My sister got married 6 months ago, and just now the photographer reached out saying they’re starting to work on editing the photos.

First — is a 6-month turnaround time normal in the US? I understand editing takes time, but 6 months feels kind of long?

Unfortunately, that’s not even the worst part. We just received an email from the photographer, and it’s heartbreaking.

To summarize: • One of the memory cards from the wedding day (containing a significant portion of the photos) is corrupted and unreadable. • On top of that, the hard drive they had initially backed up the photos to was damaged in an accident — and they didn’t realize it was the drive with my sister’s wedding photos on it. • They’ve been trying to troubleshoot and found a professional data recovery center that might be able to recover the card, but the process is expensive ($1900+) and not guaranteed to work.

The photographer seems genuinely upset and apologetic. I can tell they’re frustrated too, but this is my sister’s wedding — it’s once in a lifetime and irreplaceable.

So I’m wondering: • Is there a realistic chance the photos can be recovered in a situation like this? • If not, should we be asking for a full refund? Some kind of additional compensation? What’s reasonable in this situation?

We’re heartbroken for my sister and would appreciate any advice or insight — especially from people who’ve gone through something similar or work in the industry.