My dearest friend, Ms Semptember Bride would like to share her story on a bad encounter with this bridal studio. It is with regards to her photo-shoot experience with them.
She hopes that all our friends who are of marriageable age will read this and learn from her experience to be more careful!
Sharing my UNPLEASANT experience with Sophia Wedding (SW)
When HB and I signed up for a package with SW, we requested for the exact same photographer and stylist as the one used by HB's sister (who was a customer of Sophia Wedding).
However, the day before our final fitting, SW called to request for our photoshoot to be pushed back. When we told them that we have already taken leave for that day, we were told to come down as per normal. It was only during our final fitting 2 days prior to the photoshoot that we were told a replacement will be taking care of our styling. Since the notice given was too short for us to source for our own alternative, we had to proceed with their replacement.
The styling done thereafter was disastrous! The stylist made no effort to alter the styles in between gown changes! She was entirely unreceptive to requests by both our photographer and us to vary the way she did my hair! Needless to say, the photos turned out highly disappointing! As a result, we only chose a couple of photos after they were ready.
Sophia Wedding noticed our lukewarm response and offered to let us reshoot certain portions (the evening gown and the indoor gown). Nonetheless, they failed to notice the distress of having to undergo preparations (manicures/pedicures, dry-cleaning of suits, etc) that we have to go through. This was aside from the impossibility of being able to recapture the mood of the first photoshoot.
In addition, SW insisted that we pick and confirm photos that we want from the first photoshoot, and that we will not be able to request for any remaining pictures not picked, should we decide to use those after our second photoshoot. All couples are given the entire collection before they decide on which photos to use in their album. Why should we be forced to pick and confirm before we had a chance to view our photos in its entirety?
We were made to pay for a top-up before a reshoot is allowed and were only told the day after payment that all photos previously set aside for us cannot be swapped for pictures taken during the second photoshoot. After a heated and long-drawn argument over the next 1 or 2 days, they finally acceded to our request and by which time HB and I feel too distraught to undergo a second photoshoot.
In our opinion, Sophia Wedding handled the matter in an unprofessional manner which caused considerable distress to their customer. Although they attempted to make up for their substandard services by offering a reshoot, they caused us more grief by imposing ridiculous terms (insisting on a confirmation on photos even before we had a chance to retake/view/choose our photos in its entirety) so as to force us to pick more photos.
It is evident that Sophia Wedding capitalized on our dilemma (certain photos, although substandard, were able to capture certain moments which cannot be recreated) and refused us the right to retain photos from our first photoshoot.
Although we have yet to reshoot our photos, but I am certain that redoing the photoshoot will open a new can of worms.
My advice: No point in paying so much at Sophia Wedding for inferior service!
