My husband and I put off trying to hire a photographer because we just did not know what to do with our limited budget, and I am so happy that we went with Machpe. Matt did an amazing job with our engagement shoot as well as our wedding. The staged photos of course were great, but Matt has a particularly great eye for candids. The photos had so much life and were true to the energy of the moment. He is also one of the most affordable options in the area. I would recommend Machpe to everyone.

I would NOT hire Matthew Peterson of Machpe Photography for your weddings. if you want a professional photographer you should look elsewhere.

working with Matthew Peterson of Machpe photography has been one of the worst experiences I've had to deal with.

If you want photos of your first dances, your guests having fun, interacting with each other, and you want a photographer (that you payed) to actually do all of his work, definitely hire someone else.

To start off, Matt seemed very professional while doing first looks. everything seemed fine the day of the wedding. I had NO idea what was actually happening. Matt did not communicate with me or my husband when there was a problem with the lighting. Matt failed to bring his own lighting equipment, a flash, or anything else he might have needed to get photos of the guests dancing, my husband and I's first dance, my first dance with my dad, and my husband’s first dance with his mom. In total we only have about 8 photos of the dancing during the entire 1 and a half hours dedicated to dancing.

I was informed a few days later by my sister that she noticed Matt just give up with photos while the dances were happening and walk outside to talk to another guest. I asked that guest and she confirmed Matt had trouble photographing the dances. He then talked to her for the majority of the hour while he was supposed to be photographing the dancing. When I received my pictures a few days after the wedding, I noticed the amount was quite low for four hours. There was an entire hour of photos missing. there were also very little photos of the major dances as stated above. Between 8-9pm there was maybe one very blurry photo he delivered to me. That was all he had to show me for that last hour I had paid him for.

When I confronted Matt about this, he told me that all the pictures he took were not good and he felt that they did not meet his standards as a photographer. I politely asked to be refunded the hour that he had no photos for me as I shouldn’t of had to pay him when he just gave up on taking pictures and walked outside to talk/not take photos.

He declined my refund and stated he believes he should be paid regardless because he was there for the hour. However, even if he was there-he did not do what he was supposed to do. He did not take pictures of my guests during open dance time. He gave me many excuses as to why he did not take photos. He blamed me and my husband for not turning the lights back on during the dancing. Most weddings do dancing in dimly lit lights with DJ lights; this is not an uncommon thing to happen at weddings. It was not my responsibly to turn the lights back on, but had I known there was a problem; had Matt informed me or my husband about this, then I would've definitely turned on some lights to get these pictures. But as I stated before, Matt never informed me of this problem during this time and for that, we never got the pictures for this hour we paid for.

He then told me he is only an available-light photographer. I told him had I know this I wouldn’t have hired him especially because it gets dark between 8-9 pm. He hid this information from me.

Another excuse he gave me was that this particular venue was impossible to get dancing photos even with a flash. He blamed the venue for being too dark. This is completely false information as this same exact venue my sister had her wedding at last year. Her photographer got amazing dancing pictures, with a flash, and less light than Matt had at my wedding.

Matt then gives me another excuse saying he cannot afford the proper equipment to do his job as a wedding photographer! He says he can’t afford to have a flash for his camera. He claims to be a professional wedding photographer. and again, blames me and my husband for having the venue too dark during the dances.

Another issue with Matt is his editing. After sending me the "finished" photos, he told me, "Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything done with the pictures". My husband sweat a lot through his shirt during the ceremony and during our group pictures. This was something we were both not prepared for as he was just suddenly nervous, and the venue was very hot. We figured that Matt would be able to edit the sweat off of my husbands shirt while he was doing the other editing. I thought it was pretty obvious it should have been fixed. The pictures came back with my husband still sweating through his shirt. I thought it was an easy fix and was confused why Matt did not fix it in the first place, or even ask me if he should fix it. So, after he sent that first email asking if I want anything done to the pictures, I asked him to edit my husband’s sweat out of the shirts. I had asked my sister, who is also a photographer, if this was something that can be done easily and if I’m asking too much of Matt to do this. She had never done it before either and was able to do it easily within a few minutes. So, I saw no problem asking Matt, who at this time I thought was a professional editor as well as is stated on his website, to do this simple edit.

He told me it was no problem and that it would take a while before he had them all done. He was doing them at no extra charge for us, as I figured he would because I had figured it was an easy fix. This was all before I had asked to be refunded for the lack of photos for the last hour. After I had asked for a refund, His entire attitude changed.

Other issues I had with Matt's editing was the way he cropped his pictures very awkwardly (cropping mid-calves. lots of dead space next to us, ect). There were hardly and full body shots of me and my husband. When we did group pictures, he cropped the feet out of many photos. In one photo my mother’s eyes were closed and Matt still sent this to us as a finished photo. Just recently I asked for the originals of the photos as well as all the photos he took for this particular purpose. After he said no to that and no to a refund, I told him I wanted to fix my mothers eyes being closed in a picture. Without even letting him know the details of what the picture looks like, he sent me an email with it corrected. Meaning, he knew he had sent us a finished photo with my Mom’s eyes closed in and hoped I wouldn’t notice.

After I had asked for a refund for the third time, Matt became very aggressive over emails. He blamed us again for the lighting at the venue and the lack of photos. He threatened to charge us $150 for the editing of the sweat when he told us it would be at no extra charge. This behavior he was exhibiting was complexly unprofessional and I was disgusted with his response. I told him that if he had let me know about the charge before he edited the sweat, I would have told him not to do it as my sister could do it just as good. I had to again tell him that it was not my fault but his. He did not bring a flash and did not inform me of the situation at the venue during the time there was an issue. Which, if he had, I would have cooperated and turned on lights or asked the DJ for more lights or both so he could get the shots I paid him for.

Some photos Matt sent us I actually liked, and some I only liked with a little more editing by me and my sister. But these photos that I do like do not make up this whole experience or make it better. The way Matt treated us over emails, the way he blamed us and the venue for his lack of photos, and the many excuses he gave us as to why he did not complete his job really brought this whole experience down.

I have, at this time, filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and am hoping Matt comes to his senses and cooperates with us.
DO NOT hire Matthew Peterson for your wedding.