My wedding was ruined! What does Sandals owe me?

Alex and Jaime Passakos say their wedding at Sandals was ruined -- and they want compensation.

The Passakoses recently got married at Sandals Royal Caribbean and then honeymooned at Sandals Montego Bay?

"The resorts were fine," says Alex Passakos. "But the wedding itself was horrendous."

Horrendous??

I'm familiar with Sandals resorts, and never in my three decades of advocacy work have I had someone use the word "horrendous" to describe a Sandals wedding.

It must have been pretty bad.

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Passakos' case raises a few important questions.

• Can a resort guarantee a "perfect" wedding?
• What if your wedding photos are ruined?
• Should a resort refund your wedding if it's been ruined?

First, let's hear from Passakos. And I have to warn you -- there's a little bit of a "he said/she said" situation at the end that I should have anticipated. (And since I don't write a relationship column, you'll probably understand why.)

Alex and Jaime Passakos at their wedding in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in a photo taken by a friend and posted to Alex's public Facebook profile.

"They made my wife's face orange"

So what went wrong with the Passakos nuptials??

The wedding ceremony itself was acceptable, he says. But a few things went wrong:

• Burnt hair. "My wife informed the hairdresser at the resort multiple times to not use high heat when curling her hair because it will burn it off," he says. "They used high heat and have caused permanent damage to her hair."
• Worthless bridal assistant. "The bridal assistant was nice but completely worthless. She literally did nothing but maybe help my wife with a single zipper once," he says.
• No sunset photos. "We paid extra for a sunset wedding and we completely missed the sunset because they rushed us away to set up for a candlelight sunset dinner that they had booked in the same spot," he says.
• No guidance. "My wife received zero assistance or guidance on walking down the aisle and now the veil is permanently damaged from flying into the ocean and it almost dragged my wife in with it in the process," he adds.

But the biggest problem was with the photos.

"The majority of photos taken were of things we didn't care about, like rings and shoes, and not us," says Passakos. "Any photos of us that could have been usable are out of focus."

He says the problems extended to the wedding video, which was "terrible." (Related: Not the “Sandals difference” she was hoping for.)

"The editing is horrendous," he says.

Passakos is unhappy because he spent $48,000 on the entire trip, with the wedding portion accounting for a little over $16,000.

"We don't want to dispute the trip itself," he told me. "We want a refund on the wedding portion. Is this something you can help us with?"

One of the out-of-focus, orange-tinted photos taken by the Sandals photographer. The guests should have never seen these images, according to Sandals.

Can a resort guarantee a "perfect" wedding?

A resort like Sandals doesn't guarantee a perfect wedding.

Sandals never mentons a "guarantee" in any of its promotional material, except when talking about deliverables for photos. For example, for its wedding packages, it will guarantee a minimum of 300 images. (Related: My girlfriend is pregnant, but Sandals won’t refund our Caribbean vacation.)

The only guarantee Sandals currently offers is a best price guarantee. It says that if within 24 hours of booking your online vacation on its site, you find a lower price for the same arrival date, number of nights and room accommodations, Sandals will refund the difference.

But, as a practical matter, Sandals offers an implied warranty for its weddings:

Your wedding should capture everything that makes your partnership unique.?

With a destination wedding package at one of Sandals all-inclusive resorts, you have the freedom to discover your own style, embrace the essence of the Caribbean and celebrate love that will last a lifetime.?

Effortlessly sophisticated and undeniably spectacular, no love story begins quite like a beach wedding in the Caribbean.

Bottom line: Sandals never promised Passakos a perfect wedding, with professional wedding photos. But it left him with the impression that‘s what he would get. And when he paid $16,000 to get hitched in Montego Bay, Jamaica, he had that expectation.

As I dug into his case, it seemed the biggest problem was the wedding photos. What can you do about bad photos or videos?

What if your wedding photos are ruined?

Blurry or unprofessional wedding photos are the worst. You don't have an opportunity to redo the event.

You can avoid this problem by working with a trusted wedding photographer. Before you hire the photographer, review your contract for clauses that address potential issues with photo quality or delivery. (Related: Construction noise ruined my Sandals vacation in Barbados.)

So fast-forward to the day after the wedding. You receive a link to the photos and they look awful. What now?

• If the photos are ruined because of technical issues or photographer error, you may be entitled to a full or partial refund. Many photographers carry errors and omissions insurance to cover this kind of situation.

• If the photographer has breached the contract terms, you may have grounds for monetary compensation or a refund.

• It's rare for a photographer to ruin all the wedding photos. When only some photos are affected, you might negotiate partial compensation or additional services, such as a complimentary photo session to recreate some key moments. The photographer may also be able to work on some photos in post-production to fix them.

A review of Passakos' correspondence shows some of the photos still bore a watermark. So I was leaning toward the last option -- talking to the photographers about their work and giving them a chance to make this right.

Should a resort refund your wedding if it's been ruined?

Sandals should take some responsibility for having an unhappy customer. But how much??

That's a difficult question to answer. A look at the list of things that went wrong suggests some of the items were relatively minor. The inattentive bridal assistant, missed directions, damaged hair -- at the time they must have seemed serious. But looking back, in the chaos of a destination wedding, it probably was understandable and not that serious.

Except for the wedding photos and videos.

The Sandals photographers did not meet their customers' expectations, and the newlyweds probably deserve some consideration.?

A full refund of $16,000? No, but more than an apology.

Sandals agreed. After the couple complained, the hotel offered them a $1,100 refund and a free one-night stay.?

"We declined because we spent much more money than that on the wedding portion of the trip," says Alex Passakos.

"We counter-offered for $1,100 and a seven-night stay at a different property, expecting them to settle on a five-night stay. They never responded."?

Was $1,100 and one-night Sandals' final offer? I thought it was time to get the resort's perspective on this wedding. So I asked.

Sandals upgrades its offer

Sandals reviewed its records and a representative told me it was "eager to make this right" with the Passakoses.

However, it noted the feedback it had gotten from Jaime Passakos did not suggest her wedding had been ruined. (Here's our guide to resolving your consumer problem.)

"We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect wedding," she said in her guest feedback. "Everyone was amazing!? We can’t wait to come back and renew our vows so we can experience it all again.”?

The discrepancy between what Alex Passakos told me and what Jaime Passakos told Sandals is definitely not in the wheelhouse of a consumer advocate like me. And I am definitely the wrong guy to ask for relationship advice.

"It seems the issue was with the imagery and there, the couple were accidentally sent the entire unedited file of images instead of the selects, which should not have happened," my Sandals contact told me. "It’s why some of the images appear blurry, but not this one of the gorgeous couple that was posted on the bride’s Facebook page."

(I asked Alex Passakos about the Facebook image. He says a friend took every one of the pictures on a phone.)

"Still, Sandals wants this couple to be delighted and would like to increase the offer to three nights plus the $1,100 and sincerely looks forward to hosting Mr. and Mrs. Passakos again," my contact said.

Passakos said he was hoping for five free nights and asked if I thought this was Sandals' final offer. I think it is.

The newlyweds accepted Sandals' offer.

Did Sandals offer Alex and Jaime Passakos enough compensation? Vote here.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.?

This story originally appeared in the Elliott Report under the headline, My wedding was ruined! What does Sandals owe me?