Dean MilesA couple have expressed their anger, frustration and hurt after paying hundreds of pounds to a videographer who failed to send their wedding videos and did not refund them.
The BBC has seen a list of more than 100 people still waiting to receive their wedding video from Sarah L Stanton, who runs a business called Wallflower Wedding Films and Content Creation in Gillingham, Kent. Some have been waiting for more than two years.
A Facebook group called Victims of Wallflower Videography (Wallflower Wedding Films and Content) has 285 members.
When contacted for comment, Ms Stanton said: “People who know me know I’m not a fraud.”
Rich Smith paid Ms Stanton £850 to film their wedding in June 2023.
He still hasn’t received the video and says he “let it go a long time ago”.
“My wife is quite sad because she lost her father and a good friend of hers. This was the last footage of these two people,” he said.
When contacted by the BBC, Ms Stanton said she was dealing with family issues.
He said: “I honestly don’t care what they do. [her clients] Do or say now.
“I’m tired of trying to change people’s opinion of me.”
In a video posted on her social media, Ms Stanton used profanity to describe her clients and said they were threatening to take me to court left, right and centre.
Rose Studio Photography.Amy Campbell, from Bexley, married in February 2023 and said Ms Stanton was “attentive and communicative” during the wedding.
Her grandmother was very ill the week of the wedding but Ms Campbell said Ms Stanton provided a “sneak peek” of the video shortly afterwards so she could watch the ceremony before she died.
After that, Ms Campbell said Ms Stanton had gone “off the radar”.
“The video my nan saw would mean a lot,” she said.
Holding a ‘Ransom’ video
Ms. Stanton has taken to her social media pages to ask clients to send her hard drives so she can transfer raw, unedited footage of their weddings.
He said it would be “overexposed, exposed, too much pointing on the floor, blurry shots, blurry bits, etc.”
To get her raw footage, Ms. Stanton asks clients to sign an “agreement” that forbids the videography of Wallflower Weddings from being edited into her final film.
It also states that they cannot seek compensation, including refunds, or take legal action.
It added that if clients leave negative reviews, “legal action will be taken against you and this will void the contract and allow me to reclaim the raw materials”.
Clients have told the BBC they believe she is holding their videos for ransom.
Some who have tried to grab the raw footage instead of stopping for the edited version still haven’t got it.
Mark Thompson @ MST Photography.Another woman from Surrey, who did not want to be named, said she had booked Ms Stanton for her wedding in June last year but she had not returned.
The woman said Ms Stanton’s no-show meant she was nervous that day.
“I didn’t really listen to my husband’s pleas because I was worried why he didn’t come,” she said.
Although she was refunded the £910 she paid, she said she was “really upset” there was no wedding video.
“All these moments you want to show your future children,” she said.
Similarly, Shania Stanton (no relation) said she had booked Ms. Stanton for her wedding day but she never returned.
When Mrs. Stanton contacted the videographer on Facebook, she said she had been blocked.
Although he got a refund, he didn’t have a proper video.
“I grew up watching Mom and Dad’s video and wanted to show it to my kids,” Mrs. Stanton said.