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“Perfect Mid-Sneeze Shot”: 33 Of The Worst Moments Photographers Saw And Captured At Weddings
Most couples want to remember their wedding day for the rest of their lives. They’ll look back on the photos to celebrate that special day for years to come. But even after paying a videographer and a photographer thousands to capture every single moment, there might be a few details that the happy couple doesn’t ever need to see.
Wedding photographers on Reddit have been revealing the worst things that they've ever caught on camera, so we’ve compiled a list of their stories below. From angry brides to bloody noses, enjoy reading about all of the moments that definitely didn’t make it into the photo album!
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#1
During the portrait time with the bride and the groom, the bride reached her arms up to hug the groom, who was significantly taller. She was wearing a strapless dress. The dress stayed put, and the rest of her made a surprise appearance. I did not deliver those images.
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#2
The wedding was on a pier. The couple and the planner kept checking the radar on their phones for rain to decide if they should do the wedding on the pier, or take it inside. I looked out on the pier and said to them, “I don’t know what your radar says, but those are rain clouds.” They make the call to do the ceremony on the pier anyway.
About 3 minutes into the ceremony, it starts to rain. Out of nowhere, a man appears with a heart shaped wicker box. I always ask the couple if there is anything different about the wedding I should be aware of. They never said anything to me about this, so I was caught off guard. Cool. Fine. I just keep shooting. He hands the box to the bride. She opens it up, and there are two doves in there. Ok. Pretty cool. I’ve heard of a dove release, but had never actually seen one. But, the doves were NOT feeling it. They just sat there and were like, yeah, no, it’s the beach and it’s raining. Bride looks at bird handler. Back at the birds. Shakes the box. Nothing. He motions for her to scoot them out of the box. She reaches in there and they immediately flee the box. They both fly directly into her face. I shot in burst mode, and got a pretty wild sequence of shots . One of the birds gets caught in her weave, and she shakes her head while swatting at the bird to free it.
Then the bottom falls out. Pouring rain and heavy winds. The officiant continues like nothing is happening. Zero sense of urgency. People are just getting up and heading inside. One of the family members gets up in the middle of the aisle, and starts screaming and chanting. “JUST SAY I DO! KISS!” They do, and it starts raining even harder. I backpedal down the pier as they run through the rain. The shots of them running through the rain are actually pretty beautiful.
The whole wedding was a complete mess. They ended up telling me that I was the only thing that went right on their wedding day, and that looking at my pictures made them happy, and that the pictures made the awful day look beautiful.
#3
There has been several times where I'm on my knee, getting shots of the little flower girl / ring bearer child coming up the aisle, and one or more women will be sitting in full view with their knees apart... while wearing a short skirt. Welp, that's getting cropped!
Wedding photography is a big business. According to The Knot, wedding photographers cost $2,900 on average, and the price might exceed $3,300 if you have over 100 guests in attendance. Now, this might sound like a high price to pay for photos, but you have to keep in mind what exactly you’re getting.
Professional photographers told The Knot that they typically show up to a wedding with over $100,000 worth of gear. They also might have an entire team of photographers that they have to pay, to ensure that every moment is captured on camera. There are also traveling fees to consider, as well as the time and tools necessary for editing the photos. And, of course, the photographer must have prices that reflect their current market and location.
#4
Got there way too early since I had to do some pictures of the place and some of them pre-ceremony. Met the future husband, talked to him and his bride about what I would do. The ceremony starts and everything is going nice enough. I had to be ready all the time in case they call me or something happens so I was constantly close and scouting for them. Sometimes I would see some good moment or had some idea and I would tell them if they wanted a picture so I'd take it. At some point the couple is no longer inside so I go around to look for them. I spot them outside in the back of the place, which was a beautiful patio with decorations and all that thing. They are just close, talking side by side with heads slightly tilted towards each other and I think "Aww yeah this is going to be a great pic" and I try to come closer without them looking. I take the picture with my zoom and only then they simultaneously notice me and I notice that they have the saddest faces I've seen in a bride and groom.
I ask if everything is okay and they say yes so I let it go. Not my place I said, but when the party was almost over the groom approached me and in the middle of the conversation he says that the ceremony was so exhausting for them because they knew almost nobody there. It turns out the mother of the groom "had" to have a wedding for his son and orchestrated the whole thing without them knowing, and invited *her* friends and family, and then let them know that they would have to come from where they lived (which was far away) to *their* wedding. That was on top of the fact that the son wasn't on good terms with his mother and the bride hated her. Apparently the mother was very toxic and manipulative. The only person the groom knew was his brother who got very drunk as soon as the ceremony allowed him to, and the bride knew nobody.
Later, looking at the photos, I noticed that when the two were together alone, they looked lovely and happy, but their warmth would slightly decrease when the mother was present in the picture, but that might be my confirmation bias, I don't know.
