• News
  • Life
  • TV & Film
  • Beauty
  • Style
  • Home
  • News
    • Celebrity
    • Entertainment
    • Politics
    • Royal Family
  • Life
    • Animals
    • Food & Drink
    • Women's Health
    • Mental Health
    • Sex & Relationships
    • Travel
    • Real Life
  • TV & Film
    • True Crime
    • Documentaries
    • Netflix
    • BBC
    • ITV
    • Tyla Recommends
  • Beauty
    • Hair
    • Make-up
    • Skincare
  • Style
    • Home
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
Submit Your Content
Couple horrified as photographer disappears before wedding after paying £3,000 deposit

Home> News

Published 14:18 27 Sep 2023 GMT+1

Couple horrified as photographer disappears before wedding after paying £3,000 deposit

An Australia couple were left devastated after their wedding photographer disappeared following the pair paying a whopping £3,000 deposit

Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton

An Australian couple were left horrified after a photographer fled with £3,000 worth of their money.

Monika and John - who didn't divulge their surnames - were set to wed this month and paid the popular Sydney photographer $6,000 AUD to secure him to snap their special day.

But as their nuptials grew closer, Monika tried to get in touch with the wedding photographer - but to no avail.

"He was not responsive by email, I couldn't get in touch with him through phone calls, he was just you know, off the grid," Monika said to news programme A Current Affair.

Advert

The soon-to-be married couple then proceeded to contact another company and found out that the photography firm had been bought out by them.

Despite this, the new owner insisted that they'd only acquired the business name, not the booking and clients, and therefore wouldn't be shooting their wedding.

Definitely not the kind of drama you need a few weeks before your wedding.

The bride and groom were left without a photographer just weeks before their wedding.
9 News/ A Current Affair

Advert

Laith Jabro from A2Z Weddings then came to John and Monika's rescue just three weeks before their big day.

He was also contacted by ten other couples that had been left up a creek without a paddle by the same photographer Monika and John had originally booked with.

"It's extremely stressful, extremely stressful," Jabro said.

"I mean, if people [booked] a year ahead and they lost some money, maybe there's plenty of time to reorganise things, but two to three weeks, four weeks. It's very hard.Monika and the other jilted brides and grooms are now calling for the original photographer to be found.

Advert

"We deserve an answer, we don't deserve to be left in the dark. I want my money back," she said.

Laith Jabro from A2Z Weddings ended up helping the couples who needed a photographer.
A Current Affair

A Current Affair has previously looked into another Australian photographer who failed to turn up to her customer's wedding days and refused to give them their deposits back.

As a result, the snapper was facing a fine up to $220,000 AUD (£161,000) in 2014.

Advert

She'd received a string of complaints over the years, with The NSW Department of Fair Trading stating that it had received over 30 in total.

The investigative show went on to track down the photographer who claimed that she intended on paying people back their money.

But Katie Dixon, a woman who'd paid for the photographer's services at her wedding at the time, wasn't optimistic that she would see her money again.

In 2014, an Aussie wedding photographer was facing fines of $200,000.
Pexels/Leah Kelley

Advert

"I'll never get that back. I'll never get the opportunity to be able to get those photos back," she told A Current Affair.

"She's walked away, taking everyone's money."

NSW Fair Trading minister Matthew Mason-Cox went on to say that they 'want to hold her to account for all the damage she has caused to all of these brides and grooms'.

It's unclear if the woman ever paid the clients their money back.

Featured Image Credit: Nine News/A Current Affair

Topics: Australia, News, Wedding, Money

Niamh Shackleton
Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton is an experienced journalist for UNILAD, specialising in topics including mental health and showbiz, as well as anything Henry Cavill and cat related. She has previously worked for OK! Magazine, Caters and Kennedy.

X

@NiamhShackleton

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

a day ago
2 days ago
  • a day ago

    King Charles is about to break a major royal protocol

    A change is underway this year for King Charles as the UK gears up to celebrate his official birthday

    News
  • 2 days ago

    Disturbing audio exposes Titan sub boss firing engineer who raised major safety concerns before tragedy

    Titan: The OceanGate Disaster dropped onto Netflix on 11 June

    News
  • 2 days ago

    Melania Trump leaves people distracted by 'painful' detail during latest appearance

    The First Lady made an appearance on the White House's South Lawn on Thursday for a congressional picnic

    News
  • 2 days ago

    Plane seat that sole survivor of Air India crash sat on appears to be very hard to book now

    Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the devastating collision, had been sitting in 11A

    News
  • MrBeast confuses fans after admitting he’s ‘borrowing money’ for his wedding despite being one of the richest YouTubers
  • Heartbroken groom describes final moments with bride after she was killed on wedding night
  • Jennifer Lopez refused to hire Bruno Mars for her wedding after hearing how much he charges
  • Couple horrified after discovering their $30,000 wedding didn’t count