I am the bride of a wedding in South Lake Tahoe in July. When booking, I read all these review & was excited based on the positive feedback. Coming back to this page, I cannot believe these reviews are talking about the same person that worked ...my wedding. First, I want to say how grateful I am Joy’s work will allow me to always remember my wedding day. My husband also worked with her assistant for getting ready pictures & said she was awesome with them. She also had great communication with me via email prior to the wedding and text the day of the wedding. However; myself, my bridesmaids, my parents, the presider, and others were very dissatisfied with her. On the day of my wedding, she was very impressionable and harsh. I understand that to get things done at a wedding you have to be stern, but when we desired a certain picture or pose, she would say things like “you have a lot of chefs in the kitchen” or, when my mom asked me to turn my bouquet better in a picture, she told my MOM “not to talk to bride while taking pictures”.
As far as the pictures go, here are the pictures I was very disappointed to NOT get from Joy:
- the flower girl & ring barrier walking down the aisle
-1 formal with bride & father
- my aunt & uncle (only have 80 people at the wedding)
- 1 good picture of my husband & myself WITH my vail on
- sunset pictures with bouquet- we forgot it in reception hall & nothing was done about getting it
- Bride & groom with BOTH sets of parents
- Bride alone with my train spread out nicely
- decent picture of my mom helping Bride get ready / putting my dress on
- my mom also asked her to take a picture of every table and we never got those
- bride and immediate family with all eyes open
The bride & groom pictures have random people in the background, pieces of trash on the floor, and the train of my dress is hardly ever neat……Little things that I think a professional photographer should notice when taking a picture. My mom had to ask her during the reception to take a picture of my husband and I at our sweet heart table before dinner was over (she was eating on the patio). Our ceremony was quick moving and I understand she needs to eat, but she seemed put-out to get that picture. If it wasn’t for my mom, I am not sure we would have a picture at the sweet heart table. I wish my parents & families were able to enjoy the night more, however; Joy did not mount a comfort to us that she will get all the necessary pictures done. I am most upset about not receiving a family picture where everyone’s eyes are open/smiling (an issue with multiple pictures). Again, I assume a professional photographer notices that & insures the bride had a quality picture with her family. The lack of attention to pictures (the angle, centering people, eyes open, arm placements, my dress, background distractions, ect) has caused me to have to scavenge if I want to find a good picture. I have even gotten to the point where I am editing pictures to correct errors & that is disappointing to me.
I do not like to degrade someone’s work but I recently was a bridesmaid in another wedding. Seeing her photographer made me realize how disappointed I was in Joy. My father in law’s brother also took pictures at the wedding & rehearsal dinner- most all of his pictures were better than hers. Maybe it was a bad day or maybe it was a challenging wedding. My goal here is not to degrade her work but just to inform future clients of my experience.