Photographer ‘Tricked’ into Shooting His Sister’s Wedding
A photographer has described his anger at being “tricked” by his family into shooting his sister’s surprise wedding.
A Reddit user named u/mrenville, shared the story in a post that shocked readers.
The photographer claims that his sister announced that she would be throwing herself a surprise birthday party and she talked about it for months.
She was planning to have the party at her house. The Reddit user says that he was slightly upset with his sister as he had never been invited to her house despite the pair being “close.”
In the months leading up to his sister’s surprise birthday party, the Reddit user says that his mother kept repeatedly asking him if he would shoot the event as he was a photographer. He says that she pestered him about taking pictures for his sister.
He says: “My mom asked if I’d take some pictures since I am a photographer. My mom nagged me for a couple of months because everyone was going to be there.”
But, on the morning of his sister’s surprise birthday party, the Reddit user was rushed to the hospital — to the annoyance of his family.
Despite the photographer being seriously ill, he says his mother was irritated that he could not be there to shoot his sister’s party.
“I won’t go into details but the day before I wound up in the emergency room,” the photographer explains.
“The ER doctor ran a bunch of tests and an MRI and ended up admitting me and called in the neurosurgeon and booked an operating room for emergency surgery.
“It was now the morning of my sister’s birthday and I texted my mom to tell her I couldn’t be there and explained why and she was p*ssed.”
A Ruse for Free Wedding Photography
However later that day, the Reddit user received a message from his mother that revealed his sister’s “surprise birthday party” was actually her wedding day and that everyone had known about the surprise besides him.
“Later that evening she texted me a picture of my sister in a wedding dress getting married to her boyfriend,” he writes.
“I asked who all knew and she said everyone except you, we wanted it to be a surprise.”
He realized that the birthday party was a ploy to coerce him into taking his sister’s wedding photographs for free. His mother and sister were angry that he had missed the event, as they had no backup wedding photographer planned.
The photographer then asked Reddit users: “AITA [Am I the a**hole] for getting upset that I was basically being tricked into a full-on wedding photography [job] without knowing I was supposed to do it and everyone else knew it was a wedding and not her surprise birthday party?”
In a further comment, the Reddit user explains that he confronted his family about their ruse to get free wedding photography out of him.
He says: “I was upset and scolded my mom and sister for getting upset with me for not showing up and basically tricking me into lots of unknowing work because it’s not just a full day and night of taking pictures, it’s editing, arranging, and printing and making DVDs, et cetera.”
‘Speechless’
Reddit users were appalled by the mother’s and sister’s behavior, with the photographer’s post receiving over 7,800 upvotes and over 800 comments.
Online users were left “speechless” by his family’s disregard for his health and their expectation that he would be the photographer rather than a guest at his sister’s wedding.
A photographer chimed in: “As someone who has done a number of paid weddings, if someone tried to pull this sh*t on me I’d immediately pack up and leave.
“If you want me to photograph your wedding, an agreement needs to be done prior (either financial or I’m offering to cover it as a favor).”
Sometimes things can go awry with wedding photography when the big day comes. PetaPixel previously reported on a bridesmaid who got demoted to an unpaid photographer at her friend’s wedding.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
