'The law also doesn't protect us': Couple upset with missing photographer for losing wedding photos

A couple splashed out money to remember one of the most important nights of their lives — only for their photographer to go MIA.

A Stomp contributor alerted Stomp to an Instagram post by Shi Hui on how heartbroken she and her husband are ten months after their wedding and with no photos of the night to show for it.

Shi Hui told Stomp that she had engaged Alvin Yap of Mellow Pictures, which is now closed, to take photos of their special day.

"We actually got to know Alvin through a Blissful Brides event," she said.

"Alvin showed us his extensive portfolio and my husband really loved it."

The couple intentionally chose to have their wedding on Dec 31, 2022 as they wanted to celebrate the last day of 2022 with their guests but none of the moments were captured.

In screenshots of their conversation with the photographer, he said their photos would be ready in March, almost three months after the wedding.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyfzwvgy0zA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link[/embed]

When they asked again if their photos were ready, Alvin replied with some 'bad news'.

He said his storage system had crashed and that he could only recover some photos.

He said: "Your day photos have been recovered and uploaded to cloud whereas your dinner photos is corrupted and couldn't be recovered."

He added that he was sorry and that he could not have expected this.

He had lost all of his backups for photos taken that year.

On April 7, he said that he had brought his storage system to a data recovery firm to attempt recovery but that was the last message they got from him.

Shi Hui and her husband messaged him multiple times since then but received no reply.

"He disappeared, ignoring our messages and emails," Shi Hui said.

"The least he could do is to attempt a recovery but he still waited for us to say then he attempted it.

"No proof or anything that he brought his storage system to attempt recovery.

"When we probed further, he just AFK (away from keyboard).

"My friends and family and even friends of friends urged us to help to share light on this to the whole of Singapore.

"The law also doesn't protect us as consumers.

"Just because the company Mellow Pictures closed down, we deserve to be conned for money paid for goods and services.

"Some more it was the most important and memorable night of the last day of 2022.

"We held our wedding on Dec 31, 2022, to step into 2023, but what a night to remember.

"Our family and friends really made the time and effort to attend, some of them even left their kids at home to countdown with us.

"We fully paid based on our contractual agreement and no pics were given.

"We paid for the wedding dinner, evening gowns and tuxedo suits and the emcee and yet no capturing of the best day of our lives.

"He never even gave us the keepsake box which was supposed to be used during our wedding night.

"Till now, we still haven't received it together with the 30 prints which he promised."

According to Mellow Pictures' website, the couple's package for 10 hours of coverage, including a customised mini lay flat album, a customised keepsake box with prints and an online private gallery for one year costs $3,290.

Shi Hui said that they only have photos from that morning and their pre-wedding shots.

Photographs from their wedding dinner, including photobooth pictures, are all gone.

"Hopefully, this year's countdown we won't have any heart attacks," she said.

"Thank you for your help and to the sender who shared my story.

"Not sure who it is but our friends and family have shown their utmost concern."

Stomp has reached out to the photographer for comment.

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