A vendor heads up for Austin wedding photogs

[The Ben]

Last weekend, I shot a wedding in the Lakeway area. Great couple, great wedding, and great location. As the bride and groom were getting prepared, I noticed the groom was on the phone away from everyone, but didn't think anything of it. Come to find out, the string quartet they had paid $1,200 to play for 1 hour at the ceremony had forgotten to show up to the wedding. Not late, not the wrong time, just completely forgot to put the wedding on their calendar.

Needless to say, the groom was furious and wedding was less than 15 minutes away from starting. The person he got in contact with had the audacity to ask the groom to delay the wedding for an hour and half so he could get someone there. Needless to say, we didn't have that kind of luxury with the church and the timeline. So the church coordinator knew the lady that played the organ at the church, and she lived around the corner from the church. The coordinator took off after the organ player (who was luckily home) and the wedding was saved. The couple was refunded their money and was offered by the quartet to play for them anywhere and anytime, to which the groom replied "I wanted you to be at my wedding, playing right now".

This has never happened to me as a vendor, so I didn't know how to react to it. The groom asked me to let all my friends and photographers know about this vendor just as a heads up. I personally think its the most unprofessional thing to do and should not be tolerated in this industry.

If anyone would like to know their name and site, feel free to ask me directly.

I don't know them personally, and I don't doubt they're good people, but to do something like this on someone's wedding day is absolutely inexcusable. Just wanted to pass along the word.

Ben