LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- When Courtney Brown, 27, of Louisville needed someone to capture the moments at her fall 2015 wedding, she really didn’t have to look any further than Christine Cherry Photography.
The price was right, $1,800, for what she saw. “Her pictures are just so, they’re just so beautiful,” Brown said.
But when her big day finally arrived on Oct. 10, 2015, Cherry never showed up at the venue.
“She said that there was an emergency,” Brown recalled and Cherry sent a pair of her assistants in her place.
Although Cherry stressed to the I-Team that her assistants are highly trained and highly qualified, Brown realized “there was just so much missed” and that the moments were not that photogenic when her photo proofs finally arrived. More than a year later, Brown says she’s still waiting to receive her finished product, including a leather-bound photo album.
Jerilyn Carroll, 24, and Leigha Johnson, 29, never met in person until they sat down to share their story with the I-Team, but the pair already had a strong bond. They too are still waiting for finished product, from the day they got married…”May 21st,” Carroll and Johnson said simultaneously, as if twins.
Although Carroll was the first to book Cherry, it was Johnson’s wedding the photographer chose to focus on.
“I was in the limo, on my way to my wedding,” Carroll said, when Cherry texted. “She’s like, oh, I have a mandatory conference. I can’t be there.”
Double-booking is a big vow to break in the business of wedding photography. Carroll said
Cherry broke the contract.
“I told her at the time, I said if I’m not going to get you, I’m not going to book.”
After repeated phone calls, Facebook messages and text messages, and even going twice to Cherry’s Floyds Knobs, Ind. home, she finally gave the I-Team explanations over the phone.
Cherry claims she hasn’t been well since a pair of car wrecks, the most recent being Oct. 29. It explains why, she says, she’s fallen way behind on work, but it still doesn’t explain why Brown and dozens of other brides we found on a secret and private Facebook page still haven’t received their final photos, and didn’t get the service they signed up for.
Despite Cherry’s explanations, they don’t account for why she booked both Carroll and Johnson’s weddings on the same day, at around the same time. Cherry claims her policy has always been first come, first serve. She commits to the first bride if she books two or more of them for the same wedding day.
Some brides have already taken Cherry to court to get what they are owed. The I-Team found at least two small claims cases against Cherry. One in Jefferson County and the other in Floyd County. That one has a judgement as well as a “body attachment” order to bring Cherry in for not showing up at court.
Hoping to move forward, and reiterating her health issues, Cherry left phone conversations, with WHAS11, saying that she apologizes greatly to all the brides who are still waiting for their final photos, and gave this guarantee. They will all get their product by Thanksgiving.
Since the WHAS11 story aired, it appears the Christine Cherry Photography page is no longer on Facebook.