was a JW.
I know I've posted this before (at the start of the forum)but thought you newbies would enjoy.
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About three years ago hubby and I got married. We live in California, got married in Pawley's Island, South Carolina. (Just south of Myrtle Beach.)
I was in charge of arranging everything, including all wedding vendors. Bully for the Internet!
I had contracts in place, questioned other clients, etc etc....
Fast forward to the wedding. EVERYTHING went off without a hitch. Except, oddly.....
While us girls were in the bathroom of the Country Club getting dressed, the photographer (who was supposed to be taking pics of me, BTW) was busy interrupting me and asking for the rest of her money.
As with all our other vendors, we put down half deposit and agreed that the other half would be paid at the end of the evening.
The only thing I can thing of, the photog team (husband/wife) freaked out when they walked in the country club and saw that most in attendance were black!! (OH THE HORROR!!!)
So, finally the last straw....I'm trying to get dressed and the wife comes rushing in to ask about the rest of her money (a whopping $400). I told her to go see groom--he had the checkbook.
Well apparently in the sea of BBD (big black dudes) she couldn't make out the groom! [8>] So she came back in (remember she's supposed to be taking pictures of groom and ushers outside in the sunset light--this has all been pre-arranged) in a state of panic.
I finally told her in no uncertain terms she would have to wait until later to get her money or she could leave. Family members were present and a little shocked to hear the vulgar language I used, LOL.
Later on, a family member offered the prayer--and made it a point to pray to Jehovah [8>] --over the meal. The photography team quickly ran to said member to ask if they were JWs!!! Well of course they had their own little sanctimonious reunion (at *my* wedding) with people they had never met, and all seemed well.
They helped themselves to dinner ($25 per plate) and left at 10 o clock, after their contracted 4 hours.
The other vendors waited to be INVITED before helping themselves to dinner. The country club kept the bar open the whole evening, not just the three hours we paid for. The DJ stayed an hour later because the kids were having so much fun. Even the NON-DENOMINATIONAL minister hung around and partied.
The shock came 4 weeks later when we got our pics. (I studied photog for 4 yrs in high school so I knew what to ask for)
*The format was 35 mm instead of 2 X 2 (biggest disappointment)
*There is not one photo of our guests (we had told her people came from all over the states to attend and we wanted CANDID photos)
*There is not one picture of the Country Club or the surroundings although we had agreed that before the start of the ceremony, said photo team would take family shots outside in the sunset.....
* There are 150 pictures.
Now, we had contracted for 150 pictures and 4 hours. I told her to shoot as many rolls as she could in those four hours and we would CHOOSE which 150 to purchase. They agreed. An $800 base fee, and then when we chose our 150 prints, we would pay for each reprint.
The end result was, the 150 pictures they took were shit, and there were no others to choose from.
By the way, all of the black WORLDLY people in attendance were Professionals. One teaches film making at a university and has produced several films, one is an architect, one is literally a rocket scientist for NASA, one is a personal coach who is frequently used in Essence and other black mags. And on and on.
The black JWs in attendance, on the other hand, were retired nursing aids and cleaning people.
Lisa