I hired Weddings By Paul / Paul V Photography last year and was extremely excited to work with such a well known and recommended photographer.. However my hopes were quickly crushed at our rehearsal. I had hired a wedding planner to help coordinate the event and as she was teaching my family in what order/how to walk Paul came up to me and said "You have to put me in charge of this it's taking forever!" I was a bit confused as it hadn't even been a half hour so I just looked at him weird and focused on making sure my family was confident and happy. During the second run through he came up to me again and said that 'This is ridiculous we have to hurry up! This is taking forever!(while shaking his head) I then explained this is the first wedding that they have ever been in and they need to practice. If he wanted to leave, he could. He decided to stay and project his negative energy.
The beginning of our wedding day Paul was scheduled to show up at 9AM.. He finally showed around 10:40AM and at that time my mother talked to him explaining that any more negative words/energy would not be tolerated. He agreed and came up to me and said not to worry he was going to work with everyone and it would be a positive day.
Once we were at the ceremony venue he had pulled my planner aside asking if he could have a table set up in the middle of the reception to set up his computer so he could edit during the entire reception. Thankfully she denied him this as the center of my reception was going to be myself and my husband.. Not the photographer.
Everything then ran smoothly until the reception. He had instructed me to hold my bouquet of flowers pretending to throw it the first time then to come back up and actually throw it so he could get his shot. I did so and my little sister caught the bouquet!! However, while I was celebrating this he ran up to me and yelled "You didn't do what I said?! I didn't get my shot!!" I responded with "Yes, I did and it's a little too late now to yell at me."
Then around 8:30PM we were all on the dance floor having a great time! When Paul came up to me asking if he needed to capture anything else. I responded with "I think we're good until the sparkler exit if you'd like to take a break."He responded with "I don't ever capture the sparkler exit." I said "I sent the timeline to you months in advance.. Why didn't you mention this prior?" He then said "What the f*?! Are you f*g kidding me...?" At which point I pulled my father to have him talk to the man I hired who was screaming f* at me on the dance floor of my wedding reception. The photographer stormed out of the reception causing a scene. My wedding planner and family tried to get him to stay explaining that I/we didn't care about the next day gallery. He could take a month to edit and get us the photos. During this exchange he made the following remarks to my family and staff:
"I'm a professional I don't work like a dog for my customers"
"I have another wedding I have to prepare for"
"My camera is too heavy and I'm tired, hold these things"
"F* you"
"I never stay this late"
"My pictures are always good, there's nothing left to take pictures of. I'll just be taking the same shot" (2-3 hours before event ended)
"Even if I did stay till the end there would only be 7 people left."
After this display of pure professionalism, he stormed off and left my reception 2 hours early, even though he was contracted for the entire day.
We then had to hire a second photographer for the remainder of the night which left me with another bill! Which is in addition to the LARGE bill I prepaid Paul.
The day after the wedding instead of being excited I was worried that I wouldn't receive any photos. Luckily he did contact me asking to speak with me and posted the photos. However, the photos I specifically asked him to capture he didn't. Our fist kiss photo is blurry, he didn't capture AJ's reaction to when he first saw me, and he missed the bouquet toss.
After two days of calming down, my husband and I called him as he wanted to "smooth things over". We did not receive an apology. He instead said "he was dealing with an incompetent wedding planner", along with an assortment of other excuses about how hard he worked, and how heavy his cameras were. Basically saying that because he felt he did some good work that he should be excused for the lack of professionalism he carries. During this conversation we had asked if we could be refunded for the heirloom album that was part of our package as we didn't feel comfortable working with him any longer. He said he would not do that. We then asked him to put the other photographers photo in this album as we wanted it to showcase the whole day. He said he would think about it.
2 weeks later he called my husband to tell him he would not put any other photographers photos in his album.
At this point I had enough and texted him that I would be suing him for the hours he missed, the amount the album is worth, plus a $200 fee for breaking the professionally clause in the contract. After going back and forth a bit he told me "For your sake you better let it go."
After the threatening text message I didn't feel safe contacting him again.
He ended up putting 2 photos the other photographer took after all of the drama.
