Kiss the Bride (KTB) Weddings KTB Weddings Ezra Primack is the ULTIMATE wedding photographer CON ARTIST! Ezra hijacks couples' wedding days and holds photos hostage. Pasadena, California

sorry to hear about your experience.  i actually couldn't bear to read all of it, it was torture. i work in the industry and have a business that also uses TheKnot.com.

all your red flags you cited earlier were spot on.  any shooter worth his/her salt has galleries, blog entries and facebook postings of their weddings.  the fact that he had nothing to show you indeed was alarming.

also, engagement sessions are the easiest, funnest part of wedding photography.  if you weren't blown away by the results, thats a sure sign that you're with the wrong photographer.

a four to six month wait for final, edited and photoshopped images is insane.  its literally nuts.  two months...two and a half months (at the outside) is really as long as anyone should have to wait for their final images.

terribly sorry to read this.

- MHP

My experience with Ezra Primack of Kiss the Bride (KTB) Weddings (now TruLavie) as my wedding photography vendor has been negative and disappointing.  I hired/contracted with Ezra Primack of Kiss the Bride (KTB) Weddings to document and photograph my wedding day in 2011.  This is my detailed account of my experience with Ezra and KTB Weddings. 
 
In hindsight, booking Ezra Primack and KTB Weddings as my wedding photographer was regretful.  Ezras handling of my wedding and the subsequent 11 months waiting for my wedding photos has caused me heartache, tears, and disappointment.  I quickly realized that I was caught in a tangled web of inaccurate and inconsistent information that Ezra funneled to me (specific examples will mentioned later in the review). 
 
Ezra of KTB Weddings was the very first vendor I booked for my wedding before I had a venue, a set date, and before I was even engaged.  I had my eyes on another photographer who did not turn out to be available for the tentative wedding date we selected (it was initially the 09.10.11 date).  Thinking that my wedding date was going to be more of a popular one, I panicked thinking I wouldnt be able to book a good photographer.  I made it a priority to find and book a photographer which is how I ended up booking the photographer as the first service/vendor I booked for my wedding.  Wedding photography was one of my top, top priorities and getting awesome photos was a top priority for me.  It is ironic that I say that now after this experience with KTB Weddings has become one of the most regretful and disappointing experiences of my life. 
 
I came across KTB Weddings and Ezras work on The Knot.com website and I was instantly enchanted by the photos and amazing editing work that I saw.  I knew at the time that this was the photographer and photojournalistic style I wanted.  I was bummed that he wasnt going to be available on 09.10.11 that I even ended up changing my wedding date entirely to accommodate Ezras availability.  My wedding ended up being changed to 10.21.11.  Initially speaking to him, Ezra came across as personable and extremely nice (this was before we booked his services).  In hindsight, I would now say that he was actually subtly pushy in getting me to expedite making my final decision about him as soon as possible so that the booking, confirmation, and deposit could be all settled quick. 
 
Here are some of the puzzling factors I encountered with Ezra on the journey towards my wedding.  Only in hindsight do I now realize that these were all red flags which I failed to see along the way.  (Unfortunately, I did not have the ability to recognize these as red flags nor did I have the courage to walk away towards the end, cut my losses, give up my paid deposit with Ezra, and find a new photographer).  I didnt want to go through that process of having to admit and recognize there could be a problem and jeopardize this perfect vision I had of wedding planning.  I didnt want to have to shift gears and find a new photographer one month out before my wedding when the red flags built up the most.  If I was brave enough, I wouldve saved myself almost a year of heartache and tears.  Instead, I kept swallowing the situation as it was and just pushed forward.  It was only later I realized my mistake.  Hindsight is 20/20. 
 
