Martin and Heidi Shubrook said the footage returned by calamitous cameraman Clayton Bennett was ‘useless’.
He’d failed to record the couple signing the register, cutting the cake, most of the speeches, the bride and groom’s entrance at the reception and the confetti throwing.
What they were given was a video featuring shots of guests’ feet and backs, and footage taken from too far away to make out faces.
Now the couple have won a court battle against Bennett, who has declared himself bankrupt.
Mrs Shubrook, 29, said: ‘I was in tears watching it back.
‘He turned up to our wedding with scars all over his face and said he was a cage fighter. He looked a mess.
‘During the day he went missing and we found him at another wedding,’ added the primary school teacher.
Mr Shubrook, 34, said: ‘Clayton Bennett was utterly unprofessional.
‘What we did get was poorly filmed. The angles were wonky and the framing bad, and he allowed subjects to move out of shot.
‘For part of it, the camera was left on the floor so half of the shot was grass and people’s heads were cut off. He even managed to include people who were not part of the wedding.’
Bennett was trading at the time as Lasting Impressions video and photography services of Sunderland.
He was paid £350 to video their wedding in July 2009.
After seeing the result, the couple started a yearlong battle to bring the cameraman, later trading as We Photograph Your Wedding, to the Small Claims Court for breach of contract.
A judge sitting at Durham County Court found in the Shubrooks’ favour and ordered Bennett to pay a total of £600, including a £150 refund to the couple, court costs and expenses.
The photographer, of Howden, Co Durham, said he has ceased trading and has agreed to pay back the money in £20 instalments, although the couple say they haven’t received a penny.
Bennett said: ‘The Shubrooks expected the money they paid to buy them an awful lot.’
