KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Angry brides across the Kansas City area just want the memories from their special day.
Several brides are banding together to expose a wedding videographer who they say took their money and left them at the altar with no videos.
FOX4 talked with the brides from Lee’s Summit and Raymore who said a wedding videographer out of Kansas City, Missouri, is scamming people out of money and stealing precious moments.
Two brides. Two weddings. The same videographer.
“I’m upset, I’m very angry and hurt honestly,” bride Sarah Aguirre said.
“Kind of leaves a pit in my stomach,” bride Natalie Taulbert said.
Aguirre and Taulbert said they had the same bad experience.
Taulbert is grateful for photographs from HM Cruz. But it’s a different company, Mack’s Videography, that never provided edited videos, according to Taulbert.
The contract with Mack’s specified a trailer and video of 10-20 minutes. The timeline — eight weeks.
Twelve weeks later, Taulbert said owner Mackenzie McNeill sent raw video that’s dark and blurry, including a gender reveal at the reception that’s hard to see and a first look cut short.
“As soon as he turned around, the video went blurry and cut off and it was only about nine seconds that we got of our first look,” she said.
On the day of the wedding, Taulbert was told McNeill was sick and never showed up, McNeill sent her sister instead.
Taulbert and Aguirre both paid $500.
“The communication leading up was poor,” Aguirre said. “The communication day of, she was actually an hour late.”
Aguirre had her wedding in October and is still waiting on a wedding video. Beyond the first kiss and dance with her husband, she said the captured sentimental moments, including a tribute to her mother-in-law, who recently died of cancer.
“We had a dance with her picture and we didn’t get anything back from that,” she said. “So that’s sad. Those are memories I wish I had to share.”
These brides have a warning for others walking down the aisle and a message for the one behind the lens.
“Just because something fits your budget, doesn’t mean it’s worth the money,” Taulbert said.
“The fact that you could do this to so many women and families and feel like you can get away with it, it’s gross and you can’t get away with it anymore,” Aguirre said.
FOX4 asked McNeill when and if she will be cutting the brides a fulling wedding video or giving them a full refund. She responded saying she will not be doing a story and will not answer any questions.