Back to the puzzling factors/red flags:
1)      After our engagement session, I wanted to get a better sense of the quality of work from the actual wedding days of his clients (most of his work on his website at the time was work from his engagement sessions).  He did not come across to me as forthcoming on helping me understand the quality of his wedding day work.  He was not fully able to speak to this and only tried to show me some of the work on his iPad after our engagement session.  At this time, I still did not feel like I had the clarity I was looking for.  He asked me to come to his studio to look at albums but my schedule just didnt allow for that.  He couldnt direct me to any posted photos of his wedding day work online.  I found that odd. 
2)   There was one time where his assistant told me that my husband and I had to re-do our engagement session because Ezra lost our images.  I was annoyed when I read this because I had just started a new job and couldnt take time off to re-do an engagement session.  I purposefully accomplished this before I started my new job because I knew it would be difficult to get time off with the new job.  Come to find out later that it turned out to be another couples engagement session images that were lost.  I was relieved.  But in hindsight, this is a red flag that he would even lose a couples engagement session photos.
3)      It did take longer than the average time to get our engagement photos.  It took around 3-4 months.  Thats the amount of time (or less) that photographers return official wedding photos in. 
4)      Communication from his assistant and administrative team was slow and painstaking throughout my engagement and wedding planning time.  I perceived the customer service to be of poor quality.  Communication was not thorough and was slow.
5)      Ezra did not demonstrate any approachability, interest, or cooperation to speak with me as my wedding date neared to go over all of the details.  I did this a lot with all of my other wedding vendors so I found it odd that it was so difficult and was like pulling teeth to do this with him.  We also had some last minute challenges with the church related to taking photos after the ceremony and I didnt feel confident or that Ezra was available to work with me through this challenge.  I would expect him to be available on the phone so we can discuss the situation, but he wasnt.  Having found that out last minute and not have a cooperative photographer was completely nerve-wracking in the last couple of days and hours leading up to the wedding. 
 
Another example of these negative behaviors on his part is that he wasnt available to give me the photo frame and guest book in advance and insisted that he bring those with him on the actual wedding day.  I wanted it in advance so that I could have already given it to the venue and so it would just have been already there for the wedding day.  I wanted that for piece of mind.  Doesnt a bride deserve piece of mind?  But no, he insisted I couldnt and that he would just bring it.  My nerves were right because I would come to read reviews later where he ended up failing bringing these on the wedding day for some other clients.  Thankfully, he did end up bringing these as he said he would but why wouldnt he accommodate me getting these in advance for my piece of mind?  I sensed disorganization and procrastination on his part.  If communication was effective all along, perhaps we couldve resolved this more ahead of time.  But of course, poor communication helped nothing at all.
 
Lastly, Ezras behaviors were demonstrated in an extreme case when he canceled a meeting we were supposed to have at the very last minute.  I finally was able to get Ezra to commit to meeting with me before my wedding to go over all of the details (i.e. I had a comprehensive list of every single photo I wanted to have taken on the big day).  I had specifically planned it so that my Wedding Coordinator was going to attend this meeting with me so that Ezra and my Wedding Coordinator could meet each other.  My Wedding Coordinator and I both rearranged our work schedules to fit in this meeting with Ezra.  As we were headed to the meeting location (probably 30-45 minutes before the meeting time set), I receive a call from Ezra saying he was stuck in Las Vegas on a photo shoot still that he was working on all day and would not be able to make our meeting.  First of all, why would he be stuck all day at a photo shoot in Las Vegas and then cancel the meeting 30 minutes in advance?  He should have had the decency to tell me earlier in the day so that we couldve avoided having left early from work to make the meeting.  Since this was lacking, I did not feel that there was any consideration or courtesy at all on his part.  I was completely shocked by this cancellation and could not believe that he did that.  I was livid.  I did not understand how he could do this to me when my wedding was coming up so fast?  But in reference to one of my previous paragraphs (several ones up), I was too chicken to cut my losses and make a change with my photographer.  If there was any moment I really should have done this, it would have been after he canceled this meeting on me last minute.  But alas, I had no such courage to make that call.  Ezra was able to reschedule the meeting two days later.  When I met with him, he did not seem engaged or present at all.  I was trying to review the flow of the day (we had a long wedding day) and the photo list I compiled.  I was trying to set my expectations for him on that day.  I am the bride and he is the vendor so you would expect that the hired vendor would bend and flex to the brides needs, wants, and desires.  Ezra seemed completely disengaged, uninterested, and disenchanted.  It seemed like he was too good or above this process whereby I reviewed these details with him. 
 
Again, these red flags came up and I ignored them. 
 
