Paul Rattay Photography

Planning a wedding in Wine Country from Michigan was no small feat.
We were referred to Paul at Paul Rattay Photography from a family member. Our wedding was his first so we were pretty nervous about it, but after talking with Paul on the phone and meeting him before our wedding, things felt a ton less stressful!
Paul has an easy to navigate and keep track of website to keep track of contracts, message Paul, and pay invoices online.

Paul was photographer/​videographer for my only child’s wedding. He did nothing to prepare for the event. He didn’t meet or even communicate with the bride & groom prior to the day of the event. On his late arrival, he was frustrated that no one in the wedding party had time to speak with him 30 minutes before the start. We were all getting dressed and ready to greet guests. It was a DIY wedding reception for about 40 guests. No professional planner. The vows were wonderful and the reception turned out perfect. We just don’t have the pictures or videos that we wanted to share with our guests and, most importantly, with those who couldn’t attend. Money was never an issue. Paul is simply not ready for such an important event.

Absolutely crushing experience. I literally cried for weeks after working with Paul. After almost a year of wedding planning, all the decorating, budgeting and organizing done by me and my maid-​of-​honor, all of the hours, days, weeks, months of work, all of it was reduced to some of the most depressing photography and videography work I have ever seen.
My mother was doing all of the business side with him through email. She told him to meet me before the wedding and kept trying to get him to make plans to meet me, but he never did.
Day of the wedding, he showed late, didn’t take any time to test lighting or anything. The one time he talked to me asking what I’d like him to shoot was like 10 minutes before the whole event was starting and I was busy running around dealing with catering and decorations and freaking about doing my vows.
He didn’t know who I was when he came to the wedding — he mistook my sister-​in-​law for me. She told him she was the groom’s sister, and he ended up never taking any pictures or footage of her. He also didn’t take any pictures or video footage of the groom’s father, brother, or aunt, who all flew out from the East Coast.
When he took pictures of us (bride and groom), they were almost all separate. No posed photos of either of us, but he did take posed photos of some random guests. All the photos he got of me were pretty unflattering — he always got closeups of my face when I was making a weird face, laughing or sneezing, and he really emphasized my gut in the shots of the vows. It’d be fine if the picture had my gut in it originally and then after editing he cropped it out, but his final shot was basically an homage to my extra ten pounds.
The video footage was about 7 minutes long in total, and he filmed only 20 of the 40 guests. Everyone he filmed complained that he cut them off and was impatient and not fun to work with. 3 of the 7 minutes filmed were of the caterers: he asked them how they met the bride and groom, they awkwardly explained they were paid to be here. He also made a fat joke about the groom while filming them. 2 of the seven minutes were him filming my parents and asking them how they met me, to which they jokingly responded they met me when I came out of my mom’s vagina. Then my dad says, «Wait, we’re not filming, are we?» And then Paul said they were, and that they were all finished. He also filmed my 10-​year-​old nephew, and asked him if he thought my dance shorts were too small.
From all of this I can only conclude that Paul came to my wedding, saw my friends, met me and my fiancé and decided he didn’t like us. He left early, and when my Mom told him we were all unhappy with the pictures and footage, he told her we could «keep it as a wedding gift». I am so hurt and terribly depressed from this experience, but I’m trying to let it go and appreciate the wedding for the memories in my mind and heart, and not for the memories he decided to film.

Paul Rattay is a great photographer that has showcased the ability to multitask and deliver beautiful images. He shot the Martini Madness event for us, SONOMA Magazine, and was able capture the essence of a wonderful evening. He glides around the room effortlessly without being invasive at all and produces the exact results we are looking for.
I look forward to our next project together.