Josh and Linda Smith are one of hundreds of South Carolina couples who paid top dollar for Lexington County-based Celebration Studios to handle their wedding photography and videography only to watch the company crumble before receiving the keepsakes from their special day.

The attorney general announced it would release wedding photos to hundreds of couples like the Smiths in North Augusta who spent a small fortune on wedding photography and never received their photos.

The Smiths, who married in May 2006, were one of 846 couples who complained to the South Carolina Division of Consumer Affairs about Celebration Studios. The company has since filed for bankruptcy and the photo albums and video recordings of those weddings have been under lock and key by court order.

Now, the attorney general announced the photos and videos would be released by court order in three weeks.

This still does not fix the Smith’s problem. The couple recently paid an additional $350 for their photo album and finally have it.

“We got our album, but we had to pay for it, which was pretty ridiculous,” said Mark Smith. “We weren’t happy about that.”

But a custom portrait remains missing and Mr. Smith does not know if the court-ordered release includes his portrait. The Smiths paid $4,750 to Celebrations Studios to handle their wedding photos and video nearly three years ago. “I’m missing my portrait. Wherever it is, I want it,” said Mr. Smith. “Even if it’s the picture blown up, I’ll get it framed.”

Last week, the state sued Celebrations Studios. The Office of the Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs charged Celebration Studios with violating the state’s Consumer Fraud Act and Advertising Regulations.

Complainants across the state alleged the company left them without contracted and paid-for items and services or failed to give refunds, according to the attorney general’s office.

“Our focus remains on getting consumers the contracted and paid-for items that have not been delivered to them. These newlyweds want their wedding keepsakes and today’s action ensures that all existing items in the possession of the defendants and their subcontractors will be preserved,” said Attorney General, Henry McMaster.

The Smith’s story began when they chose Celebration Studios to handle their wedding photography based on positive recommendations from friends, relatives, wedding magazines and Web sites. After their honeymoon, they waited months to schedule a design session for their photo album, as expected.

Unlike many couples who never received any material from Celebration Studios, the Smith’s received six botched-up DVDs and photo proofs. The first draft of the wedding video had the theme music to “The Sopranos” as background music, even though the couple never approved it or asked for it. Another copy skipped constantly while still another had footage of another couple on it.

From there, obtaining their wedding photos and video became a challenge. Nearly two years passed before they began losing patience and discovered a Yahoo! chat group called “Wronged by Celebrations.” The group had 400 members, from customers to employees to subcontractors. Many of the members were couples joining together to find out what happened to their photos and how to get them back.

The chat group helped bring the problems for Celebration Studios to a head and class action lawsuits were brought against the business in New York City, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Soon after, the Division of Consumer Affairs caught wind of it, as well as the media, and Celebration Studios filed for bankruptcy. Up to that point, the company had still been accepting new customers.

I love the pre wedding surprises. It is so rare that the gifts to and from the bride and groom are caught on tape. It is really a sweet moment; I love the letter from the bride. You bride that are planning a chocolate or tan themed wedding could really find some great inspiration with this video. This video also shows that you can have a beautiful modern wedding in a Church. With the move from so many brides for non-denominational locations it’s nice to see such a beautiful wedding done inside a church.

Okay, I have a bit of an attachment to this wedding video. The song in the background, “Luckiest” by Ben Folds, is one of the best love songs of all time. I really really really wanted it played at my wedding.

This wedding is a perfect example of how many things can go wrong with a wedding, and how the wedding will still be perfect in the end. Every bride has stories about what “bad thing” happened around her wedding. The dry cleaners lost my husband’s cousin’s cathedral length veil. My mother-in-law backed into my husband’s car on the way to getting her hair done. Face it Bridezillas something bad will happen and you know what, in the end, it won’t matter. You’ll have your Prince charming, and a really great story to go with him.

