Part 2

I am currently working on part 2 as more information has come out and Emily is starting to scam people in South Carolina....

Emily Thompson Photographer

I would like to share my story through my words and screenshots here in this blog. The purpose and intent of this blog is to warn everyone to do your research before trusting a person and to not fall into the same trap that I fell into. Don't get scammed like I did.

My husband and I had decided to have a wedding ceremony as not everyone was able to attend our justice of the peace wedding. We planned our big day for June 4, 2016. In August of 2015 I began joining wedding groups on Facebook to see if I could buy, sell, or trade wedding items.

On August 10, 2015 I saw a post for a package deal on photography by a person named Emily Thompson. The package was "$400+tax" and included: A Bridal Session, 6 hours of wedding day coverage with TWO photographers, 200 5x7 prints, 1 8x8 album, 1 16x20 canvas, and a $200 gift certificate I planned on using for a family session, and I could throw in a videographer for another $400.

I had liked Emily's photography page at some point before this moment of seeing the package deal and had liked a few pictures on the page as well. I loved the fairy tale look she gave to each picture, the soft surroundings, the dreamy looks, the editing was phenomenal. I decided right then while looking at those photos that this was everything I wanted for my wedding. The photographer had caught beautiful and special moments not only with the bride and groom, but with large groups of people, with people dancing, cutting cakes, children smiling and playing, and people standing somewhere that was probably ugly but had been edited to perfection. Nothing looked fake. I was in love.

I commented on the post that I was interested and immediately received a facebook message.

I looked at the links she gave me and fell more in love. I was so excited that I showed Adam. He didn't seem to be too interested. He had stated from the beginning that he only wanted me to be happy so the wedding, pictures, cake, everything was all for me and if I wanted it he would support me. He asked me if it was a good deal and that I was sure she wasn't a fake. I told him I had been following her page for a while before seeing the deal and I had googled her name and hadn't seen anything viscous. He took my word that I had researched correctly and told me to go for it as long as it was what I wanted. I believed her profile that stated she had gone to school at The Art Institutes and my google searches had minimal unhappy customers, there were more good reviews than bad so I chalked it up to people not liking their pictures and complaining. 

I didn't know what all I was supposed to ask my photographer so I reached out to my best friend's mom, Kim and asked her for a list of questions. 

At this point we began emailing and texting. 

I wanted to make sure we had all the major questions answered before we submitted a payment. Emily emailed me a contract and it was long. It looked so professional to me and stated policies and frequently used Emily's name and "Happy Skies Photography" as her business alias. Later, we checked the bank to make sure the payment had gone through and took a screenshot. She had charged us from a papypal account. 

 

 

We pay, she sends an invoice via email and a text stating, "You are official"

Life became so busy after this, there was so much planning, so much going on at work, and with both our extended families. Emily informed me she was changing her name from "Happy Skies" to "Get Photography". My original thought was that someone else had that name patented for something so she wasn't allowed to use it. 

In September she sent me a few messages about deals she had going on. I was not interested and took this message as something she sent all her clients so I ignored it. 

Fast forward to November 15, 2015. I had been going through pinterest and wedding websites looking at pictures and poses that I wanted to do. I went to show my grandma some of the photographers work and the website for Happy Skies wasn't working. I found the "Get Photography" page and there were hardly any pictures on there. I saw some of the same photos as before but now it was it was mostly bridal pictures and none that I could tell were from the actual weddings. I remembered her changing the name, maybe she had a completely new website I didn't know about? I asked her about it. 

Emily sent me another boudoir deal that I was not interested in, so I thumbs upped her and moved on.

The countdown to the wedding continued. In March 2016 I found a sale at goodwill for picture frames and purchased so many that I wanted to figure out what I would be putting in them. I decided that half would be for wedding photos and began placing empty frames around the house and drawing pictures of how I would place them on the walls. Because of this I wanted to make sure I had TONS of poses and certain moments I wanted Emily to capture at the wedding. I started a Pinterest board (Dun dun DUNNNNNN)

I sent her an invitation on Pinterest to add photo's and poses as well. So she shot me the thmbs up. 

May 27, 2016, exactly 8 days before the wedding I realize Emily has not made any other contact with me. I feel aggravated but at the same time, I had not told her I needed anything right? At this point I realize I had wanted her to check up on me every so often and add stuff to the pinterest page and she hadn't so I felt sad but I knew the pictures were going to be everything I dreamed of. I reached out to her.

Ok, I see all these questions and my anxiety flares up. She needs A LOT of info and I feel like I have kept her in the dark! I answer what I can and tell her I need to get with Adam on the other questions. 

I try to sit down and talk with Adam. I can tell he is stressed because he is quiet and just wants to sit down. I get down to the bottom of it and find out that he has been going trough his entire music collection from his whole life- all 30 years of collecting music to make a wonderful and perfect playlist that everyone will like. All by himself. For me. I get weepy and tell him to let me help, but alas, I am not technically inclined so the stress falls back on him. 

