Couples often wonder why good wedding photography is expensive. What costs more? The loss of your once in a life time event, or the price of knowing you will end up with beautiful photos for a lifetime?

Beware bargain hunters…

Are these Britain’s worst wedding pictures? Newlyweds devastated as photographers fail to get couple in frame and took blurry shots

• Shots were out of focus, blurry, showed the back of guests’ heads and not a single pictures of the groom’s parents was taken

By EMILY ALLEN

PUBLISHED: 06:24 EST, 20 April 2012 | UPDATED: 10:40 EST, 20 April 2012 

A newlywed couple were devastated after bungling wedding photographers ruined their big day by taking ‘horrific’ pictures – including one which featured a spooky floating hand.

Thomas and Anneka Geary commissioned professional photographers Ian McCloskey and Nikki Carter £750 to cover what should have been the best day of their lives.

But they were stunned when the pictures arrived and included out of focus shots of the couple, the back of guests’ heads and a snap of the bride’s mother whose face was completely obscured by her hat.

                  

This snap of the couple signing the marriage register appears to feature a ghostly hand clutching a toy motorbike – but it’s actually where the snappers tried to edit out Anneka’s three-year-old nephew Harry

Astonishingly, the photographers even failed to take a single frame of the groom’s parents.

One snap of the couple signing the marriage register also appears to feature a ghostly hand clutching a toy motorbike where the snappers tried to edit out Anneka’s three-year-old nephew Harry who was standing in the background.

The pictures of the evening do, which hosted 120 guests, were also taken without flash.

The couple said almost every shot they received was wrong – including these blurry shots and one the happy couple walking through a doorway with a stack of cardboard boxes in the foreground

The back of a guest’s head appears in the foreground of this wedding shot. The photographers even failed to take a single frame of the groom’s parents

Not much better! This photograph shows wedding guests turning to look at something more interesting behind them – and even the ones facing the front aren’t looking at the camera

Blurry: The pictures of the evening do attended by 120 guests were also taken without flash

Not in focus: The couple, from Warwick, demanded a full refund for the ‘nightmare’ wedding album but received less than half after the firm went bust

The couple, from Warwick, demanded a full refund for the ‘nightmare’ wedding album but received less than half after the firm, Westgate Photography, went bust.

Retail advisor Anneka, 27, said: ‘It was an utter shambles.

‘Just about every shot was wrong – there were pictures of the back of people’s heads, blurred images of me and Tom and terrible editing which seemed to show a floating hand in the background.

A picture of the couple from behind and a shocking shot of the the couple at a distance at their wedding reception are not what anyone would expect from professional photographers

An awkward side shot of the couple cutting their wedding cake and Anneka isn’t even looking at the camera

‘The hand belonged to my nephew Harry who was standing behind me and Tom as we signed the wedding register.

‘The photographers obviously edited Harry out of the shot but kept his hand which was holding a toy motorbike. You can even see the cuff of his shirt.

‘Even the pictures of us walking into the reception are blurred and all you can see in most are the back of people’s heads.

‘In another picture the photographers took us outside for a picture with the hotel in the background but we were out of focus and we were miles apart from each other.’

Cheers! The guests are photographed – largely from behind – raising their glasses to the happy couple – but they’re no where to be seen in this picture

The couple, who have been together for three years, got married at posh Dunchurch Park Hotel near Rugby, Warwickshire, on August 14 last year.

They forked out £14,000 on the wedding ceremony and a reception for 120 guests.

But their big day was ruined when they received the wedding photographs a month later.

Tom, 32, a firefighter for Warwickshire Fire Service, said: ‘We received a CD from the wedding photographers but at first we thought it was a joke.

‘Just about all of the pictures were out of focus or badly lit or just plain weird.

A bad shot of the couple enjoying their first dance. Wedding photographer Ian McCloskey yesterday revealed the firm had gone bust

A blurry and poorly focused shot of the couple at their wedding venue just after the ceremony

‘The group shots were probably the worst because almost everyone was looking in the wrong direction and there were no pictures of my parents.

‘I rang the photographers up to complain and they mistook my father for Anneka’s step-dad.

‘It was ludicrous. One of the photographers even managed to get into one of the shots during the reception.

‘All we wanted was one picture to put in a frame of our wedding day but there is not a single one we can use.

A general shot of the Dunchurch Park Hotel where Thomas and Anneka Geary got married and had their reception. This wasn’t taken by the photographers

‘When we first met the photographers they said they were engaged – I just hope their own wedding photographer does a better job than they did for us.’

Wedding photographer Ian McCloskey yesterday revealed the firm had gone bust and he and fiancee Nikki had been forced to sell their cameras to pay off a string of disgruntled customers.

He added that he and Nikki had ‘no plans’ to return to photography and were currently on the dole.

Mr McCloskey admitted the pictures of Tom and Anneka’s wedding were ‘pretty awful’.

He said: ‘They were the first couple we had a complaint from. If I could have paid all the money back I would’ve.

‘They weren’t happy with the images and neither were we. We did all we could to try and make it right.’

He said: ‘We ended up with terrible photos and put our hands up to that and we have attempted to pay them back as much money as we can but unfortunately we are going bankrupt.’

Mr McCloskey added that they had set up the business ‘at the wrong time’ and had decided to call it a day to ensure the same thing didn’t happen to anyone else.

He said one of their cameras broke and rather than give the couple half the number of pictures they offered them all of them.

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