Seven Canberra brides are desperately seeking wedding footage from a phantom videographer who has disappeared despite being paid up to $3000 by each bride for his work.
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The group fears the veteran wedding professional, who had an established reputation in the industry, has fled the country with their footage and money with no explanation.
Candice Burn, who was married in October last year, paid more than $3000 for the video and was left bitterly disappointed by the experience.
She said the videographer was recommended by another wedding company as a trusted professional and he appeared to know what he was doing during the ceremony.
"I was told I would have the video in December although I tried to call him when it was due and his phone was disconnected," she said.
"He wasn't answering his emails either so I got in touch with the company that referred him or they said he had possibly left the country."
The wedding professional, who Fairfax Media has chosen not to name, could not be reached for this story.
Ms Burn said she contacted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Fair Trading but was told there was little they could do.
Her experience is shared by Anita Cvetkovski, who married in October last year but has been unable to contact the man regarding her video, which she paid $2800 for.
"We met before the wedding to go through the final details and everything felt normal," she said. "We paid in full and when the wedding day came everything was fine.
"After that is when it started to go funny. When I noticed he was not getting back to me I started to think 'what the hell is going on'?"
In March, he emailed the seven brides to say he was no longer filming weddings but would complete their videos. None of the women have been able to contact him since.
Rina Jones met the man at an industry event in Canberra and paid more than $2000 for a video of their Lake George wedding ceremony on November 20.
"My husband spoke to him at the start of the year but since then it's just been radio silence," she said. "He started to track down some people in the industry who said he had a breakdown of some sort.
"We really don't know what to do about this but maybe he will emerge. I don't really care about the money now it's been that long, I would just prefer to have the footage."
The group remain in contact and exchange clues as to the man's whereabouts. While they are frustrated and upset, they are not seeking compensation and hope he is not unwell.
