Photo: TikTok
One woman's difference of opinion is another woman's egregious violation of her constitutional rights, apparently.
By John Sundholm — Written on Mar 28, 2023
Disagreements are inevitably a part of any working relationship, let alone the one between a bride and a wedding planner, given many brides' "bridezilla" tendencies.
But one wedding planner on TikTok's relationship with a bride soured so badly that it escalated to threats of a lawsuit—all because the bride is against LGBTQ people and the wedding planner isn't.
A wedding planner was threatened with a lawsuit for 'firing' a homophobic bride over a difference of opinion.
All she did was refund the bride's money and say she didn't want to work with her anymore. But the bride somehow turned it into a perceived violation of her constitutional rights.
Laura Fragoso Hiller is a virtual wedding planner based in Texas, and was thrilled to help a bride who came to her with just six months left until her big day. But things went south real fast.
"She procrastinated on finding a photographer," Fragoso Hiller said in her TikTok, and she "had a very specific aesthetic that she was looking for." So Fragoso Hiller jumped into action, doing extensive research on wedding photographers in Atlanta, where the bride was holding her wedding, who would fit the bride's style.
She landed on one that seemed perfect and sent his name to the bride. A few days later she got an angry phone call from the "pretty pissed off" bride insisting, "we need to find a different photographer."
The bride rejected the wedding photographer because he is a gay man.
"They're gay," the homophobic bride said of the photographer and his assistant, who is also his husband, and that goes against our values," she told Fragoso Hiller. "It's not appropriate for a family event, and I can't believe that you would feel comfortable suggesting them to me."
Fragoso Hiller was shocked by what she felt was an absurd complaint. "First of all, I didn't know they were gay," she told the bride. "I don't make it a habit to call photographers and be like, hey, are you by chance sleeping with your second shooter?"
She says the bride demanded "you need to find me more photographers," to which Fragoso Hiller replied, "No, honey, you need to find another planner," and "fired" the bride on the spot.
"Let this be a warning to anyone thinking of hiring me," Fragoso Hiller said, "I'm not a homophobe, and I don't want my clients to be." But for the bride, it was not so simple.
The homophobic bride accused the wedding planner of discriminating against her because of her Christian religious beliefs.
"Her reaction was what you would expect," Fragoso Hiller said in a follow-up video.
After the bride accused her of discrimination, Fragoso Hiller replied, "No, ma'am, I was raised Christian, and those were not the values that I grew up with, I was taught that it was not my place to judge others and to love my neighbor."
The bride then tried to make it about money, but Fragoso Hiller readily refunded her "every penny," and even gave her the "17-page spreadsheet" of wedding preparations she'd put together.
The bride responded by ranting about "cancel culture" and how the wedding planner was "going to call her out," to which Fragoso Hiller responded by giving the bride even more resources, like a list of photographers "because I'm soft and I felt bad." If you think that was enough to satisfy this bride, reader, you are wrong.
The homophobic bride threatened to sue the wedding planner for discrimination and defamation because of their difference in opinion.
In yet another follow-up TikTok, Fragoso Hiller described how the homophobic bride "called me and the first words out of her mouth were, yeah, that video is going to have to come down," and when Fragoso Hiller refused, the homophobic bride replied, "then prepare to be sued for defamation."
Fragoso Hiller then asked the question you're likely yelling at your computer screen as we speak—"How do you expect to make a defamation case over a video that doesn't even mention your name?" Unsurprisingly, the bride had no answer to that question and returned to her claims of discrimination.
This brings up another question. Why is it discrimination for Fragoso Hiller to decide to refund the homophobic bride's money and part ways, but it's not discrimination for the homophobic bride to refuse to work with a gay photographer or attempt to force Fragoso Hiller to work with a homophobic bride she doesn't wish to work with?
As the video below explains, a wedding planner "firing" a bride doesn't even approach the legal definition of discrimination because "bride" is not a protected class under the law.
Again unsurprisingly, none of this ever seemed to have occurred to the bride—nor did she have any understanding of what discrimination actually is when Fragoso Hiller attempted to explain it to her. "What if you had said him being Mexican was inappropriate, him being Black was inappropriate?" she asked the homophobic bride, who shot back that "if being those things was against my religion, then... that should be okay."
That is the point at which Fragoso Hiller says she "just lost it." She told the homophobic bride, "girl, you live with your fiance out of wedlock. You were literally just telling me the other day about how your bachelorette party is going to involve going to a strip club. You have divorced friends." All things Jesus would likely frown upon—and some of which the Bible explicitly speaks against. (Wonder if the homophobic bride has ever read it...)
Anyway, that was the end of the business relationship between Fragoso Hiler finished by telling the homophobic bride she was "cherry picking" her religion, and then officially parted ways—by hanging up the phone.
We wish the homophobic bride the best of luck in finding a lawyer to represent her in her supposed defamation and discrimination cases where neither defamation nor discrimination has occurred—and Fragoso Hiller better luck with her future clients.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.