Website: https://lenariaphotographyindiana.mypixieset.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lenariaphotography
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenariaphotography/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lenaria-photography-fortville
Location: Based in Anderson, Indiana ish. She’s also had Fortville and Fishers as locations as well.
Other Areas She Advertises/Has Booked: All of Indiana, Illinois (she was in a Chicago based group), Missouri, Washington (Seattle), North Carolina and likely more areas I haven’t found yet.
After my post about Well Kept Design I got a few messages from people wanting me to look into Lena because she has a similar shady track record as a photographer.
The complaints are varied but all basically boil down to me not even letting my ex husband book this photographer. Stolen photos, last minute cancellations, no showing, overbooking, not paying photographers, not refunding clients, faking her Mom’s death, booking multiple photographers for her own wedding and cancelling last minute for various reasons, and just flat out not being professional.
Lena has been changing her name often on Facebook to avoid the comeuppance coming for her or to possibly evade getting booted from the hundreds of wedding related Facebook pages she’s in. She’s currently using Lena Ralston but has gone as Lena White and Lena Ervin.
This post took me almost 6 HOURS to write. So buckle up and figure out below where I finally lost my cool with all of these terrible stories.
Follow & Support Photo Stealers Substack / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Discord / Donate
First, since we’re here for stolen photos most of the time, lets clear that out of the way.
Lena does appear to do decent work and her photographs on her website appear to all be her own.
However, there are a few posts I’ve found with images that are not all her own.
Starting with this ad for boudoir sessions. Due to the way she made the ad it’s really hard to search for original sources, most are on Pinterest but I did find one original source (linked in caption).
Another mini session, another stolen photo. It’s been stolen so much I can’t suss out the original source.
Another post that has stolen images but I can’t find the sources for…
Recently Lena had a photographer content day and she used images that aren’t her own. Yes she said they aren’t hers, NO that doesn’t make it okay.
She charged for this event in April 2024 and photographers did attend. Reportedly though the models did not receive their images as promised in exchange for their work.
Ok I think the point is made with this damn content creation and her mini session ads. There’s more but I have to move on.
The rest of this post is going to be about all the various shenanigans Lena Ralston / Lenaria Photography has been up to. I tried to make it a timeline for ease of following along.
8/19/2023 Wedding
This client booked Lena after finding Lenaria Photography on Zola for their wedding. Their package was $1000 for 8 hours and Lena was paid a $500 deposit via Venmo.
A month before the wedding the client received an email saying their wedding booking was cancelled and when the client went to look up their contract they found that it was deleted. Lena assured the client that it was a mistake her assistant made.
Three days later Lena is sending a pushy text asking for the balance to be paid (it was before their due date, this is a theme with clients of Lena’s). They went ahead and paid $250 and a few hours later Lena texted asking for the remaining $250. They paid for the sake of sanity thinking this would stop the constant begging for money. It didn’t. Lena kept asking for small amounts of money to add on various services. The client declined.
The day of the wedding Lena was about an hour late from the contracted start time and from there on things were tense.
When Lena arrived allegedly one of her SD cards were corrupt and she didn’t have backups. The videographer let her borrow his equipment (SD Card/Keyring) with the agreement she’d send everything back 48 hours after the wedding. After a month the videographer reached out to the client when they hadn’t received it back from Lena. Eventually it was finally sent.
30 minutes before the ceremony Lena threatened to leave claiming that she needed to go do damage control at another wedding that an associate was photographing. She also said she was pregnant and couldn’t hand the stress of the attitude that the clients bridal party and family members were giving to her. The clients talked her off the ledge and she agreed to stay.
Lena tried to leave the wedding earlier than the original contracted time of 9PM and the client believes she still didn’t get the full 8 hours even though she did stay a bit longer after she was reminded of the original end time.
The clients did receive their photos but weren’t overly thrilled with them. Lena did offer to give them a free family session since there is only one photo of them with their children but the client declined.
8/20/2023 Wedding
This client booked Lena for their wedding with an unknown package/price.
Lena cancelled on the client two weeks before the wedding and refused to send a refund. She offered to send her assistant in her place. Lena came with the assistant and got him set up and left to go to another wedding.
The clients had a lot of complaints about her assistant. He only took 2 photos during the ceremony and had to be told what to photograph the entire day.
