Fucked

the photography company is gone.
and no, not like Judy Garland and the Rat Pack mean gone.
actually gone.

after three weeks of leaving messages and sending e-mails we find out that they've cut all ties with the company that they were supposedly partnering with. after some frantic, impassioned pleading, the 2nd company was able to give me an address for them in Clifton, New Jersey. after a 2 hour drive (it should've only been 45 minutes, but predictably, we got lost), we showed up to a pretty-much-abandoned office building, with steel security doors and shutters.

after banging on the door, a terribly upset woman stuck her head out; she was the building's owner. apparently, the owner of the company fled in the middle of the night leaving her with over $10,000 in back rent. we told her of our $3000 dilemma and after frantic begging not to tell anyone, she let us into the office space to look for our photos. we had 15 minutes*.

they obviously left in a hurry; the office was a shambles. no computers or phones, but the desks were littered with piles of papers and expendable office supplies. huge industrial shelving lined the walls, floor to ceiling, each one with about 100-150 boxes of people's photos. names and wedding dates were on sides. there were three other couples looking for their photos; one bride was crying. half an hour we left, empty handed, but with a promise from the building owner that she'd call us if she came across our names. i guess i trust her.

I did my freaking out in the car…then when we got home, we called the Better Business Bureau; the Clifton-n PD (who told us to call the NYPD and the NYC Board of Consumer Affairs). we're going to try and piece together an album from the magnificent pictures we've already gotten from Brian, and i may even try to rig a thank you card using one. i dunno.

later today i'm going e-mail as many of our friends/family and ask them to send us whatever pics they happen to have...

*it's illegal/unlawful for the building's owners to let anyone in and take anything. in the interest of maintaining their anonymity (lord knows i don't wanna get them in trouble) i've deleted all mention of the name of the photographer studio from my blog.