We have! I try so hard not to be spitefull or vindictive, but some people manage to push the right buttons so I'm still trying to decide if I want to actually post their company names!

First, we drive all the way to Oceanside(from Brea, a little more than an hour away) to meet with a potential photographer. The meeting goes well and we leave totally impressed with their work and excited that we found our perfect photographers on our first try! They are a husband and wife team - he does the video and she does the photography, both have years of experience, and to top it off they are both total cuties who assure us that they are well aware of all of the stress of finding vendors having gone through the whole process themselves less than a year before.  They thell us that our date is available, and if they get any other couple that inquire about that date, not to worry, and they will let us know so because we have kind of "first dibs" by meeting with them. We meet with some other crazy a**  national company (why would anyone ever book with someone who won't let you meet your photographer) the next day and realize just how much we really like the first photographers. 4 days after the first meeting with the perfect (or so we thought) photographers, FI call to give them credit card info the secure the contract. Well, they appologize and sat thay they "FORGOT" that they had already met with another couple two months before us, and that couple had booked them the day after we met with them! WTF!!! And we both asked several times, in a few different ways if they were booked for that day, and they said no! Not to mention that they didn't even bother to call and tell us that they had signed a contract with someone else! They were super fun, did amazing work, totally understood what we were looking for, and to top it all off were very reasonably priced! Just have know idea of how to run their buisness.

Then there's the officiant! Some people just don't get it!!! But I'm already frothing at the mouth and rambling so I'll post that later. Are we the only ones to be screwed over by any of their vendors? Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to vent and hear some of your  horror stories. Got any good ones?

Im sorry :( what a hastle...

I get screwed by my real vendors by not getting any emails/ phonedcalls back- this REALLY frusterates me!  I feel like I have no idea whats going on...  They need to suck it up and deal with them, I understand that they are busy, but we are paying the bucks they should!

We didn't get the photograpger we originally wanted- same thing that happend to you.  But now we found one and even happier!

- HMM :)

NO, you are totally not alone!  I have been screwed over by three potential vendors so far...and one current vendor is really pissing me off.  I cannot tell you how upset these people have made me. 

Potential Wedding Coordinator: Similar experience - after having a great first meeting with her, she tells me she will put my date on hold.  Then she tells me she has booked with another client, but can do joint coordination with her sister company.  Then she tells me - oops, I forgot!  I'm trying to get pregnant during your wedding month so she is not taking, and then tries to pawn me off on her less experienced sister company.

Potential Make-Up Artist: After doing a great trial for my mom, we were on track to sign the contract.  However, when I asked for some revisions to her very bare bones contract (I'm an attorney, so I'm a stickler for such things) to include specific things we had talked about in the trial, she abruptly told me she had decided not to work with me WITHOUT even giving me a reason.  When I asked for an explanation, she says that she had never met someone who has made such a request - as if having an accurate contract was outlandish!  I was LIVID that she made me feel guilty for asking for a contract that would make me feel comfortable.

Potential Invitations Designer: Same story. This artist had been my number one choice for invitation design and I was in love with her work.  I've never seen anything but positive reviews for her.  However, she doesn't work with written contracts and would provide only a very sketchy estimate of the printing costs with no commitment - she was very nice initially and tried to get an estimate from her printer, when I asked for a written contract with more specifics (didn't feel comfortable basically just writing her a blank check), she just told me that she wouldn't work with me anymore.  I was SOOOO sad!!!

One of my current vendors: I don't even want to get into the details because I'm STILL pissed off, but once again, I am being made to feel guilty because I want this vendor to adhere to the contract!  This vendor is acting as if he is god's gift to brides - like he is doing me a FAVOR.  Um - last time I checked, favors don't cost thousands of dollars.  UGH.

The sad thing is that ALL of these vendors are extremely talented, and so I don't want to reveal their names - especially since most brides have positive experiences with them...unfortunately, I just find them all totally lacking in professionalism!  I just hate how they make me feel unreasonable for asking for totally reasonable things - like a contract that reflects our agreement.  AAGGGHHH!

sorry youre going through this. this would totally irriate me. maybe it wasnt "meant to be" to have them as your photographers. hopefully you find someone else you like & those people LEARN how to do business the "etiquette" & appropriate way. good luck!

Awwww that sucks!!  It's too bad when people don't manage their time and meetings more appropriately.  If they'd only just made a little note in a calendar they would have saved you the hassle & heartache  :(  You'll find someone else!!  You know, you might want to ask them for a reccomendation.  Sounds crazy but a lot of photogs in the biz have relationships with other photogs...  they might be able to point you in the direction of another awesome, reasonably priced duo  =)

Hmmmm the only real screw-over was from the reception site.  They told me they could do my flowers (it's a garden, they do gorgeous arrangements at a fraction of the price of florists)  and after months of trying to set up an appointment to talk flowers, I get a call 4 weeks before the wedding saying "oh, actually we CAN'T do it your weekend...  she'll be out of town"   Gee, thanks for the effing head's up!  So I had to find a florist with only 4 weeks to go.