On Wednesday June 1, 2016 I express my concern to Emily and apologize for not having a program or actual paper schedule for her. Adam has clearly stated he can not handle one more thing on his plate until the music is done, plus he has multiple projects at work so he was stretched entirely too thin. I tell her my basic idea of how it will run down. I can see that she is reading my messages at this point, but not responding. Now I am getting worried, on top of everything else, all the what if's start playing in my head. 

On Thursday, June 2, 2016 I find out my favorite Aunt is not coming and I lose it. I have a complete melt down that no one will be at my wedding, my photographer wont show up and everything will be ruined. I don't want to tell Adam anything because I can tell he is going to snap soon. He is already complaining of chest pains, tightness, clammy, feeling short of breath so now I'm concerned he's having a heart attack. He ensures me it's an anxiety attack but nothing is resolved. Again, I see her posting on facebook and reading my messages but NOT RESPONDING TO ME!

From May 22, 2016 until June 4, 2016 this is her profile picture, as seen on the side of my messages to her when she reads the messages.

Friday June 3, 2016. I have so many last minute things that need to be done and ready for the rehearsal this night. I send Emily a message that morning at 7:48AM and see she reads it, with no response. She then posts on Facebook that she thinks she has food poisoning around 9AM. Still not messaging me directly, just informing the Facebook world in general that she is sick. 

Oh but she is up and pumped to start her editing class that she is offering online June 3, 2016. Letting people know she would have open seats until 8PM. So she would prefer to do business with people online but not respond to my messages?

 




Emily posts this at 1033pm on June 3, 2016 and is still not responding to my messages about my wedding that she took $866 from me and promised to do.

June 4, 2016. The Day of my wedding, I have to send Emil a message to find out if she is coming to my wedding. The professional is not calling the client, the client is calling the business owner. 

 

So I felt like the response I was getting was "I can't come today, and my backup photographers are not responding so I can not send you a replacement. So for today you are SOL, BUT we can do a beautiful re-enactment withOUT your friends and family there" 

I told everyone I could and I was begging for someone to come take our pictures. I had wanted to go get my nails painted that morning but I was so sick, upset, and busy calling and texting friends and family that I didn't have time to go. 

We found a friend of a friend to come do our pictures so I was finally able to relax on my search and focus on getting my hair and make up done. While I was having that done I sent Emily a message to get the refund so we could pay our new photographer. Referring back to our contract, I responded to Emily.

At this point, instead of refunding me, Emily begins complaining to me that my friends are "blasting" her on facebook. I'm not in control of who types or says anything. 

All I had told people was that 

1) My photographer had been ignoring me for 3 days- Truth/fact

2) My photographer had told me the MORNING OF my wedding that she was cancelling, even though she had done a editing class online the night before and continued to post on Facebook and have discussions on Facebook the night before and the day of my wedding. Truth/fact

3) In no way had I threatened or slandered anyone in the process. Truth/fact

So what my friends and family said came purely from a source of facts. 

I continued to explore options for payment. Emily denied the use of Paypal in the previous message. I knew this to be a lie because remember when she charged me for the pictures in the first place?

 LIES  LIES LIES   LIES LIES LIES  LIES  LIES  LIES  LIES  LIES  LIES  LIES LIES  LIES  LIES 

LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES

I explored another option, Gloria can charge and pay with her square app. This is where I felt I was being lied to again because there really was no reason for her to take out her debit/credit card and just pay me, or at least offer to pay the partial amount to cover the new photographer.

Once I got to the venue, my phone was taken and I was made ready to walk down the aisle. 

The next morning I asked Adam what we were going to do about the photographer and not getting our money back. He asked me if I even wanted to deal with it or I wanted to let him take over. I, of course, asked him to take over as I wasn't getting anywhere with Emily and the last thing I wanted to do was say yes to a check when it was more than likely a hot check. Adam attempted to communicate with Emily but she eventually told him that since the contract was between Emily Thompson and Kailey Cherry then those were the two parties who could discuss this and then she blocked Adam from Facebook so he cold no longer contact her. 

After this last message she blocked me from Facebook. 

A friend of mine said that she would message Emily and see if Emily would set up a session for that day. To see if Emily was even in the hospital. While my friend messaged Emily, Adam asked her again if she was in the hospital via email. 

So she says she's in the hospital here, right? As of June 7 2016, at 2:38pm she is currently still in the hospital, therefore unable to assist us in a refund besides a "chargeback" that she wants us to do on our own without her assistance. 

So it's interesting that at June 7, 2016 at 9:03AM she was free to schedule a photography session with my friend. Oh and she is able to use messenger to collect a payment from this person but she can not pay me via messenger? She says to my friend that the FB Messenger Pay is "super easy and free" and that she "use it all the time!". 

This is where my story ends. I can't tell every person's story but I have been contated by several people who have been affected by Emily Thompson.