I hired Mary Haggerty (Ocracoke Photo) on Ocracoke Island, NC. She was paid $2,041.86 which covers ceremony site fee ($100), one bouquet, one boutonniere, & one cake topper, which I had to pay an additional $125 for orchids. The amount includes a very small two tiered cake (our cake was unlevel and dry). The amount includes her simply placing two rows of seashells on the beach for your isle. A bottle of champagne, two flutes with your names etched on them, one small photo album, and one frame. Sounds like a lot of stuff, but it's more or less little stuff. And last, forty 4x6's and three 5x7's, which come out in the amount of $365, so there is a substantial profit being made, which I was fine with, but here's what I wasn't fine with:
We had a verbal agreement b/w Mary Haggerty, myself, & my husband that a CD would be made of our wedding photos. It's also stated in her packages that CDs can be made for $350 or $450 depending on the package (we got Package A). I have the proof, along w/ emails. After our wedding, Mary stopped all communication. After 4 attempts of trying to reach her because it had almost been 3 weeks and our photos were still not on the website (photoshelter), she responded by telling me I was aggravating her & to have no more contact with her. Due to this, I had no choice but to go to her lab's website & purchase photos that way. The negative to this, is it cost more. For one 4x6 photo, it's $8.00. There were 463 photos, which could cost $3,704 vs a CD, which cost $350. I purchased some photos because I felt obligated to, and at the end of the purchase (photoshelter is the lab), you end up paying Mary through Pay Pal. So she received an additional $727.95. Since she refused to make my husband and I a CD (oh, also a canvas-gallery wrap), my Mother attempted contacting her because she wanted the CD more than myself. Mary answered her phone not knowing who it was, lied to my Mother and said she doesn't make CDs & then hung up the phone on her-false advertisement and unprofessional. And the reason why my family and I would like a CD, is because you get all the photos copy right free, you can take it to walmart or wherever and print a 4x6 for 15 cents. If your hard copies get ruined, don't worry cause you have a CD. And a CD has ALL the photos.
In addition to all this, Mary has been very in personable and unprofessional to work with. She had an issue with the wedding officiant that I chose, because he wasn't one she recommended. At one point, I asked for the wedding cake to be a certain way, & she responded by telling me to bake a cake myself, take it into the bathroom, take a hot shower, and watch the icing melt off. She was rude to my family on the wedding day and absolutely hates other people taking photos, it annoys her. Out of all the 463 photos she took, only a few are edited, which usually a professional photographer edits every photo prior to showing or printing. A ton of the photos, the horizon is unlevel. I had questions for her lab, & the lab told me to contact Mary, which I did, however she wouldn't communicate. I purchased a large family photo 16x20, which cost $85 & when I received it in the mail, I noticed my eyes were closed (FYI, it's challeging to view photos on the website if people are too far away. You're unable to tell if people's eyes are closed. Plus she places you in with the sun in your face, to you're forced to squint). I kindly asked for a reprint of a different family photo, however Mary wouldn't respond, & she most likely wouldn't allow a photo to be reprinted anyways due to her character.
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