North Carolina prosecutors have filed felony charges against the owners of Holly Christina Photography, a wedding studio accused of taking roughly $1 million from more than 217 consumers before shutting down.

Christopher Owen Ayscue and Holly Scott Ayscue, both 26 and from Franklinton, each face one felony count of obtaining property by false pretense. The criminal charges filed July 31 run parallel to a civil lawsuit from North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson over the consumer complaints.

What triggered the criminal case?

The charges trace back to a contract signed last summer with bride Morgan Bales. She paid $5,691 for photography services for her March wedding.

Arrest warrants allege the business closed before her wedding, failed to deliver the contracted services, and never refunded her money.

"Having close to $6,000 taken from you and no sign of getting it back, I needed to see some kind of justice served just so I could leave it alone," Bales said, according to ABC11.

Bales pushed prosecutors for criminal charges, arguing it was the only path to justice. She had to book a replacement photographer just six weeks before her wedding after losing thousands of dollars.

How did the business collapse?

Holly Christina Photography specialized in weddings in the Triangle area. Trouble surfaced publicly last fall, when brides posted on social media that they could not reach anyone at the company. The studio announced its closure in January.

A judge granted a preliminary injunction against the company and its owners after the Attorney General's Office received the consumer complaints. The Ayscues are banned from doing photography in North Carolina until the state's lawsuit is resolved.

"As a wedding photography company, you really have to screw up to get sued by your state's attorney general," Jackson said in May at a news conference, according to The News & Observer. "But here we are."

Two judges have already entered civil judgments against the pair:

• Earlier this month, a judge ordered them to repay a bride $14,207.01.
• In March, another judge awarded a different bride $3,000.

What happens next?

Holly Ayscue was released on unsecured bond. Christopher Ayscue posted a $20,000 secured bail bond. Both are scheduled to appear in court in August.

For working wedding photographers, the case is a stark reminder of how quickly unfulfilled contracts and unrecovered retainers escalate from client disputes to attorney general enforcement, injunctions and felony prosecution — with the Ayscues' next court date set for August.