Let me now tell you a little bit about how the timeline unfolded after my wedding:
1)      He gave me a quote of approximately four months for post-production though I was not clear (due to his poor communication) if that referred to only the edits of the raw images or the comprehensive edits too. 
2)      I had one clarifying question about the shot of the wedding rings at approximately four months after the wedding.  This was resolved fine.
3)      I didnt even start confronting him and did not even start my frequent follow-up communication about the wedding pictures until six months after the wedding.  Thats two more months after the estimated timeframe.  There was one point in which I was going to follow up with Ezra after he returned from a trip to the Philippines.  I thought he had gone there to get married himself and I was waiting for him to get back to continue my follow-up.  In an email I received from someone named Nancy (seems to be his former girlfriend), he admits in a string of email chains that he was not really in the Philippines and just kept going along with my assumption to buy himself more time due to having trouble with my photos. 
4)      Around four to six months after the wedding, I started feeling anxious and started noticing all of the negative reviews on Yelp and various websites about KTB Weddings.  I picked up the intensity in my follow-up (but was still professional) around April 2012.  I told him I was getting nervous because of all the reviews I was seeing.  He seemed to have freaked out when I told him this and quickly sent me an email (which was obviously a pre-typed template he sent to many of his clients) explaining his situation.  We all now know his situation is that his camera equipment was all robbed when he was moving his studio.  He lost raw images and edits as a result of this theft which caused him to refund money to a lot of clients and let go of his editing staff.  All of this caused a backlog because he became a one-man show.  The email he sent me described the situation in great detail.  I could not believe that he waited six months to tell me about this situation!  It wasnt only until I confronted him about the negative reviews that he told me.  What if I hadnt?  I doubt he would have been forthcoming on his own.
5)      I finally got my contact sheets and raw 2500 files seven months after my wedding (May 2012).  When I got these, I immediately noticed and told Ezra that I remember (in my foggy memory since it had been so long!) taking pictures on the wedding day that werent amongst the 2500 raw images he sent.  He then admitted to a mistake that took place with compiling my first set of edited photos.  He said that there were 500 key images that were not included in this upload in May because they were dropped in a separate folder that were ignored and left behind for purposes of the upload.  He said that these were the best photos from his wide angle lens but that they were filed in a separate electronic folder which he did not come across for the upload.  I was bummed to hear that I couldnt quickly see the best photos from my wedding.  Because honestly, I was not all that impressed whatsoever with the other 2500 raw images.  It was disappointing and underwhelming.  More about the overall quality of his work later in the review. 
6)      He informed me that the Comprehensive Edits after this point would take approximately 30 days.  I would realize later that this time estimate was another inaccurate piece of information and an inflation of timeline on his part.
7)      Then we had miscommunication on when he was going to send the remaining 500 raw images.  (See I felt better with each step I made.  Obtaining the raw images meant at least I had those in my possession if he were to ever go missing in action).  I assumed he could just upload those 500 raw images so I could obtain them.  However, he only sent me the Contact Sheet for the 500 key images but not the actual raw files themselves.  I was not pleased with discovering this miscommunication because I thought he said he committed to uploading the raw images too.  He kept saying his intent was just to provide me with the Contact Sheet so I can easily submit my 50 image selections that were going to go through the comprehensive edits.  He didnt end up sending the 500 raw images until August and that was only because of another miscommunication (described next in the review). 
8)      In August 2012 (approximately 10 months after my wedding), my follow-up was becoming more and more intense and I was becoming less tolerant of this preposterous situation.  I demanded everything that was owed to me as soon as possible.  I thought that I was finally going to get that.  He let me know he was uploading everything.  After a few weeks of technical difficulties downloading his files from the server, I was disappointed to find out that his definition of everything was just that was going to re-send all Contact Sheets, the 3000 total raw images, and the raw images from the engagement session.  He had not finished the Comprehensive Edits and did not include these in the upload.  I was frantically looking for the Comprehensive Edits because that would mean this nightmare would be over.  But they were nowhere to be found in the upload.  It was so disappointing to find this out especially after significant technical difficulties in the download process.  By the way, the contract stated I would receive a CD with all of the images but all images were obtained through Ezra uploading the photos on his server and the client downloading them.  There were multiple instances where power outages took place delaying the upload, servers went down, glitches happened, etc.  It was painstaking and it would have been easier to have just gotten CDs.  It was a complete alien request when I asked him if we could meet up and exchange hard drivers or CDs or something so that I could avoid the difficult download process.  It was now 10 months and I finally at least had all 3000 raw images but I was still owed the Comprehensive Edits.  Remember his editing style is why I was originally gravitated to his work.
9)      It was finally September that I finally received my Comprehensive Edits after frequent and consistent follow-up communication from me and him.
 
Lets now talk about the quality of the wedding day photos and the Comprehensive Edits.  Remember after my engagement session when I wanted to better see the work from the actual wedding days?  Well that was a right hunch because the resulting quality of photos he took from my wedding day were extremely poor and negative from my perspective.  Someone who was attentive to detail could see all of the sloppy details in his photos faces cut off, heads cut off, individuals blinking, instead of hanging my dress somewhere, someone was holding the dress hanger so you can see their fingers, etc. 
 
