Newlyweds stiffed on photos get help

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan isn't the only one trying to make things right for more than a dozen couples who were stiffed by a Darien wedding photographer.

After reading about their woes in the Daily Herald last month, several area photographers have offered to put together wedding albums for the aggrieved couples.

"When you work with brides for 30 years like I have, you do realize it's the most important day of their life to them and you just want everything to go right," said Bill Spelman of Geneva's Spelman Studios. "Obviously something didn't go right for them."

Harold Crane of Crane's Photography in Lake Zurich and Dan Ross of Essence Photo & Video in Schaumburg also have offered to work with couples at significantly discounted rates.

A Cook County judge Monday ordered a default judgment against Orlando Copeland after the photographer failed to respond to a lawsuit by Madigan on behalf of the couples. A June 4 court date was set to determine damages.

Copeland was accused of taking the wedding photos and giving the couples only DVDs. By law, they are not allowed to reprint those images without the photographer's permission.

Copeland has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

None of the couples expect to see any of their payments to Copeland repaid, which totaled several thousand dollars in most cases.

But officials with Madigan's office said the judge's order will nullify any copyright claims Copeland retains for the images from the weddings.

Couples would be able to order reprints from such photographers as Spelman, Crane and Ross to put together the wedding albums, Web sites and books the couples paid Copeland to do.

"I own my own lab and I have pretty good capacity in that lab," Crane said. "This is just production, which we should be able to take care of pretty easily. It would be a different story if they needed us to do the shooting."

Spelman agreed.

"What it would cost us to make this right would be a small amount compared to the happiness they'll get out of it," he said.

The photographers said they've seen couples left in the lurch before.

"There's a huge seedy underbelly of wedding photography," Crane said. "Unfortunately, not all photographers are real honest."

Thaddeus Halm of Brookfield hired Copeland to photograph his wedding in November 2006. He and his wife did the research and still got fooled by Copeland.

"If I had to do it again, I'd ask for specific references with phone numbers and check with the Better Business Bureau," he said. "We don't have the copyright, but if you try hard enough you can find ways around that. It's just been so much trouble, though."

Brian Vladika was just grateful to learn he wasn't alone.

He and his wife, Erin, were married in October 2006 and finally received a DVD with the images from their wedding eight months later, after they tracked Copeland down at his home.

The Beecher couple didn't know Madigan's office was suing their photographer on behalf of other couples until a family member read the Daily Herald report on Copeland in early March.

"We got our names added to the list at the attorney general's office," he said. "We didn't know there was anything more we could do."

Another victim, Lisa Nardiello of Lake Zurich was thrilled the other photographers are coming to her aid.

"I just think it's so touching that people who hear about what happened to us want to do something for no other reason than to just help," she said, adding that she hopes the June court date will settle the saga.

"That would be a nice anniversary present, since it's two days after our first anniversary," she said.