Is this the world's worst wedding video?

Cameraman who filmed backs of heads, grass and people who weren't even attending ordered to pay compensation

By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 3:49 PM on 21st March 2011

• 'Wedding coordinator had to go searching for cameraman Clayton Bennett and found him at another wedding'
• He missed Martin and Heidi Shubrook signing register and cutting cake

When Martin and Heidi Shubrook sat down and watched their wedding video they were moved to tears.
But instead of tears of joy they couple were left weeping in despair over the disastrous coverage of the big event.
Footage of them cutting the cake and signing the register was replaced with video showing guests' feet, grass and some people who had not even attended the wedding.

Bad footage: Clayton Bennett, left, has been ordered to pay newly married Martin and Heidi Shubrook, right, compensation after filming a comically bad video of the couple's big day

Spot the bride: Perhaps Mr Bennett forgot to attach the long-range lens. Heidi can, just about, be seen in the distance walking across the churchyard

Now the couple, from Harlow, Essex, have won a court battle against videographer, Clayton Bennett, who was hired to film the happy event.
Mrs Shubrook, 29, a primary school teacher, said: 'When we got the disk back from him I knew it was going to be awful. Watching it was really emotional.
'When it first came on it had pictures of people's feet on the floor and then there was shots of people who weren't even at our wedding.
'It wasn't edited at all, the only thing he had done with the video was to fade it in and out. I was in tears watching it back. There was no effort put into it at all.'
Mrs Shubrook said: 'He turned up to our wedding with scars all over his face and when he was asked about them he said he was a cage fighter.

Party time: A supposed action shot of the dance floor at the couple's reception. The Shubrooks took legal action in the small claims court for breach of contract

Awful: Shot from the video, which Heidi claimed had not been edited, shows a guests shoulder - but missed them cutting the cake and signing the register

Here come the legs: A guest arrives. Which one is anyone's guess!

'During the day he went missing and our wedding co-ordinator had to chase him up and found him at another wedding.'
Mr Shubrook, 34, said: 'Clayton Bennett was utterly unprofessional. He turned up in unsuitable clothing, and vanished for most of the day.
'As a result he missed the shot of us signing the register, the shot of us coming out of the church and the cutting of the cake, as well as some of the speeches.

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'What we did get was poorly filmed. The angles were wonky and the framing bad.
'For part of it, the camera was left lying on the floor so half of the shot was grass, and people's heads were cut off.'
The couple contacted Bennett's Lasting Impressions video and photography services, based in Sunderland, to cover the wedding in July 2009 and paid him £350.
The videographer, of Howden, County Durham, told the couple he could deliver a professional package that would uniquely capture their special day forever.
The couple were astonished when they saw the video and immediately launched legal action against him in the small claims court for breach of contract.
Eventually a judge sitting at Durham County Court found in the couple's favour and ordered Bennett to pay a total of £600.
He was also ordered to refund the couple, who have two children, £150 and pay court costs and travel expenses.
Bennett, who has since declared himself bankrupt, says he has ceased trading and agreed to pay back the money in £20 instalments. He claims he has paid three of them.

Wonky: Out of focus shot shows the grass and the side of a church - and cost the couple £350

But Mr Shubrook, who runs the family's publishing business in Essex, said: 'I don't think we are going to see a penny. But I want the wider pubic to be aware of what happened to us. It is not right that this individual can take people's money and then not deliver.'
Mrs Shubrook said: 'It was heartbreaking. Because we had organised a videographer we told our guests not to bring anything to record the day, and now we have no video record of our wedding at all.
'We had the most wonderful day but this just left a bad taste in our mouths. Luckily we had a really good photographer who took some pictures.'
The videographer said: 'The Shubrooks expected the money they paid for the video to buy them an awful lot. I went out of my way for them. I had only been paid until 8.30pm but I stayed until 10pm for free. I have paid £20 a month as agreed and I have records to prove that.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1368143/Wedding-videographer-ordered-pay-compensation-dreadful-350-video.html#ixzz1IFjL0lb6