Dan Doke Photography - www.dandoke.com

It has been 2 years now since my wedding in 2009 and I am just to a point where I can share my experience with the Dan Doke Studio as I gave them a significant amount of time to redeem themselves and also myself enough time to get through my frustration associated with my wedding photos.

Like many others, I was attracted to the Dan Doke Studio because of the beautiful photos they stream throughout the entire area at different venues etc. Also, like many others I could not afford the 5000.00(just to show up) fee that Dan Doke charges so I decided to go with who the studio claimed was the next best thing, Curtis (another photographer in the studio).

So where do I begin? On a positive note, I will say this...Curtis is a very polite, nice man who means well and apparently has no idea whatsoever the impact his actions have on your wedding day. But, unfortunately because of this I had an almost two year battle(which I lost) with the Dan Doke Studio who took no responsibility whatsoever for the mistakes that were made on my wedding day regarding my photos.

First, while getting ready for my day, Curtis seemed to be quite intrigued with my mom which he asked if he could shoot, and then went ahead and took many pictures of her alone,,,I realized later, not one picture was taken of me and my mother getting ready before the wedding.

Next, Curtis FORGOT to take pictures of my husband and I with our families....Yes, that is right, I do not have one picture of me and my husband with his family or one picture of us both with my family. All of our pictures are me and my family and him and his family!

Also, as he did not ask ahead of time who the parents, grandparents, siblings etc. were. My husbands 90 year old grandmother was not in one family or other photo!

Hmmmmm...what else? He sat through the entire dinner hour chatting with his assitant and the other people at the table, and then got up and announced to me that the time was up and he needed to leave. Panic stricken, I grabbed a few people I could think of that I did not get photos with and he took them quickly. And quickly it was, none of the photos have the people in them positioned correctly, they are not centered, some of them are off too far to one side. Oh, and the best is the one where my uncles face is behind my aunts head! And of course that was the only pix of my mom's family that was taken!

Also, I had specifically asked for candid photos and was told that Curtis was \"the king of candid\"...there were about 3 candid shots done within all of my pictures.

Putting my album together was so difficult it took me a year to pick the photos and when I finally did, they needed to all be of my husband and I because there were no group photos of extended family so to include them I wouldve needed to exceed the limit of photos allowed for the book.

There is so much more to say about photos left out; By looking at my photos, you would have no idea where I was even married...so much for the scenary!

All I know is that before I had my wedding I read the above review and although it made me a little nervous, I said to myself, \"some people are just more difficult to please\". I just hope that others will not do the same...I will never get that day back or the opportunity to choose a great photographer...do not make the same mistake I did!

Oh, and after many failed attempts to resolve the issue with Dan Doke(he ignored me time and time again), the studio finally said I could come in and talk to him, and when I did he was not even there and Curtis was. Curtis apologized for the \"mistake\" he made and for \"ruining my day\". Although he is very sweet in nature that just wasnt enough. Dan needed to take responsibility for his studio; that was not resolution. I did contact BBB and Dan claimed tht my husband didn't want to take any more photos that day! Can you imagine? That excuse was never even mentioned in the year and a half period we had been going back and forth! And, I'm prettty sure after spending 4000.00 on a photographer we would not be refusing photos. Its really sad the extent people will go to when money is involved. I asked him for one third of a refund back for the photos I did not get, and the lack of professionalism in the ones I did get. He was not at all willing to negotiate any type of resolution, which left me feeling like he got his money and my satisfaction waas not of concern to him. I would not reccomend doing business with the entire studio, not just Curtis.