Photographer Booked Weddings and Allegedly Didn't Bother Showing Up

Photographer Booked Weddings and Allegedly Didn't Bother Showing Up

A photographer in Wisconsin has stood up at least two brides according to CBS 58 News, after taking a deposit and giving no warning. Now they can't even get hold of the photographer for a refund.

Two brides are complaining that a photographer who goes by Maelynn Anne Photography from Walworth County, Wisconsin, booked their weddings and just didn't show up. One bride managed to find a photographer to stand-in on the day, but the other was left with guests just taking photographs on their phones.

Bride Magdelyn Chandler had her big day booked for July 27th of this year and without notice or explanation before, during, or after the event, the photographer did not show up. Chandler "immediately started crying" and laments the memories missed. "I would have loved to have had a picture with my mom and grandma that was professionally done... not standing in front of a door frame," Chandler expressed to CBS. To add insult to injury, both brides have been unable to get in contact with Maelynn Anne Photography for a refund of their deposit. Upon hearing this, other clients with bookings are also trying to get out of the situation. The police have now had to be involved.

One of the most stressful parts of a wedding for the photographer is the whole issue of "no do-overs." Time and time again before I used to shoot weddings I would triple check every piece of equipment, the route to the venue, my car, I'd have a small pharmacy in my bag, and I would leave hours and hours early. Unless I had been injured so badly I was laid up in a hospital bed, I was never going to miss one of my shoots, particularly not a wedding. It is utterly baffling to me that photographers can be so unreliable and I just hope that in this case, the photographer has a good reason, but it seems highly unlikely.

To watch an interview with the brides, click here. Have you ever had to miss a wedding you were meant to shoot? Has it happened to you or anyone you know? Share in the comments below.

Robert K Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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11 Comments

$500 Wedding Photographer Found To Be Unreliable. Film at eleven...

Had anyone simply looked her up on YouTube they would have seen the worst wedding video ever. Cheap or cheaper prices only come with cheap and cheaper products. Unless you have someone very close to you that is a great photographer and is willing to give you a steal of a deal, you will be very disappointed at best. No one worth their weight would ever shoot a wedding for $500. If you are spending $5-10K for flowers, then spend at least that on your wedding photographs. When your house is on fire you don’t run and grab the flowers from your wedding, you grab your photographs and then your life.

did you see the article, it was a $200 and $300 deposit. no real wedding photographer would take that deposit and if they did i would question the quality and experience of the their work. you get what you pay for, in Hawaii average wedding coverage is about $2000+ anything lower would raise red flags.

Those trying to break into the biz charge little to build their portfolio and customer database and charge low to get the work

People dont how to tell if the work is pro level. They see the album and a few ps pics that are nice. Most dont have a full wedding album from beginning to end but just random images from a few weddings. Most people are used to seeing so many phone pics that seem ok to them, then come see pics from a dslr and get wowed. Its happened many times. The friends at the wedding have passed tons of wedding pics already. I take a bit to edit and send them the pics all ready and then their shocked at the quality difference. They thought the phone pics looked fine.

looks at her website
https://maelynnphoto.wixsite.com/photography
first warning - she can't even afford her own domain/website builder, and have a free one with ads.
second warning - her wedding package is $500/6h and $800/9h, and includes ALL photos edited..... and on top of that, she offers advanced editing for 30 dollars for the whole package......

Site is gone.

Before booking a photographer, it may be a good idea to have a preliminary photo shoot, call it a test session to see first hand the photographers work as well as the photographers ability to work with people.

I wouldn't call that a photographer I'd call that a scam artist. Then again you don't know the circumstances. We had a guy not show up for work and later found out he'd committed suicide

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

While I feel bad for the bride & groom, I can't say: do you guys do the homework ? A basic wedding photography package starts $2000 plus.

Sorry, that's the average cost.

I had a situation in April of this year, but I could never just bail on my clients. I had a celebrity client in town to shoot in studio and I was told right before the shoot, my Dad had died. I took a moment, refocused and got the shoot done. I never told my client until after the shoot because it would’ve changed the entire vibe and they more likely would’ve wanted me to cancel. Two days later, I had to drive from Cleveland to photograph a wedding in Chicago that was booked a year in advance. My Dad was a professional photographer and I’m certain he would’ve been extremely disappointed if I had canceled because of him. He was old school. Get the shot son. 🙏🏾

Maybe she’s in coma, dead,.. 😀 that’s why I don’t do weddings. God knows where or how I’m gonna be on July 23 2023. Maybe I won’t even have camera or business anymore or I’d be in a rehab from nervous breakdown dealing with bridezillas 😀 maybe my calendar app won’t even exist anymore and I would loose all booking dates 🤷🏼‍♂️😂

Just joking but I really don’t do weddings out of the reason when someone wants to book me 2 years in advance.