Paul V Photography Reviews
I hired Weddings By Paul / Paul V Photography last year and was extremely excited to work with such a well known and recommended photographer.. However my hopes were quickly crushed at our rehearsal. I had hired a wedding planner to help coordinate the event and as she was teaching my family in what order/how to walk Paul came up to me and said "You have to put me in charge of this it's taking forever!" I was a bit confused as it hadn't even been a half hour so I just looked at him weird and focused on making sure my family was confident and happy. During the second run through he came up to me again and said that 'This is ridiculous we have to hurry up! This is taking forever!(while shaking his head) I then explained this is the first wedding that they have ever been in and they need to practice. If he wanted to leave, he could. He decided to stay and project his negative energy.
The beginning of our wedding day Paul was scheduled to show up at 9AM.. He finally showed around 10:40AM and at that time my mother talked to him explaining that any more negative words/energy would not be tolerated. He agreed and came up to me and said not to worry he was going to work with everyone and it would be a positive day.
Once we were at the ceremony venue he had pulled my planner aside asking if he could have a table set up in the middle of the reception to set up his computer so he could edit during the entire reception. Thankfully she denied him this as the center of my reception was going to be myself and my husband.. Not the photographer.
Everything then ran smoothly until the reception. He had instructed me to hold my bouquet of flowers pretending to throw it the first time then to come back up and actually throw it so he could get his shot. I did so and my little sister caught the bouquet!! However, while I was celebrating this he ran up to me and yelled "You didn't do what I said?! I didn't get my shot!!" I responded with "Yes, I did and it's a little too late now to yell at me."
Then around 8:30PM we were all on the dance floor having a great time! When Paul came up to me asking if he needed to capture anything else. I responded with "I think we're good until the sparkler exit if you'd like to take a break."He responded with "I don't ever capture the sparkler exit." I said "I sent the timeline to you months in advance.. Why didn't you mention this prior?" He then said "What the f*?! Are you f*g kidding me...?" At which point I pulled my father to have him talk to the man I hired who was screaming f* at me on the dance floor of my wedding reception. The photographer stormed out of the reception causing a scene. My wedding planner and family tried to get him to stay explaining that I/we didn't care about the next day gallery. He could take a month to edit and get us the photos. During this exchange he made the following remarks to my family and staff:
"I'm a professional I don't work like a dog for my customers"
"I have another wedding I have to prepare for"
"My camera is too heavy and I'm tired, hold these things"
"F* you"
"I never stay this late"
"My pictures are always good, there's nothing left to take pictures of. I'll just be taking the same shot" (2-3 hours before event ended)
"Even if I did stay till the end there would only be 7 people left."
After this display of pure professionalism, he stormed off and left my reception 2 hours early, even though he was contracted for the entire day.
We then had to hire a second photographer for the remainder of the night which left me with another bill! Which is in addition to the LARGE bill I prepaid Paul.
The day after the wedding instead of being excited I was worried that I wouldn't receive any photos. Luckily he did contact me asking to speak with me and posted the photos. However, the photos I specifically asked him to capture he didn't. Our fist kiss photo is blurry, he didn't capture AJ's reaction to when he first saw me, and he missed the bouquet toss.
After two days of calming down, my husband and I called him as he wanted to "smooth things over". We did not receive an apology. He instead said "he was dealing with an incompetent wedding planner", along with an assortment of other excuses about how hard he worked, and how heavy his cameras were. Basically saying that because he felt he did some good work that he should be excused for the lack of professionalism he carries. During this conversation we had asked if we could be refunded for the heirloom album that was part of our package as we didn't feel comfortable working with him any longer. He said he would not do that. We then asked him to put the other photographers photo in this album as we wanted it to showcase the whole day. He said he would think about it.
2 weeks later he called my husband to tell him he would not put any other photographers photos in his album.
At this point I had enough and texted him that I would be suing him for the hours he missed, the amount the album is worth, plus a $200 fee for breaking the professionally clause in the contract. After going back and forth a bit he told me "For your sake you better let it go."
After the threatening text message I didn't feel safe contacting him again.
He ended up putting 2 photos the other photographer took after all of the drama.