The comprehensive photo list I had reviewed and given to him?  Unfortunately, this was not flawlessly executed as there were still other details missing from my wedding photos.  These were details that I had worked so hard on for my wedding.  Even the details he did capture were not breathtaking and I did not feel that I got the quality I deserved based on the amount I paid for his services.    
 
Also, my biggest pride and joy in my wedding was actually my wedding venue, Seven-Degrees.  It was our complete pride point of our wedding.  I was in absolute love with this place.  There was not a SINGLE shot of the uniqueness of Seven-Degrees and its architecture.  Let me spell out exactly what I mean in my previous sentence.  What I mean that Ezra did not take a single shot of Seven-Degrees and its architecture was that he missed taking a perspective of the venue from the street/driveway.  He would come to tell me in one of his final text messages to me that he did not do so because he thought the venue was just not that pretty. 
 
You know what else he missed?  Wedding receptions at Seven-Degrees come out very unique with the mirrored ceiling, lighting, table layouts, etc.  Ezra did not take a single, wide-angel shot of my reception space.  Let me go again go back and clarify what I meant when I said that Ezra did not take a single shot of my reception space.  Again, Seven-Degrees wedding receptions are unique with the lighting, the mirrored ceiling, etc.  When you Google wedding receptions at Seven-Degrees, you will see that wedding photographers will typically take a wide-angle shot of the reception space at Seven-Degrees with the lighting, centerpieces, dcor, etc.  Ezra did take different elements of the reception space here and there but what I was missing was the wide-angle shot solely capturing the reception space only without any individuals in it.  This was the showcase I was looking for.  This was what I had been looking for in over 15 months of wedding planning that Ezra did not capture.  Sure, I could go back to Seven-Degrees and take photos of its architecture and outside.  But there was not a way to recreate my actual wedding reception. 
 
This was completely heartbreaking to me.  I could not believe that he responded by saying that Seven-Degrees was just not that pretty and he justified missing taking some shots because of that rationale.  I dont believe he should get to have an opinion of what is good and pretty or not when it is not his wedding.  He said it was the photographers discretion on what he thought would make for good photos.  Ultimately, I realize now that due to lack of engagement and getting on the same page in the time leading up to my wedding, Ezra and I were completely on different pages in terms of style. 
 
Thats another regret because I now know his style wasnt my style at all.  I felt like as a wedding photographer, he did not have the ability to prioritize attention to detail as brides do.  But yet there are other wedding photographers who can do this.  He was into taking candid shots while you moved instead of static shots.  I think thats why he didnt take a lot of the photos he thought in his opinion would be boring but yet that were so important to me.  Remind me again whose wedding this was?  And I even reviewed my expectations of what photos I wanted during the last meeting.  But if you recall, I mentioned that he seemed disengaged during that meeting.  His lack of engagement and lack of prioritization that he seemed to place on my special day was evident in the poor quality of photos that I felt I received.  The photos came out nothing like I had envisioned.  After all of the drama and pain of waiting for the photos, this was what I was left with?  Heartbreaking and gut-wrenching.  I felt that it was barely the work of a professional.  My heart kept sinking and it felt horrible. 
 
I was gravitated towards his magazine editorial and photojournalism editing style from his website way back from 2010.  Seeing my Comprehensive Edits finally in September (11 months later!) was so disappointing and underwhelming.  It was barely underwhelming.  There was no excitement reaction from me upon seeing these.  An incredible shame based on why I selected him as my photographer to begin with.  I did not feel that my photos came out like the photos I saw on his website from 2009 and 2010.  I did not even cut corners in budgeting for my photographer.  I did not cop out on a cheap wedding photographer.  I paid more than average price for Ezra and KTB Weddings and I couldnt believe this is what I ended up with.  A nightmare and barely stellar results.  At the end of a long 11 months, yes, I was relieved I finally had everything but was just so regretful of how it all turned out.  There were a lot of tears cried and pain felt.  A lot.  11 months of it at least.
 
