AWOL Wedding Photos Received

Sitting in a cramped, windowless conference room at the Santa Monica city attorney’s office, Tracy and Danielle Baum excitedly dug into the contents of a bulging brown document folder.

“We’ve been waiting almost two years for this,” Tracy Baum said.

Recently, the couple saw their wedding photos for the first time. The Baums were married on July 15, 2001. But the wedding photographer had refused to produce their pictures or return their money. Then she seemed to disappear, failing to respond to repeated phone calls and e-mails.

The Baums were among 53 couples jilted by Juli Armitage, 39, a Santa Monica wedding photographer who boasted of a background in glossy fashion magazine shoots and commanded fees as high as $4,000 per wedding.

She promised her upscale clients she would “capture the moment.” But in December 2002, prosecutors charged her with multiple misdemeanor counts of grand theft for taking thousands of dollars from the couples over five years and never returning with photos.

In a deal struck with prosecutors this spring, Armitage agreed to find the missing pictures and negatives and turn them over. So in the last several weeks, Teresa Bransfield, the city’s investigator, has been busy reuniting victims with their wedding photos, presiding as giddy couples tear into packages of pictures.

“It’s almost like they’re being transported back to their weddings,” Bransfield said.

Although most couples didn’t receive all of their photographs and some were less than pleased with the quality, “They were all very happy to get what they got. They took the scraps,” she said.

In one case, photos were shipped by Federal Express to a couple who, separated after their wedding by the war in Iraq, saw their photos for the first time after being reunited in Texas.

Time has elapsed -- there had been one divorce and several babies.

“You know, life goes on,” Bransfield said.

The Baums had moved on, resigned to never seeing their wedding photos. But suddenly spread out on the conference table were the pictures and rolls of negatives.

At first, there was a sound of disappointment as the Baums discovered that a black band covered the bottom third of every picture. After the wedding, Armitage had apologetically told the Baums the camera malfunctioned and the shutter had remained partially closed.

Even so, the Baums smiled as Danielle shuffled through the sepia-toned shots.

“This brings back a lot of memories,” her husband said. “I like two-thirds of each photograph,” he joked.

The couple said they’re considering re-creating their wedding day so new photographs can be taken, but it won’t be soon.

“It’s going to take me a little while to get that dress back on,” Danielle said, winking. She is eight months pregnant.

Altogether, 53 couples had been bilked, including five couples left standing at the altar when Armitage didn’t show up.

She and her attorney, Kerry Golub, a Santa Monica public defender, could not be reached for comment. According to court documents, Armitage now lives in Oxnard.

Deputy City Atty. Adam Radinsky, who prosecuted the case, said the anxious couples made easy targets.

“People planning weddings are especially vulnerable to consumer scams,” he said. “They’re extremely stressed out -- they’re tapped for time and money.”

Couples told Radinsky that Armitage showed up hours late, sometimes not at all. She later provided “clearly false excuses,” he said, telling one couple her father had died, then telling another couple she had been visiting her parents in Florida.

There were red flags. She required payment in advance, and most couples agreed. When she met with one couple at a restaurant, Radinsky said, she told them she had forgotten her wallet and asked them to buy her a drink.

Armitage was arrested on April 28 in Ventura.

“She needed to be brought to justice,” Bransfield said. “We had to stop her. She was out of control.”

At a court hearing two days before making her plea, Armitage, clad in a blue jail jumpsuit, made a call on the judge’s telephone and directed an associate to deliver a large box of photos.

That afternoon, Radinsky received the box, the first of several to come.

“The pictures symbolize, for many people, the memory of the day,” Radinsky said. “It’s often one of those prized possessions that people keep close to the front door in case of fire or earthquake.”

Armitage pleaded no contest to four counts of misdemeanor grand theft and was sentenced to three years’ probation. As part of her plea agreement, she identified couples to whom she owed pictures and agreed to pay restitution to them. Also, she may no longer accept more than 10% of her fee in advance and must complete six months of psychological counseling.

If she fails to meet any of those conditions, she could go back to jail.

“In the big picture,” Radinsky said, “it’s really a happy ending.”