After reading about the plight of a Lotus River couple in the Daily Voice last week, a professional wedding photographer has come forward to offer a re-shoot of the bridal party - free of charge.
Mom Michelle Abrahams, 48, from Lotus River said her son got married nine months ago already, but they have yet to see one wedding photo from photographer Tersia Arendse.
Michelle decided to speak up after reading about another couple’s woes with Tersia in the paper on 6 November.
Michelle said she paid Tersia R5 000 to shoot her son’s wedding, as a gift to the couple.
Not only did they not get any photos, but Tersia then point-blank refused to reimburse them.
Now, a photographer has offered his services to the couple.
The man, who asked not to be named, says he has been in the wedding photography industry for over 20 years and was gutted when he heard about Tersia’s dirty tricks.
He says many people are being duped into paying good money to so-called photographers who come armed with a cheap camera and a laptop.
“In the last 10 years because of the accessibility of technology, there has been a huge increase in people becoming wedding photographers,” he explains.
“I don’t want people to lose faith in professional photographers and so I just thought why not do this for them?
“I love wedding photography and having a couple end up with nothing is extremely sad.
“I would like to spend about two hours with them at a location so they can have decent pictures.”
When Michelle heard the news about the generous offer, she was overcome with emotion.
“This truly warms our hearts because it’s not like we have money just lying around,” the emotional mom says.
“It is people like this who makes one regain faith in people. Also, thank you to the Daily Voice for giving people hope again.”
Since the Daily Voice first exposed Tersia, 10 other couples have come forward to say they have had the same experience.
Bogus photographer Tersia Arendse
They all took packages ranging from R2 500 to R5 000 for their big day.
Tersia comes out and “takes photos” but once the money is paid in full, she starts coming up with excuses not to deliver, usually that the printers are delayed.
With the first couple, Tersia admitted that she had their pictures but had not printed anything.
“I have made contact with the couple and I told them they can come fetch a flash drive with the pictures on.
“I will also pay back half of their money because I know there are no prints,” Tersia said.
She has not responded to queries about the other couples.