Two dozen South Carolina and North Carolina consumers have complained that two photographers failed to give them the the photo albums they ordered, according to the Better Business Bureau.

In the past year and a half, the BBB has received 13 complaints about Michael Ryan Photography in Greenville, SC and in the past three years, it received 11 complaints about Reflections Photography By Orville in Columbia, SC.

The South Carolina attorney general’s office also received five complaints concerning Reflections By Orville, none of which has been resolved successfully.

A Spartanburg, SC woman said she hired Michael Ryan Photography to document her September 2006 wedding and paid the company almost $3,000. She still hasn’t received her wedding photo album and DVD.

“I called him (Ryan) every week for almost a year,” the victim told the BBB, and finally received the proof book of her wedding images. She said he said, “My assistant was stealing from me so I didn’t have time” or “the printer is out of ink.”

A Lexington woman told the BBB she paid Michael Ryan Photography between $3,500 and $4,000 to take photos of her May 2007 wedding. She said that after numerous contacts she was able to get half of her wedding photos on CD, but did not receive the other half. She said Ryan said, “Someone had been sick in my office” or “They will be in the mail next week.” The consumer said the firm stopped responding to her calls, e-mails and a certified letter, and she has yet to receive her complete order.

A Rock Hill SC, mother paid Reflections By Orville more than $1,500 to photograph her daughter’s June 2006 wedding. She said the firm failed to shoot the bridal portrait session and then didn’t send her the wedding album.

She said the company didn’t return messages and that when she was able to speak with Orville, he told her, “My business has relocated” or “I will get it done this weekend and have it to you next week.” She still doesn’t have the photographs she paid for.

A phone message mailbox at Ryan Photography was full, and a request for comment from Orville was not immediately returned.

Make the most of your wedding photographer

This is a day that will never be repeated, so you need someone who can capture the best moments without cutting anyone’s head off or giving you ‘red eye’. Wedding experts Confetti.co.uk offer a few extra tips for getting what you want from your pictures.

Relationships matter

Whoever you book to take your pictures will be spending a substantial amount of time with you on the best day of your lives, so you must get on with him or her. ‘You should feel confident and relaxed in their presence,’ says specialist wedding photographer David Elsdon. ‘They may be the best photographer in the world, but if you don’t feel comfortable it will be reflected in the final images.’

Check the small print

Once you’ve found the perfect photographer, get your booking in writing. Check the small print and make sure you know exactly what you’re getting for your money. You could even ask the photographer to sign a contract, which records your wedding date, time and place, price and any restrictions or conditions.

Decide what they should do

A good professional photographer will use his or her creative and technical skills to get the best results as quickly, smoothly and tactfully as possible, but discuss the role you want your photographer to take on your wedding day. Do you want him or her to control events or blend into the background? One well-known photographer likes to shepherd guests into position with the help of a shrill whistle. It’s not very subtle, but it breaks the ice and no one misses out on any of the day’s photo calls!

Beware of buying budget

If your wedding photographs matter to you, skimping may not pay. ‘People often make the mistake of thinking that all photographers are the same, but the photographic quality and style can vary enormously,’ says David. ‘Wedding photography is one area where you really do get what you pay for.’

Remember that your family will be charged separately for any copies they want. Look for those nice little extras too. Some photographers throw in a load of thank you cards with a small photo enclosed, as part of the deal.

Don’t forget the details

If you’ve spent a long time creating invites, menus, flower arrangements etc, you’ll want these little details captured on film too.

For more informal snaps, it’s a lovely idea to place single-use cameras on the tables at the reception so your guests can capture their version of the day. You can order one-use confetti cameras from our wedding shop.

Practice makes perfect

Try to meet up with the photographer at the venues for the service and the reception beforehand, so that he/she can get a feel for the best settings to enhance the style of photographs. Remember you need to check with your minister to make sure photography is permitted during the wedding ceremony.

