COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Allison Gardner dreamed of the perfect wedding day as she began making plans.
Her family would fly in from across the country to watch her get married. She would wear one dress for the ceremony and another for the reception.
And a photographer would be there to capture the memories. She said that's how her perfect day began to unravel the morning of her wedding.
"She said that she was having some kind of medical problem and she wasn't going to be there, so of course, I was freaking out," Gardner said. "I was saying, like, can I get a refund? I needed to pay somebody, like, right now."
11Alive contacted the wedding photographer — Danielle Caldwell — who said she had every intention of showing up to Allison's wedding until she fell ill the morning of.
"This wasn't done out of malice. I was getting ready for her wedding, already dressed and loading my equipment, when I started feeling very light-headed, and my chest started pulling and hurting badly," she wrote in a Facebook message. "The money was used towards bills to pay rent as any job would be... so that's why I didn't have the money."
Gardener said she felt trapped and decided to warn others about her experience on a Facebook group. She was surprised by some of the comments.
"I probably took off work 3 to 4 different times and never got any photos," one person wrote.
"Same exact thing happened to me," another posted in response to the commenter.
Gardner decided to take her concerns to a Coweta County Judge, who issued a warrant for Caldwell.
In October, Caldwell cut a plea deal with a state court judge, who ordered her to serve a year on probation and pay Gardener $900 in restitution within six months.
Gardner said she's only received a fraction of that money so far.
"That six months was in April... I'm still fighting this," Gardner said. "It's not even about the money anymore."
The photographer told 11Alive that this one mistake won't define her as a person and that she has learned from this.
"This issue has already been handled through the courts. I believe this is nothing more than a plot of malice because she hasn't been paid off by the estimated time," Caldwell said. "I have an extension until June 7th that's been probation approved... In conclusion, Allison will get paid off before June 7th."