Our wedding photographer, Elke Rosthal, cheated us out of our $1700 wedding album, and did not honor our signed agreement. This is after avoiding us for a year following our wedding, then lying to us about the status of our album for another 9 months. This has been a horrible & frustrating experience, and now we want make sure others know this before hiring Elk Productions, Inc.

Our wedding was in the summer of 2008, in New York City. We paid Elke over $3500 to be our photographer, which included $1700 for our wedding album. Elke took good photos of our wedding, but we did have some complaints – she did not take all the family photos that we discussed in advance, and she delivered around 500 photos instead of the 1000+ photos that she originally promised.

The real problems began soon after the wedding, when Elke completely DISAPPEARED. A few weeks after our wedding, we tried to contact Elke about our wedding album, with no reply from her. Over the next few months, we called & left messages, sent more emails, all with NO response. Finally, after 10 months of trying to find our photographer & get our album, we filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Under pressure from the Better Business Bureau, Elke was forced to finally call us back - in Sept 2009, over a year after our wedding. At first she tries to accuse us of missing the 6-month timeframe to select our album pictures. But with our proof of the many emails & phone calls over the last year, and her refusal to reach out to us at all, it was obvious that she was trying to evade us long enough to avoid honoring our agreement, and then cheat us out our $1700 wedding album.

The problems continued soon after re-connecting with our AWOL photographer. We waited for weeks for a response to our album selects list, then we contacted her. To our amazement, Elke tells us that SHE THREW OUT OUR PHOTOS, and says that we have to SEND BACK HER OWN ORIGINAL PHOTO FILES that we received so that she can make our album.

Many more months go by as we wait for Elke to send us our sample album via email with our changes. In January 2010, a year and a half after our wedding, Elke tells us we have to PAY MORE MONEY to make minor changes to our sample album – changes that were allowed in our signed agreement. She eventually refuses to make our simple changes, and says that the album will be printed as is, and delivered by Feb 2010.

By late March 2010, with NO ALBUM delivered, we get more empty promises from Elke that the album is being shipped soon. This is followed by another 2 months of no contact from Elke, and no album. In June 2010, almost 2 years after our wedding, Elke tells us that her business has gone bankrupt. SHE SAYS THAT SHE WILL NOT FINISH OUR ALBUM, and offers NO REFUND of our $1700.

Since then, her website for wedding photography has been ACTIVE. It makes one question whether she has truly closed her business – or if she has lied again, and still continues to cheat other couples out of THOUSANDS of dollars.