Wedding Photos That Never Arrived: Judge Orders Holly Christina Photography Owners to Pay $1.7 Million

Published Oct. 15, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date.

Couples book a wedding photographer months ahead and pay a deposit, often the full price, before the big day. If the business fails, they can lose both the money and the only record of the day. That is what North Carolina's attorney general says happened to hundreds of customers of a Raleigh-area company.

A North Carolina judge has entered a default judgment against Holly Christina Photography and its owners, Holly Christina Scott Ayscue and Christopher Owen Ayscue, ordering them to hand over all paid-for photos and videos, pay nearly $600,000 in restitution and more than $1.1 million in civil penalties, and stay out of the photography business that takes advance deposits [1].

Status note: This is a civil consumer-protection case. No criminal charges have been reported. The default judgment followed what the state says was the defendants' failure to comply with an earlier court order; it is not a criminal conviction [1].

What the state alleged

Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued the company and its two owners in February 2026, alleging they misled couples and their families by failing to provide the photography and videography services they promised. The state Department of Justice said it had received 228 consumer complaints since January, with losses totaling nearly $600,000 [1].

WRAL's 5 On Your Side first reported on the problems in January, and the company announced in February that it would close [2].

How the case unfolded

1. February 2026: The attorney general files suit [1].
2. May 2026: Judge Bryan Collins Jr. grants a preliminary injunction, freezing the defendants' assets, ordering them to stop doing business in North Carolina while the case continued, and ordering them to deliver all edited and unedited photos and videos within 30 days [1].
3. September 2026: The state moves for default judgment, saying the defendants did not deliver all the photos and videos or provide a verified list of who had received them [1].
4. October 2026: Superior Court Judge Craig Croom grants default judgment. WRAL reported that Croom granted the $1.7 million default judgment at an Oct. 5 hearing; the attorney general's Oct. 12 announcement says the judge granted it "on Friday" [1][2].

At the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Mercedes Restucha said 142 consumers had received no refund of any kind, while more than 80 got money back through their financial institutions, WRAL reported [2].

What the judgment orders

According to the attorney general's office, the default judgment permanently [1]:

• orders the defendants to turn over all raw and edited photos and videos customers paid for, and to give the state a list of customers who received their media;
• orders nearly $600,000 in restitution and more than $1.1 million in civil penalties;
• bans them from entering contracts for photography or videography services, owning or operating a business that takes advance deposits for those services, or accepting certain jobs with such companies; and
• bars them from transferring assets derived from consumer payments.

"This case was about getting couples back the memories of their wedding day," Jackson said. "The defendants had every opportunity to turn them over, and they didn't" [1].

Whether customers will be repaid is unclear. Jackson told WRAL the company's finances are not fully known: "The business has not complied with a court order to give us a full accounting of the business and the money" [2].

The defendants and their side

• Holly Christina Photography (Raleigh area), wedding photography and videography company, now closed [1][2].
• Holly Christina Scott Ayscue, co-owner. Ages were not given in the sources we reviewed.
• Christopher Owen Ayscue, co-owner.

WRAL reported that the owners did not appear at the hearing and did not respond to its request for comment on the ruling. Weeks earlier, the co-owners told reporters outside a Winston-Salem courthouse that they were doing everything in their power to fulfill what they could, and Holly Ayscue said an illness contributed to the failure of the business [2].

Red flags before you book a wedding vendor

• Pressure to pay the full price long before the event.
• A sudden backlog of complaints about missing or unedited photos.
• Vague contracts without delivery deadlines or refund terms.
• Missed delivery dates followed by silence.

What to do if you're affected

1. Pay by credit card when you can. More than 80 customers in this case got money back through their financial institutions [2].
2. Put delivery dates in writing, including how many edited images you'll get and when.
3. Keep your contract, receipts and messages.
4. North Carolina customers can file a complaint with the state Department of Justice through ncdoj.gov.
5. Elsewhere, report to your state attorney general and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 15, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 15, 2026	Source
Holly Christina Photography	N.C. Superior Court	Civil: default judgment granted (Judge Craig Croom); ordered to deliver media, ~$600K restitution, $1.1M+ penalties; permanently barred from deposit-based photo/video business	[1], [2], [3]
Holly Christina Scott Ayscue	Same	Civil: same default judgment; no criminal charges reported	[1], [2]
Christopher Owen Ayscue	Same	Civil: same default judgment; no criminal charges reported	[1], [2]

Statuses can change. Civil judgments can be appealed or set aside.

Sources

1. North Carolina Department of Justice, "Attorney General Jeff Jackson Wins Wedding Photography Case; Judge Grants Default Judgment," Oct. 12, 2026. https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-jeff-jackson-wins-wedding-photography-case-judge-grants-default-judgment/
2. Flynn Snyder, "Uncertainty looms despite $1.7M judgment in favor of Holly Christina Photography customers," WRAL, Oct. 6, 2026. https://www.wral.com/consumer/5onyourside/holly-christina-photography-raleigh-judgement-uncertainty-october-2026/
3. "Judge orders wedding photography company to return photos, pay $1.7 million," WECT, Oct. 12, 2026. https://www.wect.com/2026/10/12/judge-orders-wedding-photography-company-return-photos-pay-17-million/

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