Months after their weddings, several women have come forward with fears they’ve been swindled by a wedding photographer formerly based in Nova Scotia.
CTV News has spoken with 10 brides who hired Ariane Anderson, once based in Meteghan River, N.S., to take photos of their wedding days.
Months later, they still haven’t received the photos they paid for.
Several of the women say they’ve tried everything to contact Anderson, only to be told she had moved to British Columbia after a divorce.
Peter Moorhouse of the Better Business Bureau said it’s this lack of communication that prompted seven active complaints against Anderson, and earned her an “F” rating with the organization.
“We've attempted numerous times in a number of ways to get in touch with her, to try and resolve those and we just haven't had any response from her to do that,” Moorhouse said.
Marsha Dickie tried to get in touch because she hasn’t received a single image from Anderson — and her wedding was six months ago.
“I tried calling her business phone and realized that was disconnected,” Dickie said.
Her contract with Anderson says she would receive photos within four to six weeks of the nuptials.
“I’ve got nothing. I’ve got a debt of $1,720,” Dickie said.
Yarrow Merritt says she was she was such a low-maintenance bride, the only thing she really cared about was the photos.
She and husband Alex are about to celebrate their first anniversary, but so far they’ve only received a handful of wedding photos.
Merritt said she too tried to get in touch when she felt something wasn’t right.
“I started to email her just because we hadn't heard a peep,” she said.
The couple also has a contract with Anderson, laying out what images they will get and when.
A year later, the photographer’s failure to live up to those terms still casts a shadow.
“As soon as we talk about our wedding, it kind of just puts a damper on things, the whole experience,” Merritt said.
Another client of Anderson’s, Niki Hanlin, considers herself one of the lucky onesas her mother put together an album of photos collected from wedding guests.
It took her months of battling before she received half of her photos from Anderson, but uneditied.
“I was devastated. It got to the point where I didn't even want to talk about weddings,” Hanlin said.
A number of photographers have come forward offering to reshoot the weddings of Anderson’s slighted clients, but the brides say you just can’t recreate your wedding.
What they do want is a response, their photos and, in some cases, they want their money back as well.
CTV News has also spoken with three brides-to-be who have hired Anderson and paid her up to $1,300.
After numerous attempts, CTV News heard back from Anderson, who responded via email after nearly two weeks.
Anderson said her clients will receive their raw images first, as a sign of good faith to show she still has the files.
She goes on to say all her clients will also receive edited photos when she is able to complete them, adding that she has apologized continuously to her clients for the delay.
The Better Business Bureau says there’s a lesson to future customers in this story. This isn’t the first they’ve heard of similar sagas involving photography services, so it’s important for the customer to do their homework.
That doesn’t make it better for Merritt and the other 9 brides.
“It's supposed to be the happiest day of your relationship really or the most celebrated and to have that taken away is wrong.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell
