Agl
Wonderful people- dissatisfied with final product
I recently left 5 star reviews for Happy Tears Productions, and I'm sadden that I must reduce them. This review does/will not change my great experience working with John. He has great character, professionalism and was easy to work with. His personality was a wonderful fit. As he's selective with accepting jobs from couples; our selection of a videographer was just as meticulous. UNFORTUNATELY, this review revision comes from receiving and watching our final edited video and the raw footage. I was so impressed after watching our highlight video that I was so excited to rave about Happy Tears! BUT, our entire wedding video was less than half decent. Most of the video was shot up-close/zoomed in. It wasn't very flattering. At the ceremony they failed to capture our wedding party walking down the aisle. Instead we got glimpses of them coming out and turning the bend. John said the space was tight (I agree), but he captured mine and the groom's walks down the aisle. He said he didn't like that the photographer or other guests were in the frames, but i rather had them in it then not have that footage at all. Continuing with the ceremony, there were no video of anyone but us, the couple (the top half of us-no full length footage). You could barely see our wedding party, and very little glimpse of the guests. We had 2 shooters at the ceremony, both failed to capture much. During the reception, you couldn't see any of the venue, which didn't give me the feel for the space. I wanted to admire how beautiful the ballroom was. Our dances with each other and our parents were all zoomed in, and at times TOPS OF OUR HEADS WERE CUT OFF. There WEREN'T ANY FULL-LENGTH SHOTS OF ANYTHING. The speeches were of the speaker and maybe a cut off of either the groom or I, but none of us together listening to the speaker. There wasn't much footage of my husband and I together at all. I really could nit-pick about so much that was wrong, but i feel these were the most important points i had to share. John was empathetic when I spoke to him about my concerns, but he didn't do anything to remedy the situation, in reality, he couldn't. The day has come and gone, and we have what we have. Even going through the raw footage, i keep telling at my TV to "zoom out!". It never happened. I hate having to give a bad review to a great guy, but this is a business. Future brides and grooms need to know what they're getting into. We only hired one shooter for the reception and that's why he said I got a constant close-up view, but that was never told to me prior to wedding day. John suggested to only hire one shooter, not only to save money, but also he said it wasn't necessary to have 2 shooters- he's the expert, so i took his advice. I would've much rather paid a lot less to just have a couple of people follow us around with a video camera. We, myself, my husband along with our families were incredibly disappointed with the video, raw and edited. We aren't the over-bearing type of people. I'm sure John could attest to us being pretty laid back and easy going. So this "bad review" doesn't come easy.
Response from HappytearsproductionsDec 30, 2018
Oh Ana, as I've said in our recent telephone conversation, I am so so sorry you are less than 100% happy.... First and foremost; I would like to sincerely thank you, for the positives you referenced, about me and my company. Working with you, both throughout the planning process, and on your wedding day, itself, was fantastic! You, your girls, Nick, and everyone was such a pleasure to work with! And I'd like to thank you for being such a beautiful bride, thereby giving me the opportunity to really show you off, in my video production! I have actually gotten a number of comments, from newly engaged brides-to-be, pinpointing your video, and telling me that your video was one, among many, of my samples, that they contacted me! So please accept my sincere gratitude, to you, for that; Ana!! Getting back to your revised review...I'm very VERY sad, that you feel you had to change your previous 5-Star review. Please know that I am not going to dispute your feelings, at all, becasue in my humble opinion, it is always THE BRIDES opinion that matters most (despite anything I could say; professionally, about our production). Please know that we did our absolute best, under the shooting conditions that we had, such as having to share the tightest piece of real estate (so to speak), that I've ever experienced, in my career, with no outter aisles, etc. Again; we did our absolute best, as I had shared with you, and deeply-deeply apologized for such circumstances being the case. Your less-than-5-star review is literally the very first review, I have gotten, that isn't a full 5 stars, throughout my entire existence, in this business, which is going on 9 years now. I always knew that something, like this, was due to eventually happen, simply because it's humanly impossible to fully please everyone, but that eventuality doesn't soften the hurt of the blow, so to speak. In any case, Ana, please know that I fully respect your opinion, and moreover your feelings, and I am therefore not going to disagree with you, at all. Again; you are the 'bride', and my personal position is that the bride always matters most! With that being said; please accept my congratulations, to you and Nick, on your marriage, and may God bless your future together! I hope that we can remain friends. Very truly yours; John.