The following day Lena messaged the client claiming they harassed the assistant.
It took 3 months for Lena to turnaround the images for the client and it was only after the client was forced to apologize for her and her guests actions toward the assistant.
9/9/2023 Wedding
This client booked Lena for a wedding for $1200 with an $800 deposit.
Lena double booked this date.
2 weeks before the wedding the client found out through the second photographer that was hired that Lena wasn’t planning on showing up to the wedding. The hired second photographer had never shot a wedding before and Lena was only paying $100 for her to primary shoot the wedding and offered to send another second photographer to help.
The client wanted a refund and Lena refused one citing that her contract states she doesn’t allow them. The problem is that this client didn’t have a contract.
Once the client went to an attorney to get a refund Lena started with the sob stories claiming her Mom had died.
Her Mom is very much alive and would later post in defense of Lena claiming that it was a misunderstanding and Lean MEANT a mother-like figure.
10/30/2023 Wedding
Lena was booked for this wedding for an unknown amount/package.
Lena did show up for this wedding but she was late and did not come with the second photographer that was paid for (and not refunded).
While the client in retrospect is grateful that Lena showed up she did have some complaints about their experience in working with Lena.
The first thing that was off putting for the client was that Lena chose to wear a very bright pink outfit for the wedding which really stood out instead of blending in.
There are other various complaints from the day about Lena (some I feel are valid – asking for a tip straight out is RUDE) but some I don’t find as offensive like Lena going through the buffet line after the bride and groom.
The client eventually posts to a Facebook Group in July (above) and the comments are lit. Other people who have had incidents with Lena chime in eventually leading to Lena posting she’s quitting photography and 2025 will be her final year.
Lena told the bride that she would be suing her for defamation and asked for the post to be taken down and the client refused.
5/17/2024 Wedding
Lena was booked for this wedding for $800. Lena asked for a $700 deposit since it was a special and the client opted to pay it in full upon booking. It is unknown what package they booked.
The day of the client’s bridal shower Lena blew her phone up demanding $100 which she thought she was still owed. Eventually once the client was home and able to show proof she was paid in full Lena did not apologize and instead blamed an assistant.
The client decided to purchase additional coverage for $800. Once again, Lena got her bookkeeping messed up and says that the client owes her money and again she has to be told the client paid in full.
Lena DID show up to photograph the wedding but there were a lot of complaints about her actions the day of. She was rude to various people, was often caught not working and chatting it up with bartenders/taking selfies and didn’t have any posing ideas. The clients had her leave an hour early due to their frustrations.
The client did receive their photos but maintains working with Lena was awful.
5/18/2024 Wedding
Lena was booked for this wedding for an unknown amount/package.
Lena’s second photographer ended up photographing this wedding solo after backing out in January. Lena did not supply another photographer and told the clients 1 extra hour with a main photographer was the same as having a second photographer the entire day.
8/31/2024 Wedding
This client hired Lena to photograph their wedding and booked the $3K package which came with 10 hours of coverage, a second photographer and an engagement session. The deposit, $1800, was paid upon booking.
From 1 week after booking until the client decided to fire Lena she would constantly harass the client asking for the balance to be paid. She would offer extra hours or bonuses if the balance was paid saying she was needing money for various reasons.
When it came time for the engagement session in March the first scheduled date Lena cancelled due to weather (it was chilly but not unbearable). The second time she cancelled the morning of for weather again (it was 68 degrees).
Eventually when it does happen in April the clients didn’t get to choose the location, Lena insisted on a location closer to her. The shoot was 10-15 minutes long. Lena offered to rush the editing for an additional $200 but the client decided to wait the quoted 7 days turnaround instead. After 3 weeks they received 6 photos, only one of which is useful.
Eventually the client paid another $700 when Lena texted the client claiming to have had a miscarriage and needed the funds for her time off of work. Lena offered to have a content creator come to capture iPhone photos the day of for free for paying early.
After a post went viral about Lena (see October 2023) the bride contacted Lena to find out what was going on. Lena told the client she just got off a psychiatric hold but could do a consultation call.
Ultimately the client decided to go ahead and cancel given all the issues that had already happened with their experience so far and after listening to everyone’s issues that had transpired.
