Ripple Rain Photography

in March '25. We scheduled our engagement session in Sept '24. We lived in two different states at the time, and one of us had to plan for travel for the photo shoot. As the date neared, Ripple Rain completely ghosted us, and did not communicate that she was unavailable despite our many follow up emails. She eventually responded 2 weeks after the scheduled date and explained that she had “various family emergencies.” She did not offer a replacement photographer at this time. However, we were understanding that life emergencies are unavoidable, even though this cancellation cost us time and money for transportation costs. We subsequently rescheduled our engagement session a month later in October '24 and really hoped that we could capture the beautiful fall season in our photos. Unfortunately, she canceled AGAIN, this time a mere 2.5 hours before the session. It was very late notice, and once again a replacement photographer was not offered. Once again, lost our money and time for the cancelled shoot. This second cancellation made us question whether she could reliably perform her photographer duties for our wedding. In addition, she was going on maternity leave in Nov ‘24-Jan ‘25 which meant that right after the cancellation in Oct we had no opportunity for a reshoot until Feb 2025, a month prior to our wedding. We were disappointed by now losing our preferred fall shooting time. By this point, with no services rendered, we were left with only frustration, anxiety, and loss of time and money. We were worried she would not show up again on our wedding date. This would have been a complete disaster. She did apologize and eventually offered a substitute photographer. However, by this time our trust was broken and we were hesitant to move forward. We asked for a full refund given the circumstances, which was denied. If she truly empathized with the emotional rollercoaster she had caused as a result of her personal situation, she could have easily given us the full refund at no loss to her time and availability. She refused to fully refund us, as per the contract half of the cost was not refundable. We unfortunately paid in full at the beginning of the contract. She finally offered a replacement photographer going forward, but since she would still be editing the final images, this offer was no longer acceptable. With disappointment, we accepted and honored the contract. She promised to refund the other half of our retainer in seven to ten business days in November of ‘24. Unfortunately, the nightmare continued. We followed up with her multiple times since we had not received the refund, but without answer from her. She ghosted us for a third time and stopped communicating. Complete silence until April of 2025 when we finally received our half refund. It took her 5 months to give us the refund. At this point we were grateful to get any money back at all. We then had to scramble to look for another photographer. This whole debacle colored a huge portion of our wedding planning with anxiety, hurt, and anger. We hope that our experience can serve as a warning to any future couples out there who are looking for a wedding photographer. We would not wish our nightmare experience on any couples looking to have a happy wedding experience!