Bride Demands Refund After Catching Wedding Photographer Hooking Up With The Groom
Although the situation is unfortunate, is it really the photographer's responsibility?
vectorfusionart / Shutterstock / Reddit A wedding photographer has found himself in an incredibly awkward situation after he discovered that a colleague who helped him shoot a wedding ceremony later hooked up with the groom.
Now, the bride is demanding her money back, and the photographer is unsure how he should handle the dilemma.
The bride wants a refund on her wedding photos after learning her new husband cheated on her with one of their wedding photographers.
Sharing his story on the subreddit, r/WeddingPhotography, the photographer revealed that he photographed a wedding earlier in the summer that his usual co-photographer could not make, so he hired someone else whom he found online and appeared to be good at photography.
They photographed the wedding, edited the pictures, and sent them over to the bride and groom after the wedding. “Everything seemed business as usual,” the photographer wrote.
A few weeks after the wedding, he received an email from the bride.
“She wanted a refund because the lady I had hired as a second shooter for the day ended up sleeping with her husband at some point after the wedding, and she also included photos from his phone to prove it,” the photographer shared.
Now, he is unsure how to go about the situation or how he should even respond to the bride.
“She hired me for a job and the job was completed and the product was delivered,” the photographer appointed out. “But I also feel like this would be as if I were a professional dog walker who walked a client's dog, then came back and shot it later.”
The man also adds that his co-photographer on that particular day was a contractor who did not work for his company.
“I really feel for this lady, but that's also a lot of money to have to give back for work that was done,” he admitted.
While people sympathized with the woman, they noted that she was not entitled to a refund on her wedding photos.
“This sounds harsh, but her husband was going to cheat on her regardless of who your second shooter was. It’s not your fault that she married him,” one Redditor commented.
“You run a business and don't offer infidelity clauses in the contract. Work done. Work delivered, obligations met. You are human and can feel remorse for others, but you are also a business,” another user wrote.
Other users offered the photographer advice on how he should respond to the bride and how he should handle the situation going forward.
“Tell them you are sorry to hear that but there isn’t a way for you to refund for a service that has been completed per your contract. The second shooter is a contractor who I will not work with again but she is not directly involved with my business,” one user suggested.
“Out the second shooter on local Facebook pages so it doesn’t happen to someone else. Clearly, they don’t belong in the wedding industry,” another user encouraged.
The photographer revealed in the comments section that when he approached his co-photographer about the situation, she initially denied that she had been with the groom. However, when he showed her the photos sent to him by the bride, she claimed that he told her that he was in an “open relationship.”
While the situation is unfortunate for the bride, it was not the photographer's fault.
His job was only to capture photographs of their wedding day, and what happens between the bride and groom after the wedding is not his responsibility nor in his control.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.