Woman ‘Ruins’ Bride’s Wedding Photos After Dispute with Photographer
A woman has described how she was told she “ruined” her sister-in-law’s wedding photos after the photographer would not respect her wishes when it came to taking pictures of her infant son.
A Reddit user named u/throwawayweddingpic2, shared the story on Friday, in a post that has fuelled a debate about wedding photographers.
While she was at her brother’s wedding, the woman claims she spotted the photographer taking photos of her 18-month-old son.
Her son was the only baby at the otherwise child-free ceremony. The Reddit user says she would have been happy to arrange a babysitter for her child but her sister-in-law “really wanted him there” and made an “exception” for him.
Although the photos were sweet, the woman wanted to protect her child’s privacy. So, she approached the wedding photographer and politely requested that no close-up photos of her 18-month-old son would be used for promotional purposes.
However, the wedding photographer was angry with the mother’s request.
According to the Reddit user, he became “defensive” saying that the bride had signed off on his terms and conditions which allowed him to use any wedding photos online and on social media for promotional purposes.
The woman clarified to the photographer that she did not mind her son being pictured in any group shots. She simply did not want any close-up photos of her son being used for promotional material.
The Reddit user says she reminded the wedding photographer that as her 18-month-old son was still a child, he could not give his consent and as his mother, she did not give her permission either, regardless of any paperwork that her sister-in-law may have signed with the wedding photographer.
Nevertheless, the wedding photographer allegedly refused to respect the woman’s wishes regarding her son. According to the Reddit user, he simply shrugged in response and told her “sorry, no can do.”
The woman, who has a strict no social media rule when it comes to photos of her son, says she had tried to be polite with the wedding photographer but after the conversation, she felt forced to take charge of the situation.
So the Reddit user decided to stand in front of her child to block the photographer’s camera lens for the rest of the wedding reception.
“I didn’t set out to be difficult, but he rubbed me up the wrong way so for the rest of the event I made sure to always place myself between the photographer and my son to prevent him getting more pics,” the woman writes.
“It was a bit awkward at times having to shift my position mid-conversation but I didn’t make a scene or do anything inappropriate for the photos. In fact, nobody even knew what I was doing and I certainly wasn’t going to trouble the bride and groom over it during their big day.”
Ruined Wedding Photos
But when the bride received the wedding photographs, she was furious to see that the Reddit user had ruined all the shots with her actions.
“It was only after the fact when my sister-in-law got the photos back that she asked me what was going on,” the woman writes.
“Instead of focusing on other guests, the photographer had in fact continued trying to photograph my son and the result is a huge number of photos with my back turned.”
According to the Reddit user, her sister-in-law was annoyed that she had ended up blocking out other wedding guests in the photos. The bride was also upset that there were no pictures of her dancing with her eighteen-month-old nephew.
The woman, who had never taken her son to a wedding before this occasion, tried to explain her actions to her sister-in-law. But her family feels that she should have made them aware of any concerns about the wedding photographer beforehand.
Debate
The woman then asked other Reddit users whether she should be blamed for the ruined wedding photos. Several online users responded and criticized the wedding photographer.
“You have a right to make choices for your child and the photographer is definitely a big a**hole for neglecting the wedding and focusing on your son, either for his own benefit or to spite you,” one response reads.
“I can understand your sister-in-law’s disappointment, but she needs to take it up with the photographer, who behaved unprofessionally, rather than with you.”
However, others suggested that the photographer could have felt stressed and had been specifically asked to take photos of her son at the wedding.
“I work in the wedding industry and have a decent amount of photographer connections for various reasons. I don’t know a single one that wouldn’t honor the mother’s request,” another Reddit user comments.
“The only way they wouldn’t is if that kid was on their shot list given to them by the couple. Which I am inclined to believe due to the photographer’s response. They probably could have handled it better though.”
Sometimes things can go awry with wedding photography when the big day comes. PetaPixel previously reported how a wedding photographer handled a situation where the bride walked out on the big day and the groom’s mother ordered her to delete any pictures of her.
Image credits: Header photo by Kenny Eliason