There never seemed to be any honesty or transparency on his part.  I found out during my painful 11 months from some other source (which I cant remember from what exactly now) that his theft incident took place at the end of the busy wedding season in 2011/end of summer.  That means that the theft took place before my wedding and he did not tell me about this before my wedding was to happen.  He didnt bring it to my attention or make me aware.  If he did, it couldve been the kick I couldve needed for an escape route and to cut my losses.  No such escape route was given to me due to Ezras lack of forthcoming and timely information.  In fact, I wouldnt be surprised if the theft incident probably already took place by the time I had my final meeting with Ezra (the one that he canceled on me).  During this final meeting, there was actually something odd told me to from Ezra.  During that meeting, I told Ezra I noticed that Sue Park was no longer on his team and was no longer corresponding with me.  It was weird because she stopped responding to my emails and yet there was no out-of-office or away message pointing clients to stop sending correspondence to that email address or to have her messages forwarded elsewhere.  He explained this by saying that he fired her for losing clients photos due to not storing it remotely on their cloud system.  I think back now and wonder how accurate this portrayal is.  There were other instances of bad luck that his business encountered.  I am not sure to what extent they were true.  As an example, he gave me a discount a couple of months before my wedding because he said that his business accounting system was hacked and he lost a lot of information.  He was providing discounts for clients to assure them that their confidential credit card information was not compromised. 
 
It was completely ridiculous to me to wait 11 months for my wedding photos.  There was no clarity on what the post-production process was like.  There was primarily no communication over email or by phone.  Voicemails left were ignored.  Phone calls just kept ringing.  His voicemail box was full and at capacity very often.  He only accommodated phone calls like once or twice throughout the whole post-production time.  May 2012 was probably the very last time I spoke to him on the phone.  I believe I only spoke to him on the phone once or twice during the 11 months and one time was when we were clarifying where the remaining 500 key images were. 
 
It amazed me how he continued to shoot weddings in 2012 for pre-booked clients while he had this building backlog of wedding photos he still had not reconciled with clients.  If he was fair, he would have considered stopping to consume his time with the 2012 weddings and focus instead on getting rid of his backlog.  He would also be fair by warning the 2012 couples of his situation and give them a chance at an escape route.  But of course, his character makes him the kind of individual where he inclined not to do this.  I have been in touch with other clients who got married before me and my husband who were still waiting for their photos.  Some of these couples lost all touch with Ezra completely and are still waiting.  I was lucky that he was still responding to my text messages albeit responses would be weeks apart from each other.  Each time this happened, I was afraid he would just go missing in action before I got everything I needed.  I think I was able to get my photos partly because I just kept insisting, being overly persistent, setting deadlines, and threatening legal action.  When I would set a deadline on when I needed to hear back from him, he would always wait to the last minute to give me my response.  It was like pins on needles wondering if he was still around.  At one point, he gave me information for his lawyer and where legal action should be directed to.  I dont know if that information was accurate. 
 
It was hard to hear about the others who were in worse positions than me.  I do not understand how he could be the cause of tarnishing what is supposed to be happy memories.  Now all of the couples, including me and my husband, have tarnished memories of this whole experience.  We will never be able to think about our wedding without remembering the nightmare we went through with Ezra and KTB Weddings.  There was a time when he actually wrote a manifesto that he posted on the My Experience with Kiss the Bride Weddings Facebook page where a lot of clients go to congregate and discuss our negative experiences.  He wrote a long manifesto defending himself and taking absolutely zero accountability.  Within a week or so, he deleted this. 
 
I was so traumatized by this whole experience that we decided to do a one year anniversary do-over photo shoot where me and my husband got back into our wedding day attire and hired another photographer to take shots of us again.  This helped to alleviate the pain a little bit that Ezra left behind on us but it doesnt change the fact that Ezra has completely tarnished memories of our wedding day (photograph memories literally). 
 
Ezra also seems to have an extension of his wedding photography business aside from KTB Weddings.  His extensions are TruLavie and TruLavie-Boracay.  He states that these are brand extensions and not new start-ups even though the TruLavie websites show blog posts as recent as 01/04/13.  I am not sure what Ezra may be trying to pull in possibly starting up an extension of offering wedding photography services.  This is no doubt Ezra because the photos, music, website style, and fonts are all similar.  The wedding photos on the TruLavie website are identical to those found on the old KTB Weddings website.  I am not sure what Ezra thinks he may be able to get away with by other business extensions. 
 
Finally, to see the screen shots I saved of all my text messages with Ezra and see his poor communication for yourself, click here to view the album of photos:  https://picasaweb.google.com/111981800743651957310/TruLavieFormerlyKTBWeddingsTextsWithEzra?authuser=0&feat=directlink.