Chantelle and David Maconochie, from Chester-le-Street in County Durham paid £500 to book Darren and Adele McDonagh, who ran Treasured Moments Photography in the UK. The pair got married at St Mary’s and St Cuthbert’s Church, in Middle Chair, followed by a reception and party at the Beamish Park Hotel.
Only Adele turned up and announced she was depressed and suffering from anxiety over the loss of a baby, ”When Adele turned up she told me the day was the anniversary of her baby’s death, which put a downer on the day. She demanded the DJ play the first dance early so she could get home sooner and she was asking me what poses I wanted to do. She was crying all the time and missed our first kiss and mucked up me walking down the aisle. For our first dance all she captured was photos of Darren’s butt and when we eventually got the pictures, after months of waiting and complaining, many were out of focus and unusable in a wedding album.
The couple claim they were forced to drive to pick up a USB stick with the unedited photographs.Other couples say the McDonaghs blamed hospital appointments, accidents, family bereavements and vandalism for not delivering their wedding photos.The McDonaghs have claimed to have gone bankrupt, but there are no court records to back up this.
Scores of newlyweds have been left out of pocket and relying on friends’ mobile photos as memories of their wedding day.The McDonaghs, have refunded some couples and have finally delivered images.
Ella Stevenson wrote on Facebook; ”They have taken £350 off me and my husband and they came to our wedding but never got the photos! And never did our room decoration they expected my husband to go to hobby craft and get room décor the morning of our renewal!”
After being exposed, they are said to have deleted their Facebook account, website ,never respond to emails and they don’t respond to calls.
What would you do if you found your self in such a situation? Watch out on who you hire for services during your special moments.