Heather Renee Weddings

Do NOT book unless you’re ok with inconsistent communication, no sneak peek, and waiting 5 months for your wedding photo gallery. I found Heather on The Knot. She had all positive reviews and she sounded genuine and professional when we spoke on the phone. We asked if she could give us a deal if we paid in full, so she did take some money off. In my opinion this was the key factor in everything. We already took save the date pictures but the engagement shoot was included in the package so Heather told us to reach out to schedule. She uses a couples portal to communicate, which also goes directly to email. This is where we communicated right after booking, discussing where to get an engagement session dress, etc. After that brief initial conversation, I got no responses. I figured ok, it’s starting up her busy season or maybe she just didn’t get my messages. I reached out 5 more times and got nothing. She saw my messages, both on the portal, and Instagram, even liked my message, but didn’t respond. I posted an Instagram story about it being 6 months until my wedding with a picture from our save the dates (not her work). I get an Instagram message reply, “Oh omg saw your engagement dress, obsessed. Also what is this I’m slightly offended.” So you saw my message/s but chose not to respond… I was so pissed but I kept it all in because she had all the control and money. Listen, I get it, when I initially booked her it was “off season” so she wasn’t as busy and was probably able to communicate more easily, but paying in full was a huge mistake. She already had all the money so we weren’t a priority. Weddings are a big business after all, but how do you flat out not communicate with your clients? The wedding came, Heather is a talented photographer. She did stay longer than she needed to in order to get photos with people I wanted, which I appreciated. I wanted to use wedding photos from our sneak peek for our thank you cards. Well, we only received one single photo. Heather doesn’t do standard sneak peaks. Finally after 5 months, I got my wedding gallery. While waiting, I asked professional wedding photographers online how long it takes for them to send couples their galleries. 99.9% of them said 8-12 weeks, even during peak season, it would be closer to 12 and that 18 weeks was absurd. We waited over 21 weeks. The photos did come out very nice. I’m not knocking Heather’s abilities. We also didn’t receive all of the photos that we know for a fact were taken (a photo with the MOB and MOG) and it’s clearly stated in the email she sent with the full gallery, “There are no additional photos available, if they aren't already included in your gallery.” Waiting 5 months, especially after all the communication issues from the beginning, it all just left a very sour taste in my mouth. Read Heather’s contract before signing. No time frame is given for photo gallery delivery so you could be waiting forever. I respect vendors and all their time and energy, but I was extremely disappointed with this overall experience. I felt completely out of control, my hands were tied. Wedding planning is supposed to be about the couple, not worrying about being at the mercy of our photographer. It made my wedding planning process way more stressful and frustrating than it ever should have been. I felt it was important to share my experience with other soon to be brides/grooms so maybe they can learn from it and make different decisions than I did.