I remember that the groom said "I probably know you more than I know most people at this party" and had me sit down, eat cake and drink with him and the bride and wait out the rest of the people.
I didn't send them that picture of them although I always wondered if I should had. They were very intimate and enduring something together and it was a very good picture outside the emotion.
Edit: You guys convinced me, I'll try to get in touch with them and hopefully send them the picture.
#5
A Bride so dosed on tranquilizers that it was almost impossible to get a smile out of her.
Their album just looks like a happy husband and indifferent bride. She was completely emotionless. No happiness, no elation, no joy, no smile.
Just a bad case of mild rbf.
#6
After 10 years of wedding photography- The moment before the ceremony where the groom sneezed a bloody nose onto the front of the bride’s beaded dress. Apparently he gets bloody noses when he gets nervous. Stopped all photos and got emergency Sprite soda cleaning done in the hotel/ceremony location. Was asked to delete all photos and keep the situation from the mother of the bride. Bride was surprisingly understanding! 2 hours of pre-ceremony photos cut short, but the blood was removed quick enough to not be noticeable for the ceremony. After review I had a perfect - mid-sneeze shot with blood flying outta the groom’s face. Sad to see that one edited.
While it might be tempting to go for the cheapest option when booking a wedding photographer, it’s much better to be safe than sorry. Especially if you want to avoid falling into the one-third of brides who regret their wedding day photography. This often happens because they didn’t have time for enough photos, they forgot to tell their photographer about certain photos they wanted, or their photographer’s equipment malfunctioned.
To avoid these issues, Complete Weddings + Events recommends discussing the shot list ahead of time, doing an engagement shoot to build rapport with the photographer, keeping the lighting in mind, and resisting the urge to focus too much on perfect poses. The best wedding photos are natural, and maybe even candid, so trust that your photographer knows what they're doing. (And I'm sure they'll spare you from the photos that you don't want to see!)
#7
Did freelance photography for a while after I graduated high school. Got hired, along with another photographer by a company to shoot a wedding. This company instructed us to get as many candid photos as possible per the request of the client. The other photographer was female and we split up during the preparation phase and I hung out with the groom and groomsmen and she went with the bride and bridesmaids. Her session with them was largely uneventful. Mine was... less so. It became clear that the groomsmen had been drinking for a while when I arrived and that did not stop. For the groomsmen getting ready took only a few minutes, put on tuxes, boom done. So we had a few hours to hang out while the bride got hair/makeup etc. done. The groomsmen took full advantage of this period to get, absolutely obliterated. I got a few good shots during this as the comradery between these guys was clear, unfortunately it was like a four way enabling session as they poured each other more shots, played ill advised drinking games, and tried to psych each other up for more of the same.
Once the time for the ceremony rolled around they could barely walk straight, and the groom was the worst off of them. I broke away from them to get my position for the ceremony and let the other photographer know what a circus this was getting ready to be. She told me that the bride had expressed concern that the groomsmen would get too drunk before the ceremony. We both just kinda braced ourselves for what was to come. The ceremony started and the groomsmen came up the aisle in a parade of painfully obvious inebriation. The groom stumbled and almost took a knee at one point, and almost completely fell stepping up to the little platform where they would say their vows. Then the bridesmaids came in and watching their anger and concern bloom on their faces as they took in the groomsmen standing unsteadily on the dais is hilarious in hindsight, but felt like a slow motion train wreck in the moment.
Then the bride, oh god that poor bride, entered the church and even through the veil you could tell she was vacillating between fury and sadness. She stepped up to the little platform and in the silent moment between the music fading away just before the pastor could begin speaking one of the groomsmen ripped a horrendously loud fart. The bride's face fell, half of the people in attendance started laughing while the other half let out a breathless, disgusted, gasp. The groom barely stifled a laugh, and one of the other groomsmen turned and punched the farter in the arm. It was as if these dudes had no clue where they were or how important the event was to everyone but them apparently. The other photographer and I did our best to get shots and just do the job we were getting paid to do. It was difficult to get any close ups of the bride or groom as the bride settled on furious for her facial expression for the remainder of the ceremony and the groom was a drunken sod who could barely focus his eyes on his bride. She uttered her vows through gritted teeth and he slurred through his while slowly rocking back and forth.
The reception only spiraled out from there. The groom threw up on the floor before the cake cutting, and was ensconced somewhere. After one of the groomsmen struck out with the bridesmaids he set his sights on the other photographer. eventually our agreed upon time ran out and we got out of there. I handed off all of my RAW files to the company that hired me and wished them luck on editing that travesty.
#8
I was filming a wedding ceremony for some friends this summer.
The bride's stepfather was sitting in the front row. She had already warned me that he could be trouble, so I made a note of where he sat down before the ceremony started.
He sat down in the front row and promptly fell asleep. For the whole 20 minutes ceremony he slept.
I was so angry on the bride's behalf, who sits on the front row and then can't stay awake for the few minutes the ceremony lasted?
