Post Wedding Trauma

I am so frustrated with our wedding photographer.
Yes, you read that correctly....WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER!

Some background since most of you probably do not know the story of our wedding....

There was a spark the first time Bobby & I met. From the beginning we both knew that we wanted to be together forever. We dated for just a few short months before he proposed to me....of course I said YES! Our logic was simple...why wait? We KNEW this was it for us. We were both older and ready to begin our lives together. He was so cute (I was totally flattered) ....he couldn't wait to tell his best friends and his Mom...all several states away. He called them all early the next morning (about 5am) to tell them the big news. They were all blown away...they had no idea he was so serious about his current girlfriend. We immediately planned trips to go meet the family and friends on both sides.

During the next few months we had much debate over wedding plans. What we both really wanted to do was elope and get married on a beautiful sandy beach. But the more we talked about it the more we felt that our families should be a part of the celebration....especially his family since this was his first rodeo ;-)
We talked to both sides about a big family trip for our wedding. But we could not make it work for his sister to be there since she lived in The Netherlands, and had two 4-year olds to consider.
One day he was on the phone with his Mom discussing our options, and she offered a proposal.....he immediately handed me the phone and made her ask me. She said that if we would have the wedding there where she and the rest of his family lived, she would do all the work....other than some final decisions she would want me to make. I repeated what she said back to her just to clarify...and then agreed to the plan. I had already done the bridezilla bit a couple of times, and I just really wanted this one to be relaxing and fun for everyone. Bobby's Mom has worked in the food services industry for many years so she has several connections there, and she thought it would be fun. PLUS...it was for her son who she had all but given up on him ever getting married.
This plan worked out perfect for his sister as well...she took a yearly 2-week trip back to the states for the girls medical checkups. She just planned those appointments around the wedding date. My family was completely fine with the plan for 2 reasons.... 1st) they had already seen me get married a couple of times before so they were ok with whatever. 2nd) this gave them a great reason to take a trip to an area that they would not normally plan a vacation to.

Before the planning got too far along, Bobby and I discussed what was most important to us about the wedding. We decided we would each pick one thing that we would spend the money on and leave everything else to his mom to get a good deals on.
Bobby chose to have a quartet play at the wedding. Above all else that was the most important thing to him...and I never questioned why.
I chose to focus on the wedding pictures/album so that we could have amazing pictures to keep forever.
Those are the only two things that I did most the leg-work on. I found an available quartet easier and quicker than expected.
One of Bobby's best friends is a videographer in the area so he planned to take care of the video portion. He gave us names of a few of his favorite photographers to call...unfortunately they were all already booked. He gave us a few more names of photographers that he had worked with in the past, but was less familiar with their work. One of them was available for our wedding date. I looked at her website and fell absolutely in love with her work. We immediately booked her (big $ deposit) and felt great about the choice.
She and I stayed in constant contact the weeks leading up to the big day. I gave her lots of details about pictures and poses that I wanted to make sure and get. I gave her the full run down on the family so she would be familiar with who everyone was on the big day.

The wedding day finally arrived!
I spent the morning at the spa with my sister, my mom, my future sister-in-law, and my future nieces. We all had a great time getting our hair and makeup done to get beautiful for the big day.
When Bobby saw me in my dress in the lobby of the hotel --- the look on his face was priceless. Now that was a guy with love in his eyes, and he did not take his eyes off of me for the rest of the day and into the honeymoon. ;-)

Bobby & I met with the photographer a few hours before the wedding for some outdoor shots on the river front of the Mississippi River. After about an hour of bride and groom shots, the family and wedding party arrived for group shots. I LOVED the photographer that day. I was impressed with her ability to pull everyone together and get some really great shots. I remember thinking that day that I already couldn't wait to see the pictures.

The day was perfectly amazing. I was the most relaxed bride you have ever seen. Bobby was completely zoned in on me and our wedding day. He was totally focused on me...he could not hardly keep his eyes or his hands off me. I remember feeling like the most special person in the world that entire day. It was a feeling I will never, ever forget.
For those of you who know my husband, he typically has his brain going 90 miles a minute thinking of a million different things. Not that day...he was completely focused on me and I could not have been happier. Nothing could have taken me down off that cloud I was on. It was undoubtedly the best day of my life!

My mother-in-law did the most amazing job on the entire production....everything was exactly perfect. The wedding and reception were at a downtown hotel. The wedding was short and sweet...the reception was long and fun! We had dinner and dancing and got to spend lots of time with friends and family. After the reception some of us hit the downtown bars....yes me in my wedding dress. So Much Fun! Problem was...I had been on my feet all day and dancing all night in a pair of 3-inch heels. When I finally sat down at the bar I realized just how tired I was and how bad my feet hurt....Bobby could tell immediately. We stayed for a few rounds then headed back to our hotel. Since it was only a few blocks away, and my feel were killing me....Bobby gave me a piggy back ride the whole way. (Wish I had a picture of that!)

The next morning we borrowed his cousin's huge Harley and spent the day on a road trip with friends. We saw beautiful country side in the northern mid-west. We left on our honeymoon the next morning. We spent an amazing week at a gorgeous resort in St. Lucia.

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Back to present day:

19 months later... I still don't have a photo album to reminisce and share with my friends that were not there.

So lately I have really been harping on the wedding photographer to finish our wedding album. Wednesday she sent me the link to view it online and told me that once I approve it they will place the order. I replied and said that I was not approving it and there are lots of changes that need to be made. I told her I would spend the next few days going over it.

I am so frustrated, upset, and pissed about this album. When I went through it with Bobby on Wednesday night, I literally got sick to my stomach about it. It is ridiculous that this album is the quality of work that we get back after a year and a half.

Some things I really want to say to her:
Did I rush you on this album? That is what it seems like to me. It looks to me as though you threw something together in one evening...enough to give me something so I would quit asking when it will be ready. I feel as though I have been more than patient with this process since my wedding was over a year and a half ago....

I understand that you are busy and have a full schedule, but apparently you are taking on more than you and your staff can handle.

What I really want to tell you is to start completely over on our wedding album....and put the effort into ours that I have seen in the other wedding albums you have done.

In my attempt to fix this weak attempt at an wedding album, something I should not have to do, I will give you my long list of changes that must be made.

Problem is, I don't think I can tell her how I really feel....it would most likely upset her...and the album would just turn out worse....if that is possible. OR worse, it will take another 2 years to get it completed.

For those of you who know me....email me if you want to see this thing for yourself. I will share the link with you so you can look at it and tell me what you think. I would appreciate any suggestions for changes to make it better. It really sux as is....I could have done better on Shutterfly.
Thanks for letting me vent.

***BTW - When I do get this album in my hands, I am throwing a party!!!
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