The unending quest...

Chris and I have been married for nearly 4 months now, so I would love to share some of the photos from our special day. They are truly amazing, however, we still do not have them.

(Photography by Karen Lewis)

Our quest to capture all of the fun that was had on August 11 has turned into one large lion hunt that is unsuccessful. You can see the photos online, we just don't have them in our hands. Not that I would want a lion in my hands (although I have held a baby tiger before), but you get the idea. We've paid for the experience, we just need some follow through.

About a month ago we finally pushed enough and our photos appeared online. This was an exciting step, almost like getting our itinerary for what was to come. We could see that there was something to be had. We just needed the ticket to get there. We were told that we would have something in our hands in just three weeks! How exciting!

Fast forward one month. We're psyched about our proof book and CD magically showing up in the mail. As a part of our package deal we have secured digital rights to the photographs from that day in August. The lion is lurking in the woods behind our house. It is just within reach, you can almost see the glowing cat eyes as the sun sets at 3:30. We can almost reach out and grab hold of what we have been waiting for. However, we also have the knowledge in the back of our minds that we are a week past when our special delivery should have landed on our doorstep.

I call the photographer. She says, "I'm so glad you called. Well...a funny thing happened. OK, so maybe it's not funny. So, what happened is, we have your proof book. However, the names on it are Jessica and Steven."

Funny, real funny. I reply, "So when will we have our photos? We were told we'd have them 3 weeks after they went online. It's been a month now. Our wedding was in August."

Photographer: "We've ordered a new proof book. It should be there within a week. I'll call the owner of the company to double check."

Me: "We were really hoping to have these by the holidays. We wanted to be able to show them to people. We want the pictures in our hands. We want the CD. It's been nearly four months of waiting now."

Photographer: "I'll call you back later today."

An hour later I get a phone call back. I am told, "It's probably going to be a week. A week and a half at most. I'm really sorry about this. Thank you so much for being so patient."

Me: "So what does this do to our coffee table book? Online it says four to six weeks for proofs. No more than three months for your coffee table book."

Photographer: "I'll call the owner back and check up on that."

An hour later again I get a phone call. I am unable to answer though as I am getting my frustration out by kicking and punching and free grappling downstairs in the martial arts studio at where my office is located. I come back from class with the following message from the owner of the photography company.

"I'm so sorry that things are taking so long. We started out having problems because the photographer uses a Mac and I use a PC. We had trouble getting the photos switched over. Then I made a mistake and ordered your book with the wrong names on it. I am so sorry. I know that this has taken a really long time and I am going to take the time frame off of my website. In regards to your coffee table book, I am working in chronological order. I am currently on June's events. What I can do is throw in a parent album at no charge. This is a smaller version of your coffee table book. I know it's not perfect, but that's what I can offer. Again, thanks for your patience."

My question is, how does switching from a Mac to a PC make that much of a difference? I work on a Mac and my boss on a PC and one of our other coordinators at work uses another processing system altogether. We do not have have problems swapping .jpgs at work. Chris and I also operate on a Mac and PC at home, no problems there! I guess we just don't do it right!

This is becoming quite the hunt. We know that the photos exist. We have seen a mere glimpse of them. They just keep finding their way out of our reach. We'll keep hunting though. They aren't going to lead us astray for much longer. We'll have them, hopefully by Christmas. Maybe we'll even have our coffee table book before our anniversary (at which time another wedding season will be in place and so more delays will ensue...). I'll be sure to keep you updated.

In the meantime, you can see photos online. I will give credit where it is due, Karen Lewis of Kim Chapman Photography did an amazing job. She really captured the day, which is why we want the photos in our hands so badly!

For a quick preview, I do have this collage to post. After talking with Ashley yesterday about the whole situation, she did what any loving sister would do. She went online and stole a couple of photos and created this for Chris and I.

Please enjoy this glimpse into our day until I can post more!