I managed to avoid him in the final edit, thank god.
#9
Im not a "real wedding photographer" only, but I mainly do Portraits and Figure Photography. I was invited to a wedding once as a backup and it was a very sunny day, therefore the bride got hot in her long dress. She started fiddling because she wanted to get out of the direct sun (but the lighting was perfect). She then slipped, knocked her shoulder right onto the concrete and her shoulder got dislocated. One of the bridemates just saw the dislocated shoulder of the bride and just passed out right onto the husband. It was very hard to supress the laughter, when you see a bride holding her shoulder and the groom having a quite corpulent lady laying on his back.
Like any other photoshoot, it can be extremely disappointing if you don’t get exactly what you want out of your wedding day shots. But sometimes, the photographer is just doing their best with what they have to work with… Keep upvoting the stories that make you cringe, and let us know in the comments below if you’ve ever seen anything similar take place at a wedding. Then, if you’re interested in checking out another list from Bored Panda discussing wedding drama, look no further than right here!
#10
I was videotaping the vows and the bride was crying with happiness. During the whole thing there was a giant long clear sac of booger hanging out of one nostril.
#11
A friend is an amateur wedding photographer. During the cocktail hour, a guests wife realized that her husbands ex wife was working at the function as a waitress and decided to throw a glass at her mid photo. I saw the photo but don't have it. It was funny though.
#12
The groom snuck a kiss to someone that was not the bride and full mouth-to-mouth contact. Literally screamed when I saw it, deleted in a panic, and told myself maybe hopefully it was only drunk shenanigans...This was maybe 4-5 years ago...last I heard through the grapevine, she's pregnant now with their first kid, so...idk.
#13
It was last August, the day was really sunny and hot and I think the bride didn’t eat or drink for several hours because she was nervous. The ceremony was outdoors and after it was finished, I was going to take a picture of the couple with all the guests standing in front of the wedding arch. So, people are gathering around the couple, there are 80 guests so it takes some time to make sure that everyone is going to be visible in the picture, and finally when everything is perfect, as I say “now everyone look in the camera and smile!” the bride closes her eyes and collapses. The groom caught her right before she fell on the ground. It was so hot that day and she was probably dehydrated, so she fainted! And I captured that moment in my picture.
#14
There was this aunt of the bride or groom (not sure which) who wore a dress that I’m pretty sure was actually meant to be a long blouse. She got plastered at the reception and was dancing in the middle of a circle of people so I peered in between two people and snapped some photos of her. Didn’t realize until I’d gotten home and pulled them up on my computer that her “dress” was bouncing up when she jumped and exposed her.
This was a wedding that I shot for an event company, so the way that works is that I just turn over the raw files to the company and an editor edits them and delivers the album to the client.
I forgot to give them a heads up about it but you’d think they would notice.
Nope.
I wound up seeing the couple’s final album in the system after it had already been emailed to them, and low and behold Aunty is in there.. and out there.
Edit: apparently it’s “lo and behold”.
#15
A father-daughter dance in which their hatred for each other was palpable. It was painful and we felt weird including those in the album download.
Close second: giant paper Chinese lantern decorations catching fire. Indoors. In a wooden building.
#16
My gf has done some wedding photography and she said there was this one wedding were the groom tried to hit on her literally 15 minutes after the vows were taken and in full view of his new wife.
#17
I filmed a guy pushing a baby carriage. The two sides of family were not fans of one another and I was filmed a nice moment where a gentleman was making baby talk to a baby in a push carriage. The baby reached for his beer bottle and the guy let the baby touch it.
Well the father of the kid grabbed the beer bottle and chucked it down the field then shouted at the guy "you don't give beer to kids!" So the beer guy got a mean mug and shoved the carriage a bit. I got it all on tape from about 20 feet away. Even got a cutaway of the smashed beer bottle the guy threw.
#19
I borrowed a colleagues car to drive down to England the week before my wedding. On the road back I hit a sheep at 70 mph and took the front left hand wing off the car. The opening minute of my wedding video was him walking into the churchyard shouting 'my car, what have you done to my car'.
He also had a photocopy of my insurance claim. I drew a picture of a square (the car), with an arrow pointing to the front left hand corner with the word sheep written across it. He handed copies of these out to people at his table.
#20
Maybe not the worst, but the saddest. My wife shot a wedding for a bride and her father passed away later that night in his sleep of a heart attack. My wife made sure to give them all the nights photos, over 1500 photos, and edited them all for her. Usually she only gives 350 to 450 photos for a wedding package. Anyways, really sad situation. Those photos meant the world to the bride and she's been a return customer for years now. Super sad for the bride though.
#22
My friend is one and told a story about how this one bride that would flirt with everyone. I mean some people are like that and it is their nature. But she also flashed the camera ,both top and bottom. Then made out with a few guests. Apparently the groom justs sat with best man until he had to interact with the bride. