Hi I know that I don't post much but I am worried. I rerally love allof the pics I see on reviews and I like the artistic style. Everyone on here raves about Patken so my FI and I booked them on our first meeting because Jodi told us they re were already 7 weddings booked on our day so we gave a 500 dollar deposit. She told us to book our e pic shoot because until we did we wouldn't get assigned a photographer. I am not sure if anyone else was told this. Jodi told us that after wehad our e shoot we would go over with the photographer what we liked and what we didin't and then based on our personalities and what we were looking for we would be assigned a photographer and would do another shoot with them. SO I was so excited for mypicsI could hardly wait. The day came and the photographer Evan seemed like he could care less. He set up these bright lights and took 16 pictures of us. He put themon a computer and asked us what one we wanted free and which we would like to order. I liked only 1 of the 16. After I asked when he would ask us about what we liked and he said oh no you don't do that now call us in 4 weeks and well tell you who you get.So what aboutme did you learn that would help you decide who I get on MY WEDDING DAY. It seems like they were trying us out and not the other way around. I'm confused and scared I just gave 500 dollars to them and I wont like my photographer or my pics..help!!! Did make a big mistake??? TIA
lisalisa27
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Hmm I have heard good things about them but I did not book them. I felt it was overated when I want to see them I was impressed by all the pics you got but was not impressed by the photography itself. That is funny they told me the same thing, they had 7 weddings book my day also. I had just fired my photographer that I previously had so I was very skeptical about the next one I hired.
sunflower13
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Posted by lisalisa27
Hmm I have heard good things about them but I did not book them. I felt it was overated when I want to see them I was impressed by all the pics you got but was not impressed by the photography itself. That is funny they told me the same thing, they had 7 weddings book my day also. I had just fired my photographer that I previously had so I was very skeptical about the next one I hired.
Yeah I was so sure it was what i wanted maybe I should have waited, what would you do?
sunflower13
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
BUMP
kris01
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
I would call them & talk to them. This is one reason why FH & I did not book with them. We didn't like the idea of not knowing who our photographer would be - this is someone who you are spending at least 10hrs of your wedding day with!! You should definitely feel comfortable with them. Maybe you can take another e-pic shoot with who they 'assign' to you - just to make sure you all click.
HTH...Good Luck!!! Kris
MrsMagoo
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
We booked with Patken and Tina couldn't have been more helpful! Give her a call and ask her questions about your concerns.
Licee15
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Doug trains everyone that works in his studio, so I wouldn't worry too much.
Good luck tho!
charliesbride
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
i picked my photographer when i signed my contract, so i didnt have to go through this process.
i think an 06 girl used Evan, and im pretty sure she really liked his work...im sure you can do a search.
if you are upset, then i would call the office, thats the only way something will get better!
dancint131
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Doug from patken is awesome! if you don't want to pay extra for him I would suggest vinny. My family has been using Patken for 14 years since Doug first started. HE NEVER let us down. I would suggest speaking to TIna instead of Jodi... tell her your concerns and I am sure she will help you out.
Kristen29
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Hey...I had a very similar experience to you. Me and my fiance read awesome reviews about how they were the best! So we went and booked with them..put our deposit down. Were told that we were going to take our e photos...then go over them wtih the photographer...then meet our photographer to take another photo shoot to see what type of style we liekd. The e photo shoot was done by Evan...who seemed like we were bothering him by being there. First of all, when we called to maek it they said it would be in theri indoor studio..so we wore jeans. WE arrived and the studio had tons of peoplein it for some convention or something. So we did the shoot outide...it was one of the three dyas over the summer that felt like 114 degrees! We were both in jeans and sweating like crazy...you can see the sweat on our forheads in the pics. We asked if we could reschedule..he said no. He showed us the pics...enver talked to us about which we liekd or not....they were basically all the same style when we were told it would be different styles we could say we liekd. He asked which photo we wanted for free and if we wanted to pay extra for the others. Then sid call them in 4 weeks.... We called back and didn't get assigned a photographer for 6 weeks...JOhn...who no one on here has ever heard of before... We met with him 2 weeks ago....no photo shoot with him like we were promised...he asked questions about our family size and nothing about the style of pics we liked or anything..he didn't even know if we had taken our e photo shoot yet! Shouldn't he have known that?? I mean he was nice enough..but still. They supposedly choose our photographerbased on the style we like in our pics...and there was one style shot..and he didn't eve know we had our e pics done It's like some random assignment they do...