WOW! I guess we're not alone!

 JDW - we are the same way when it comes to having contracts, mostly from the horror stories that we've heard of from other posts on PW. Sorry to hear that your vendors are being such A-holes!

ceejaydee7 - you're right about the  "meant to be" thing! Shortly after we did find a fantastic photography team!

MrsTongToBe - Hopefully that's your one and only hiccup!

I agree with HMM.If they would just be up front with us, and then we wouldn't have to bitch about all of the goofy vendors on PW!!!LOL!!! Let's all try to keep our heads up ladies! Stupid effing vendors!

Smart girl, luckymonkey!  Stick to your guns on those contracts!

JDW - That's the only reason I am not posting up the names of the two places who screwed us. I don't want to add any un-needed stress to someone who may be using one of these companies! But oh, I would absolutely love to blast off on them! My FI is planning to take a few "Special pictures" on our wedding day with a little personalization to both companies and post them on their websites! I said that I was's vindictive- but I didn't say that he wasn't!!! LOL!!!

Oh I definitely have a great one!  We booked our photographer the moment we booked our wedding date back in end October of "07.  We had our engagement photos taken the very next day of booking with them.  Everything was GREAT...we absolutely LOVED our photographer, and our engagement photos definitely would've turned out AWESOME!  After having our engagement photos taken, our photographer told us that they should be ready within 2 weeks and to contact the studio if we dont hear from them in 2 weeks.  Well 2 weeks went by and we hadnt heard anything, so I call the studio and they tell me that they had our engagement photos sitting right there and that they were uploading them to pictage.com that day, and would be available to view within a week.  I remained patient and waited the week.  I cotinued to check pictage.com to see if they were viewable yet, and they were not.  That was early December '07 that I was told they would be available in a week.  I continued to call the studio and my contact person at the studio.  No answer!  I called and left so many voicemails that at one point his voicemail box, wouldn't except anymore messages.  I started to panic because we had paid the photog in full and upfront to receive the major discounts that he was offering.  Total paid was $5,000.  I began searching the web to find reviews and or complaints on this company (something I should've done to begin with...but I had no clue what I was doing when it came to contracting with vendors)  While I was searchign the web, I found a complete yahoo group about this company (group was called: wrongedbycelebrationstudios)  I almost had a heart attack when I began reading what other people were going through.  This company had freelanced photographers, not paid many of the photogs, album companies, or taxes.  The owner of the company was still signing contracts with bride and grooms promising services when they were in the process of claiming bankruptcy!!!  This owner of the company owed the IRS over $400,000, and then owed all of the vendors on top of that.  Needless to say this guy is going to jail for a very LONG time.  Many bride and grooms in the Tri-State area havent seen their wedding photos, from their weddings that took place as early as 2005!!!!!  Luckily the company completely went under and the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs got involved and has been working on a course of action to get the photos/negatives to the couples, but just imagine having your photos taken and then never seeing them, and not even knowing if you will ever get them back.  I was extremely lucky in this situation, I only lost my engagement photos, and almost lost my $5,000.  I will never in my life change banks!  (Commerce Bank is by far the best!!!)  I disputed the charge to my debit card in January of this year, and my bank refunded the full amount by March.  My bank never asked questions or hassled me about the situation, they simply asked how much was paid, and what date is was paid on. 

Wow...that was long...sorry!!  I could go on and on about this topic!!!  :o)

Yikes for all of these unfortunate adventures.  I've got one too ;(

Mine's not a vendor per se, but a real estate vacational rental property owner in San Clemente.  We booked our honeymoon and DW (it sleeps 10 with a separate little room for us) for us and his family for a week.  We pay the deposit, 1st rent installment, and as we are about to pay the second we get this three sentence email:

The house is no longer available.  I'll send you the money back this week.  I wanted to let you know as soon as possible. 

WTF??  No explaination or anything!  We call, email back--no response.  Send a friend to go by the house and see if it like burned down or something, and sure enough, a large SOLD sign posted outside.  Gee golly, thanks for telling us it was on the f*ing market! 

After that, we didn't see the check for a month.  Emailed him back, asking for it.  Nothing.  Finally, FI called and emailed threatening to sue, and the check is finally in the mail--we got it tracked. 

But, I mean, I was SOOO excited about this house.  It was the very first thing we booked!! 

This topic has gotten all of us writing long responses.  Got our blood up!  Ok, I'm gonna go take this off on the treadmill and be happy instead that we booked a hotel with a hot tub in the room.  wink wink.  There, thats better!!