Everything below is truthful. I have documents to prove the Dr. Visits, the recorded messages left on my phone, the emails and ALL of my witnesses.
"I pray you will realize that I am nothing short of being a Master Artiste, I care about every client and there wedding I photograph and want perfect result, and you will respect that." Michel Berda
Just one of the bizarre comments he sent to me before the wedding.
This was my absolute nightmare. I wish... I wish I read all the reviews posted before hiring Michel Berda, Kingstreet photo.
Everything was moving along so smoothly. The caterer, my Dj, my coordinator were so helpful and just an amazing part of my day I couldn't have asked for a better crew. Until I started to receive indescribable, uncontrolled rants from my photographer. This man was completely off his rocker.
Just a little taste of some of the things he said to me right before my wedding. "My emails have spelling errors, I have never dealt with people like this before", You would think you would know what your doing by now this IS your SECOND marriage (which it is not) and the last one that blew my mind, two days before my wedding, "I just don't think I can do this wedding, I am a master artiste you know." What???
All I'm thinking at this point is... Oh my god I already paid this crazy person thousands of dollars. Stay calm... My entire team and family rushed to find a backup photographer. All this because he didn't like the way I worded my timeline, spelling errors and all.??? There still is no rational explanation for his behavior.
My wedding had turned out to be completely about him and having us satisfy him. He seemed interested and focused on my wedding until I paid him the money. Seems as if he wanted me to fire him.
I'm in tears and shaking by this time and never said a word back to this man, in fear he would take all my money and photos. I splurged and gave him money I had to save for. If I fired him (in contract) I would forfeit all of it.
I was holding back my husband and father. My MIL stepped in and said she will handle it. She is the sweetest thing and said she would help with the timeline and whatever he needed to calm him down. She spent an entire day of back and forth phone calls, insults and bizarre behavior from Michel. After she was done she ended up going to the hospital for high blood pressure and a
broken capillary in her eye, that she sported the day of the wedding. My anxiety was through the roof and I couldn't get a good night sleep at all.
Now he has my precious memories and wedding photos and he won't release them with out a payment of $2,500. My friend who is a photographer here in Boca Raton gave me advice and told me to specifically ask the photographer if we would have the proofs, so we did. Per my husbands phone conversation with Michel, he specifically asked him if the photos were ours and if we would have the proofs. Michel's answer was absolutely. Michel Berda ended up sending us low res proofs that are about an inch and half big so small you can't even see them. What would I need that for? A-ha! I would need that so Mr. Berda could say he sent me the proofs. Very clever.
Our honeymoon was interrupted because I had not written my "about me" yet for his blog. He threaten my MIL again if i didn't give it to him immediately he would cut me out of it. So of course during our last night I made sure Michel, got what he wanted.
He contacted a lawyer and sent me a seize and desist letter because of my reviews. So, in other words, let me ruin your special day and then keep your mouth shut.
It is interesting that Mr. Berda would seek legal counsel regarding resolving this contractual agreement with us, as my husband and I have been contemplating doing the same. It seems Mr. Berda wants a resolution to this situation, as do we. However, removal of all true and accurate statements or commentaries posted by my husband or myself is out of the question until Mr. Berda fulfills his contractual obligations in full.
We entered into a contract with Mr. Berda for his services. Mr. Berda was paid 50% deposit upon signing the agreement and the balance paid prior to the event for a total of $2,000.00. Our expectation of his services were to include photography of the days events, full ownership of all photos taken and a wedding album composed of photos of our choosing.
Our wedding was# 2011 and to date, we have yet to receive any useable photographs of our wedding. Received were lo res and unusable proofs. It is our intent to try to resolve this through amicable means as was our intention from the beginning, however, until Mr. Berda follows through with his end of the contract, the reviews and comments will remain posted.
I promised myself while I let him insult me and carry on that I would not allow another bride to go through what I did. I am left with this forever.
Update: I have received an album from a company in CA. Something very similar to Shutterfly. The album resembles that of another clients. This is disappointing because the album does not seem of high quality with the pictures that were provided of the album falling apart.
But wait a sec..."Michel will design a beautiful digital flushmount album, in the size of 8 x 12 inches. This album is undeniably the highest standard of quality, beauty, and craftsmanship. A total of 16 pages, you will be able to select up to 25 images."
Seems to me I only have 10 pages here and the binding is unstable and NOT of the highest quality.
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