NLP

My husband and I were very disappointed in Nicole Long Photography. We paid for the minimum package ($1,000). I had seen her website and photo album at a bridal expo and I did think there were some artistic shots, but for the 5 hours at our wedding, there were NO artistic photos. She suggested photographing my wedding dress (ivory) in front of my closet door that was white, she then proceeded to take 18 pictures of just my dress from the same angle? She took a lot of photos at our Catholic mass which included most of them of our backs?? We told her she could go up on the alter for another perspective but she didn't. At least 3 guests complained that she was all over the church and distracting during the mass. We had very standard pictures with family in the same pose for basically every shot, there was no artistry. I asked a few times for her to have us pose in more fun, creative poses, but she said nothing. I had a LOT of my mind that day and it wasn't up to me to come up with a vision. She said she wasn't there very long and if we had hired her to stay longer, she could have been more creative! She had 5 hours to be creative!!! She sent our photos in less than 2 weeks. This is fast, perhaps too fast as over 30 were not edited. My husband who does photography as a hobby, spent several sessions in front of the computer, writing down exactly what was not edited (i.e. people's body parts were in the side of the photo, the videographer was seen in our photos, photos were crooked, the flash was reflected in the windows, photos were overexposed, etc). This was shocking, that we had to follow up with her with emails/phone calls to explain to her what she needed to fix. That's not our job. Over 30 photos is not professional. She edited them and apologized. She also apologized for disappointing us and offered, not a refund, but another 1 hour photo shoot. She said we could get on our wedding clothes again and go back to the park. Are you kidding? I spent 3 hours getting my hair, make up and dress on....not to mention renting a tux....No, she had her chance that day. When I asked for a partial refund, she said she doesn't offer refunds, but would do so after we signed a non-disparagement agreement. Our lawyer said it was way too vague, only favored her and that we should not sign it, She even wrote down my name wrong on this agreement most likely off the internet. The bottom line is Nicole is friendly and very accessible via social media. She has done some artistic photos from what I've seen on her website, but nothing on my wedding day. Maybe other people have loved her work and perhaps they paid more or she somehow came through for them....but she didn't for us. I cannot recommend her. The pictures we have are ordinary, ones anyone could have taken. It's worth it to spend more money and hire someone where you've seen their work and you were blown away by their originality, artistry and perspective. This is your wedding day, you don't want to have any regrets.