So I know where you're coming from....but cant' do anything about it now. Oh well...they have a good reputation so hopefully we just had a rough start! Hope everything owrks out ok!! Sorry so long!!
lisalisa27
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Posted by Kristen29
Hey...I had a very similar experience to you. Me and my fiance read awesome reviews about how they were the best! So we went and booked with them..put our deposit down. Were told that we were going to take our e photos...then go over them wtih the photographer...then meet our photographer to take another photo shoot to see what type of style we liekd. The e photo shoot was done by Evan...who seemed like we were bothering him by being there. First of all, when we called to maek it they said it would be in theri indoor studio..so we wore jeans. WE arrived and the studio had tons of peoplein it for some convention or something. So we did the shoot outide...it was one of the three dyas over the summer that felt like 114 degrees! We were both in jeans and sweating like crazy...you can see the sweat on our forheads in the pics. We asked if we could reschedule..he said no. He showed us the pics...enver talked to us about which we liekd or not....they were basically all the same style when we were told it would be different styles we could say we liekd. He asked which photo we wanted for free and if we wanted to pay extra for the others. Then sid call them in 4 weeks.... We called back and didn't get assigned a photographer for 6 weeks...JOhn...who no one on here has ever heard of before... We met with him 2 weeks ago....no photo shoot with him like we were promised...he asked questions about our family size and nothing about the style of pics we liked or anything..he didn't even know if we had taken our e photo shoot yet! Shouldn't he have known that?? I mean he was nice enough..but still. They supposedly choose our photographerbased on the style we like in our pics...and there was one style shot..and he didn't eve know we had our e pics done It's like some random assignment they do...
So I know where you're coming from....but cant' do anything about it now. Oh well...they have a good reputation so hopefully we just had a rough start! Hope everything owrks out ok!! Sorry so long!!
Hi You are my date twin.
Kristen29
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
Nice to meet you date twin!!
PegaLega
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
I dont think you made a big mistake-I really havent seen any bad pictures taken by them-most are beautiful. I would call and talk to who ever you talked to first and explain your concerns, I am sure that they will answer any questions that you may have and fix the problem.
Good Luck
suzzi7404
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
We booked them and we booked a photographer that day. They told us the story about matching the photographer to the type of phots you wanted but we knew what we wanted so they instantly assigned us someone. They told us to wait until it is closer to our wedding to do our e-pics so the photographer remembers us b/c my georgous fh does not always come out georgous on film!! Sorry you are having a bad experience with them. I would call them and state your concerns.
mrspapagorgio
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
We did not book Patken becuase of that! We were told that they would decide everything-we would not get to pick our photographer. We went in ready to Book Nick, as he did a fiend of mones wedding and I loved her pics. They lost our business because they said we could not request Nick, we would have to wait and see who we got. We did not feel comfortable with this so we left and found Artisan-THEY ARE AMAZING!
chellynyc
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
I don't think you have anything to worry about. I booked Patken because they did my two friends wedding and the work was great from start to finish. We booked Patken for photo and video on the spot and didn't even check out any other places. If you do a search on here, you can check out past brides reviews of them and also proofs.
I too met w/Jodi and didn't feel pressured in anyway and she didn't know I was going to book them on the spot.
KatieChris07
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
I was deciding between Patken and another photographer and they gave me the same story about 7 other weddings being booked on our wedding day.
I ended up going with another photographer but I do know of two people who used Patken this past summer. One of them used Doug and one used Vinny. The pictures came out great for both weddings and they were very happy with them.
snowcat
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
I'm sorry this has happened to you! I have also seen Vinny from Patken's work, and would highly suggest him...I understand that they can't promise you get the person you request- things happen, after all...but it is absolutely ridiculous that they won't take your preferences into account.
I also agree that you should call them and talk about your concerns- otherwise, how can they fix this for you unless they know you are unhappy? This is your day, and you will be spending upwards of 8 hours with your photographer...you have a right to know who this is and make sure you feel comfortable with him/her. If you are not truly comfortable with the place, imo you should consider going elsewhere- this is your special day and you should love and feel comfortable with all of your vendors.
RobbsWifey
Posted:
Member since
Re: Patken Brides-- sorry long, please help
It sounds like a lot of brides who met with them all got the same 'story' about already having exactly 7 weddings already booked on that day. I never met with them, but I wouldn't want to be pressured into booking by being told that. We booked with Dominic from 12th Night and we already know who our photographers are going to be and have seen their work. I would definately call and talk to the people the other brides suggested and explain to them how you had a horrible experience with this Evan guy. Look at your contract and see if you can get out of it just in case they won't accomodate you. good luck!
