Darla Photography

that time she told me it would be week or two and I would get an email with a format that I would have to approve. As May approached I called Darla to see where along the process my album was, only to find out it had not been started due to her computer not working. She told me at that time she was hoping to get to it that weekend. Time had passed and I thought once again she had been working on it only to find out in July when I called her, again for a status, that she STILL had not even started any edits. For 5 month she had the 60 (original) photos which I picked to have put in the album along with my disc with all my photos and had not started a thing. At this point I became curious, and a bit frustrated with Darla and her excuses, and called around to local photographers to see if one would be kind enough to finish my album that Darla was unable to find time do. I was successful and did find a photographer who said she would start and finish all the edits and send it off to Picto Books. I then called Darla and informed her that I found another photographer that was willing to finish the album and asked her to return my pictures and disc. I also told her that due to the fact that I had to hire another photographer and that they were going to pick up and start (and finish) what she couldn't even start that I would be expecting some compensation from the price of the package that was paid for in full. Well needless to say the second photographer that I had to hire to finish the album did an absolutely gorgeous work with my album and I had it done and to me in no time at all, but as for Darla she still hasn't even held up to her end of the deal and compensated me for the album and enlargements I never received from my package. Since my wedding I have had several friends who I have asked to make sure they stay clear of Darla.

ance not only the quality of photographs produced, but our overall wedding day experience. On the day of our wedding, none of these expectations were realized. After arriving late and missing the photograph of the bridal party arrival in a limo, the positive, problem-solving attitude was nowhere to be found. When we discovered the venue had no electricity (yes, there was no electricity for well over half of our wedding), problem-solving skills would have proven especially beneficial. Instead, Darla got in an argument with our officiant (whose only interest was preserving the sanctity of the ceremony) over the quantity of photographs to be taken, which now required flash photography. We intervened to resolve the conflict by deciding to limit photography to key events during the ceremony, but despite this being our wedding day, Darla was the one who seemed agitated and dissatisfied with the decision. Following the ceremony, we had the customary portrait session. We anticipated that Darla would organize and direct the portrait session, utilizing her knowledge of the location, photographic expertise, and creativity, to yield a high-quality, well-orchestrated photo session. Once again, we were left disappointed. In addition to Darla being grumpy and annoyed (which negatively affected the mood of the entire wedding party), we were expected to coordinate all of the portraits ourselves, which included selecting the locations of the pictures, who was to be included in each picture, and the positioning of the people. We provided the photographer with a complete list of all the photographs we wanted to have taken, hoping this list would maximize the likelihood of obtaining the desired pictures and reducing both our stress and the photographer’s on the wedding day. Since we provided the list of requests well in advance, we did not expect to need a copy at our wedding and did not bring one with us. As we were organizing our own wedding photos, we could only hope we didn’t miss an important grouping, adding unnecessary stress to our wedding day bliss. As an analytical couple, we do not pride ourselves on creativity and expressly requested that our photographer make suggestions using her creative expertise. Although we ended up with some nice photographs (thanks to our own initiative and limited creativity), we know the overall outcome would have been vastly improved, if we had a photographer who was more engaged and did more than push the button on the camera during the portrait session. Toward the end of the night, Celebrations offered to extend the reception by one hour and pay any additional vendor fees to help compensate for the lack of power and delayed schedule. When we approached Darla about staying an extra hour, she asked if she could just leave, claiming to have enough photos already. Since her negativity had persisted the entire night, we reluctantly agreed, merely to relieve the tension she was causing. Since Darla missed the bridal party arrival in the limo, it would have been nice to have a picture of the departure on the bus, but the benefits of the remaining photo opportunities did not outweigh the negative impact her presence was having. We were glad when she was gone, even if that meant a lost photo opportunity.

ite an hour before our wedding. She showed up almost an hour late. She did not call either me or my husband to let us know she was running late and did not answer my calls. Luckily, we had a planner that was able to track her down and find out she was stuck in traffic. I understand the traffic between DC and Baltimore can be unexpectedly bad, but having lived in DC for nearly a decade, I would expect a professional to plan ahead and allow plenty of time in case there is an accident or bad traffic. Because she was late, I ended up stressing out before my ceremony about whether or not we were going to have a photographer (before anyone could reach her), and when she wasn't there when our ceremony was 10 minutes from starting, I had to have a conversation with my mom, my husband's mom, our minister and our planner. No bride should have people asking her 10 minutes before her wedding if she would rather have a wedding without a photographer or just keep waiting and hope the photographer shows up soon. Despite the fact that she did take some very pretty pictures of us, losing out on all of our before the ceremony shots (except for the few we rushed through in about 10 minutes), the stress she caused was not worth the end product. We paid for a service - 6 hours of photography - and we did not receive it. We expressed our dissatisfaction after the wedding and got no where. We would NOT recommend her.

arla and her other photographers again.

y pictures or proofs yet, but I think they'll turn out great.