Warning, A Candid Image is HORRIBLE
I was recently married and had the ultimate nightmare experience with the vendor we hired to do our wedding video, A Candid Image. This company is awful; they don't have any videographers or photographers on their payroll. They meet with you, then hire/contract a 3rd party person to either video or photograph your wedding. They don't train this person so whatever they show you during your meeting to make the sale, IS NOT WHAT YOU WILL GET.
First off, the sales lady that met with me showed me a demo and said my wedding video would look exactly like the demo (ex: the editing, the effects and the professional footage obtained by skilled videographers using professional equipment). This was not the case; the videographer that showed up at my wedding used a camcorder that looked like something my Mom bought in 1992. The final product was horrible, the picture looks like the video was shot in the 80's. The videographer was falling all over the place, the video is always bumpy and the sound quality was horrible. The sound during the first dance has a constant static and throughout the entire reception the static gets worse.
We sent a list of complaints to the sales representative in Dallas. The footage to begin with is useless to us but she would not refund the $1,700 we paid her company and insisted we work with the inexperienced videographer to fix what we were unhappy with. The videographer she hired (3rd party - he doesn't even work for A Candid Image) has no training or skills in videography and video editing. Not only does he have no skills but he never even saw the demo that she showed us during our meeting. He does not have a studio so she expected us to meet with him at his house or a Starbucks to sort this out. Again, the footage is horrible, there is no way to make something out of the garbage he turned in.
List of complaints we sent to her and the corporate office at www.acandidimage.com:
No video footage of Rehearsal at Church the day before the wedding (this was agreed upon in our contract that the videographer would record the rehearsal at the church the day before the wedding, he never showed up)
No video footage of the Groom before the ceremony with his parents, groomsmen, ushers, ring bearer etc. (I see no footage of ring bearer in entire video)
No video footage of Bride before the ceremony arriving to the church and with her family/bridesmaids in brides room before ceremony.
No video footage of guests being ushered to their seats, no footage of family right before ceremony or groom and Groomsmen walking out right before ceremony.
No video footage from the beginning of the wedding procession, no footage of mothers of Bride/Groom being walked down the aisle.
Ceremony was supposed to be edited/cut down to no more than 30 minutes. We discussed cutting out all parts of the ceremony except for the major parts (wedding procession, readings by two girls, bride/groom vows, exchange of rings, bride/groom introduction and kiss, wedding party exit) and then showing the best scenes from the parts cut out in a professionally edited slow motion black and white recap set to music at the end of the ceremony, he didn't do any of the editing that was discussed.
The Picture & Sound quality is bad during ceremony, transitions are not in sync.
After ceremony, there is no video footage of Bride/Groom having pictures taken with wedding party and families in the church. No video at the entire large family picture with Groom's family. No video footage at all of most of Groom's family the entire time.
Reception starts with introduction of Bride/Groom, half the introduction is missing.
During the entire first dance there is loud static which continues through entire reception. The footage of first dance is bumpy; on the "A Candid Image" website the demo shows the video of the bride/groom first dance is stabilized and smooth with excellent sound quality.
Before cake cutting there was mingling with family/friends for about an hour, there is no footage of this, not even small clips of it.
Cake cutting - Sound quality is bad, full of static.
Dancing - The video shows footage of one song where the bride/bridesmaids are on stage. The sound is all static and the footage is too much for the entire song. There is no other footage of dancing for the entire evening.
Bouquet/Garter Toss - Videographer is practically falling, so bumpy that you can barely even tell what is going on.
There was about an hour of great dancing/fun on the dance floor that was to be edited down with phasing in and out of each song the band played in order to capture the best parts of the evening on the dance floor. This was not included in the video.
Bride/Groom Exit - After the Bride/Groom get in the limo the video should have a professionally edited recap of the day with the best highlights from ceremony/reception set to a specified song. This is not included in the video.
We never got our $1,700 back and we have no wedding video. Our advise to any bride and groom shopping for a wedding videographer:
1. Meet with the actual person that will video your wedding. Verify that the demos they show you were an actual video they shot. Do not meet at a Starbucks or any random location, meet the videographer at their office and see their editing room/equipment.
2. Ask about what awards they have received in the city you live in (VERY IMPORTANT). The best videographers enter competitions in their area; these are the people you want to meet with. Also, the best videographers will have more than one demo to show you; ask to see a few examples of their work.
3. Don't trust a vendor just because you found them on a website like The Wedding Channel or The Knot. We found http://www.acandidimage.com / through those sites, the truth is that "A Candid Image" pays to be on that site and they have NO REAL AWARDS to show for their work.
4. Remember this story and don't be scammed by "A Candid Image".
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