Photographer Tells Couple He’s Lost Wedding Photos, Then Disappears
A photographer who messaged a couple to say that his “storage system crashed” and the photos were lost later disappeared.
Alvin Yap of Mellow Pictures in Singapore texted the couple almost three months after he had shot their wedding on December 31, 2022, to say that he had recovered “portions” of the day but the dinner photos were “corrupted” and can’t be recovered.
“I’m terribly sorry, I cannot have expected this and I lost all my backups from 2022,” the photographer writes in a Whatsapp message that was posted to the bride’s Instagram page. Yap added that he had lost all of his backups for photos taken that year.
On April 7, Yap messaged the couple to say he was bringing his storage system to a data recovery firm in a bid to rescue the photos but that was the final time they would hear from him.
Mellow Pictures has since stopped operating as a business.
Annoyed
The bride, Shi Hui, tells Stomp that since April she and her husband have messaged Yap multiple times but received no response.
“He disappeared, ignoring our messages and emails,” Hui says.
“The least he could do is to attempt a recovery but he still waited for us to say then he attempted it.”
Hui says that she doesn’t have any proof that the photographer actually attempted recovery and now her friends and family are urging her to publicize the situation so that more people in Singapore know about it.
“The law also doesn’t protect us as consumers,” she says.
“Just because the company Mellow Pictures closed down, we [don’t] deserve to be conned for money paid for goods and services.
“We fully paid based on our contractual agreement and no pics were given.
“We paid for the wedding dinner, evening gowns, tuxedo suits, and the emcee, and yet no capturing of the best day of our lives.”
Hui says she and her husband paid $3,290 for 10 hours of coverage which includes a customized mini lay flat album, a customized keepsake box with prints, and an online private gallery for one year.
Hui says she didn’t receive any of the above and all she has is the morning photos from her wedding and pre-wedding shots.
PetaPixel has attempted to reach Yap for comment.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