The client requested a refund and Lena refused any money to be returned citing her contract. Lena never signed the contract. When the client pointed that out Lena deleted the contract.
The client made a couple TikToks I highly recommend watching.
9/21/2024 Weddings
After the viral Facebook Post at least 3 clients have discovered they all have Lena booked for their weddings.
9/22/2024 Wedding
This client booked Lena of Lenaria Photography for their wedding for an unknown amount/package.
In January the clients reached out to schedule their engagement session and Lena informed them she only does them on March 10th. Lena then rescheduled the same day to March 30th, then to April 27th, then April 28th they finally have their engagement session. Lena promises a week turnaround time.
3 weeks later, the client reaches out to find out where their photos are and Lena promises that they will be delivered tomorrow.
The next day Lena tells the clients that her SD card is corrupted and she’s going to see if her Grandpa can fix it. She cannot recover the images so they have a reshoot on June 9th and she rushed the clients through the session.
After the viral post the client requested a refund as it was the final straw for them after Lena lost their engagement photos. She has refused the refund request.
10/5/2024 Weddings
After the viral Facebook Post at least 2 clients have discovered they all have Lena booked for their weddings.
10/6/2024 Weddings
After the viral Facebook Post at least 2 clients have discovered they all have Lena booked for their weddings.
10/12/2024 Weddings
After the viral Facebook Post at least 4 clients have discovered they all have Lena booked for their weddings.
Client A only booked for wedding coverage only, it’s unknown what package they booked but they paid $1100.
After multiple text messages from Lena, she took an offer for 2 extra hours for free to pay off her package in full.
Lena agreed to refund but the client has not got a refund yet.
Client B was wooed by the cheap price, unknown what they paid/what their package was but it included an engagement session.
They conferred with a high school friend who had used Lena for their own wedding and they said that while she was not great with communications at the end of the day they felt it was worth what they paid for their wedding so Client B went ahead and booked.
They scheduled an engagement session and it was rescheduled multiple times due to weather, covid and whatever other reasons Lena could fart out. One of the dates they had scheduled they were shocked to find out that Lena was going to be on vacation in Florida when they were supposed to have their session.
The session finally happens and the photos were turned around in a decent amount of time and they were satisfied.
Then the poop hit the fan after the July post and they discovered there are 3 other clients for their same dates when they read the comments.
They contacted Lena for a refund and she refused stating that their wedding was the one she intended on going to (sure Jan.gif).
This client has also posted their own TikTok which is also worth a watch!
10/26/2024 Weddings
After the viral Facebook Post at least 2 clients have discovered they all have Lena booked for their weddings.
5/3/2025 Wedding
This client booked Lena of Lenaria Photography for their wedding in Indiana for $2000 which included 6 hours of coverage for photography and videography and a second photographer.
They tried to get their engagement session scheduled for this coming autumn and had some difficulty with Lena. She asked for more money down on their package but in exchange would offer an album so the client agreed and sent an additional amount for a total of $1400 paid.
The client wanted a location that was a half hour away but Lena wanted more money for that and the clients were not comfortable sending Lena any more money so they agreed to go to a park in Anderson near where Lena lived instead of the park a half hour away.
After the viral Facebook post the client decided to end their agreement and asked for a refund. Lena refused a refund and said she was going to let them go from their agreement to pay in full. The client noted that the contract wasn’t signed by Lena so they wanted their money back.
5/31/2025 Wedding
This client booked Lena of Lenaria Photography for their wedding in Missouri for $1500 which included travel, 8 hours of wedding photography coverage and an engagement session.
There was a bit of high pressure sales with the booking – Lena required to be paid within 2 hours of sending out her proposal via Zelle or Venmo.
As with other clients after booking Lena was constantly asking the client to add things on for a discounted rate.
The clients were supposed to have an engagement session with Lena in July but that did not take place.
The clients requested a refund and Lena agreed to one but it hasn’t been sent.
I don’t have dates for all of these but here’s some other complaints I found about Lena / Lenaria Photography from wedding photography clients that I don’t have the full stories to:
Here’s the complaints from photographers about Lena:
It’s a LOT. There’s multiple upcoming weddings that are booked and it’s unknown what the status for many are. She is still working and getting tagged in sessions so she hasn’t quit yet.