each individual photo they wanted. The only family photo request we got was one large group photo. A list of shots was not given to us until after all this had occurred. The groom then emailed us a list of the shots they expected. As part of our contract we do require the couple to give us a list of must have shots prior to the event. The list we received from the groom was never sent to us before wedding. As part of the contract we also state that we are not liable for missed shots or any photos not provided due to technical error.
So much work has been done already and handed over to the couple which they expressed how much they enjoyed, even sending them out as thank you cards. We can definitely appreciate the emotional value placed on these images however we cannot justify supplying a full refund based on all the facts stated above including the fact that we were not hired to photograph a family session.
A typical family session of just portraits (looking at the camera, standing next to each other) costs about $250. Since they don't want to redo these portraits we can offer this amount.
As much as we are trying our best to be sensitive to the issue we must, at this point, stick to our policy because numerous hours of work was already provided. The money paid covered an engagement photo shoot and wedding day shoot which was over 12 hours of photographing as well as 50+ hours of editing. The family photos, even as much as we understand have an emotional value, are about an hour of this time. The couple has every single moment photographed from their wedding in their hands that we wouldn't dream of asking for them to be returned. A list of shots that we received after the wedding and now being told that nothing else matters for us is a shock. A refund would mean that nothing else is of any value from their wedding nor is the hard work put into providing memories from moments that can never be recreated.
We understand the value placed on these images and just like everyone else who has us capture their wedding each couple places their own value on their photos. The importance of it was not mentioned to us until after the wedding. Some couples only choose to have us capture one group photo because they value the portraits and candids throughout the day. We have complete and total respect for the images we capture but we are also doing a job that requires hours and hours of work.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
All family photos are missing, not just some. Ten days before the wedding, on May 8th we did send an email to Signature Design & Photography stating the full schedule for our wedding day, which included a time slot from 4:30pm- 5:50pm to take immediate family portraits. This is a very good indication of the importance of the family portraits; the ceremony itself was only allocated half an hour. When we were taking the family portraits, we knew exactly which poses with whom were to be taken. The list we emailed Signature Design & Photography after the wedding was a list of all the photos that we knew they took that are missing, not a subsequent wishlist. The fact that all our family portraits were still not included is mind boggling. There were no corrupt files to show for, nor did they give us a heads-up during the editing process that a large portion of photos right in the middle of the day were missing. The group shot they refer to is of all our guests and had nothing to do with family portraits, which was specifically mentioned in a much earlier email when we were still considering hiring Signature's services. Family is an integral part of a wedding and of a couple coming together, to undermine the value of this is outright insulting, and shows a complete lack of care and professionalism from Signature Design & Photography. Had we known how little value they would place on our family portraits of our wedding, we would not have hired them at all! Family photos captured at a couple's wedding are the photos that people reminisce over for years to come; it can be reasonably expected that any couple would want a picture with their mom and dad, their siblings and close family that flew 4,000km to celebrate with them. Had we not wanted our family captured by a professional photographer on our wedding day, we would not have spent two years planning a wedding at ***, we would have just eloped and taken selfies. We paid the photographers for a finished product, not an hourly wage or to learn about their process; how they deliver the final product is their business. Plain and simple, anything but a full refund is unacceptable.