Say ‘relax’

Finally, the best advice any couple can take is try and relax in front of the camera. If you’re not used to smiling and posing, or feel unhappy with your usual image in pictures, grab a mirror and spend a few minutes practising until you find a smile or an expression you can live with. If you look and feel comfortable, your photos are bound to work!

Although we worried a great deal, everything about our wedding turned out perfectly. Our wedding announcements were beautiful, and we were able to get them at a discount rate. Our wedding planning went off flawless. The toasts were lovely, the caterer was great, and best of all the pictures were fantastic. Both me and my husband are very big on keeping track of the important events in our lives, so a good wedding video and wedding photographs were crucial. Strangely enough, we never had any problems until we started looking for wedding albums.

You see, we wanted to get a wedding album that was able to capture the beauty and variety of the day. The pictures were great, but they were kind of diverse. Some of them were very serious and some of them were very silly. Some were very formal and some of them were extremely informal. As the evening went on and people had more to drink, everything got very chaotic. We wanted to get a wedding album that could both convey the seriousness and the levity of the situation – no small task.

Unfortunately, none of the wedding picture albums we looked at quite worked. I thought a leather bound photo album might be a good choice, but they turned out to look very tacky in person. I know that wedding albums should have a certain classic look to them, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We wanted something that didn’t look too serious, particularly when we were using such a modern format inside. We wanted to put captions with pictures, and we wanted a very informal layout.

Finally, we decided on a wedding scrapbook album. At first, the idea seemed rather unlikely. Making your wedding album by hand, after all, is a risky proposition. A quirky look is fine up to a point, but you do not want thing to look shabby. I was worried that was what we would get, but there was no need to worry. When we were done with it, it looked fantastic. We made a patchwork cover, used collages as the background for the photographs, and did everything by hand. Not only did the wedding album work out, but we also had a great opportunity to work on it together. It was actually our first serious collaborative project as a married couple, and I am very happy with the way it turned out. Now all we have to do is to finish our Online wedding album!

The limousine passes through the yawning cemetary gates and makes its way slowly to the crest of the hill.

It stops. The driver steps out and opens the back door for the passengers: A stunning woman in a white gown followed by a man in a black tuxedo.

They are not here to mourn. This bride and groom are about to have the happiest day of their lives captured on hallowed grounds in what many people believe to be the grimmest of places.

A paradox of sorts, Jefferson Memorial Park in Pleasant Hills Borough is a popular venue for wedding photos. It is one of many landmarks throughout the area that brides choose as a background for their wedding photos.

“The monument is beautiful and perfect for any picture,” says Liz Allemang, who married the love of her life, Marc, in July. “The grass is always kept so nice. My husband thought it was odd at first, but once he saw how pretty it, was he loved it. A lot of family members are buried there, so I have been in and out of that cemetery for years.

“This also is not the type of place where everyone else in the world has gotten their pictures taken,” she says.

Well, maybe not everyone. During the busy bridal seasons of spring and fall, a bridal party arrives to strike an everlasting pose nearly every weekend, says David Middlemiss, vice-president of Jefferson Memorial Park.

“They come because of the beauty of the cemetery, and the fact that all the markers are bronze, and that it is not an upright cemetery,” he says. “We have rolling green grass and trees, and our lawn is always well taken care of. It is more tranquil here. You don’t have the hustle and bustle of traffic.”

Other popular choices of the newly married are Mt. Washington, the West End Overlook, PNC Park, Heinz Field and the Mellon Institute in Oakland. Some of the best kept secrets in the area are the waterfall under the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and the fountain outside Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning.

Brides and grooms tend to look for a place with interesting architecture because it offers a sense of grandeur, says Sally Kilbridge, deputy editor Brides Magazine.

“Weddings have become more personalized and taken tradition and turned it on its ear a little bit,” Kilbridge says. “A perfect way to do that is with unique photos which can add a little bit of who the couple is, and what their lifestyle is like. They are becoming more artsy. Couples are spending an enormous amount of money on pictures, and they want to be able to display them. Wedding photographers also are more experienced, and you can look at a photo (right away), and if you don’t like it, take another one.”

