Warning to engaged couples looking for high quality wedding photography service:
I’m extremely saddened to share that Coppersmith Photography did not meet expectations for my wedding photographs and had terrible customer service. Matt and Amy Coppersmith were both hired to take photos at my wedding and the results were a bride’s worst nightmare.
When deciding to hire Coppersmith Photography I requested to have the photo shot list I created for my wedding day taken in formal/traditional style. During a meeting they agreed they could do this and I knew they were able to take that style from seeing examples in their portfolio. The wedding day seemed to be going fine, except they didn’t seem very organized or in control. They weren’t calling out the names of people to be in pictures from the photo shot list and were joking around a lot. They had the list with them and were looking at it so I assumed we were getting all of the pictures taken. I assumed the day went great because Matt kept telling me that he took so many photos and they were turning out great. I did my job prior to the wedding day and had an organized timeline and photo shot list for the photographers. It wasn’t my job on my wedding day to remember if they took all the photos I wanted, that’s why I hired supposedly experienced professionals.
They contacted me while I was on my Honeymoon and told me there was a “hiccup” and they lost a few pictures of the bridesmaids by the lake. When I returned I was able to look at the pictures and there were so many more missing than the pictures of the bridesmaids! Numerous pictures from the requested shot list were either NOT TAKEN (time was no issue) or LOST on a memory card. I don’t even have a picture of my husband and I posed formally/traditional in front of the lake or at the Altar of our church. I don’t have the wedding party smiling at the camera, the groom’s family, my dad and I, my ring bearer and flower girls with me, my matron of honor and I, and the list sadly goes on and on. Did they think I wouldn’t notice all of the missing photos!? I don’t have so many of the important pictures that I wanted to put in frames, give as gifts, and pass down to generations to follow. Coppersmith Photography presented me with a few pictures from my photo shot list but the majority of the pictures they presented are taken from a side angle from the backup camera. Then they had the nerve to communicate to me through their lawyer that this was intentional because they do a photojournalistic photography style, not traditional. They couldn’t believe I was upset about this. I wasn’t even looking at the camera in those photos, my once in a lifetime wedding photos! My mom took better pictures the day of my wedding on her cell phone!
I requested the memory card that lost close to 300 photos so I could send it to a professional recovery lab, since they weren’t doing that for us. I was never given the card and I didn’t hear back from them after I requested it. I found out from their lawyer that instead of giving the faulty memory card to me they reused it on 5 other weddings putting their wedding photos at risk and making my photos impossible to recover. Why would you use a bad memory card at additional weddings!?
Coppersmith Photography was very unprofessional and challenging to work with after this tragedy and without sympathy referred to their contract to tell me they were not at fault because their contract allows them to lose photos, not take photos on a shot list, and not take them in the style you requested. They contracted a lawyer and wanted me to sign a paper saying my family, friends and I wouldn’t write negative reviews. In return for my silence they offered back a very small fraction of the total payment I was required to pay them before the wedding.
I will never be able to recreate my wedding and get those photos back. If you are looking for wedding photography service I strongly suggest looking elsewhere. If you have already booked them I recommend that you either back out or put contingencies on their contract before paying them. I still can’t believe this happened to me. I thought I was a hiring two professional photographers.