Some couples choose an urban sort of rustic background which offsets the pristine bridal party, she says. You see a beautiful woman in a crisp white dress crossing the street with traffic in the background or walking through a warehouse district, and it creates a great contrast.

Photographer Kimberly Reed, whose studio is in Lawrenceville, says at least 50 percent of brides and grooms request traditional spots. The more unique locations depend on the individuals’ preferences.

A photographer who has been to many of the popular venues is Anita Buzzy-Prentiss, who at one time averaged 55 weddings a year. The Squirrel Hill resident currently averages 30. When a couple opts for a unusual location, she says, it is usually a place that means something unique to them.

Last weekend, Buzzy-Prentiss shot Rita and Kevin Kondrath at Mellon Institute in between the 16 statuesque 36-foot cement pillars.

“I love the structure and the architecture here,” says Rita Kondrath, of Hampton. “It is old-world style. We knew we wanted to come here because it is gorgeous. And it is in contrast to photos we took after the ceremony, where it was lined with trees and had beautiful grass.”

A photographer can create something special pretty much anywhere, says Westmoreland-based photographer Laszlo Bartos.

“Places such as Mt. Washington, PNC Park, and Mellon Institute might not be unique to the photographer,” he says. “But they are new to that couple, and you have to keep that in mind.”

A playground at Squaw Valley Park in Fox Chapel was a no-brainer for Shaler residents Jill Jeffrey Carra and Tony Carra, who were married in last October. Her father, Pete Jeffrey, owns the company that built the playground.

“That place has special meaning,” says the Fox Chapel native. “I remember playing there, and it is part of my family. I saw it being built. Some people just pick a location because it is a beautiful place, but I think it is better to pick a location that has meaning to you.”

Siggy and Jessica Pehel chose the lion fountain at the corner of routes 68 and 19 along Main Street in Zelienople for their October nuptial photo, It’s the same spot her parents, Jeff and Marcy Miller, had theirs shot on Aug. 27, 1977.

“We wanted something that put a different spin on it,” says Siggy Pehel, a Middlesex Township native who lives in North Carolina. “We like unusual, and the way the photo turned out it is representative of our personalities — with my head inside the lion’s head, and Jessica giving me the look like ‘You better behave.’ She is more reserved, and I am the one who likes to go out on a limb. But it turned out great.”

Ever since she was a little girl, Jessica Pehel, a Zelienople native, had her mind set on that fountain.

“It is a photo my parents still have, and now one I want to have for a long time, too,” she says. “It really meant something special to us.”

Some of the best photos are not planned, says Buzzy-Prentiss.

“I remember one couple wanting to stop at CoGos for slurpees and chips, and another at McDonald’s, and another at their favorite bar, so I took photos of them dressed in gowns and tuxes in those places with people cheering in the background,” she says. “Those places might not be picture-perfect spots, but you can capture a moment that they hadn’t planned on, but that will now last forever.”

The thing to remember is wedding photos — with or without the panoramic scene behind the couple — are about the people, not the background, says Joe Balena, owner of Photoscape at Station Square.

“The background is supposed to add some flavor to the people in the picture, not the other way around,” he says. “I have also found that people choose places that are personal to them, such as the ice-cream shop or the hamburger joint where they had their first date. That is what makes the photo even more meaningful.”

Charleston Brides are loving the trash the dress trend. This story from Live 5 news in Charleston, will give you Carolina Girls, who are thinking of trashing your wedding dress, some photo shoot location ideas.

Those of you how have been keeping up with this blog know that I had a Tiffany Blue wedding and chocolate wedding. So needless to say I love the Tiffany blue and chocolate in this wedding. I also love that the groom is walked down the aisle by the dog. Awwww puppy love.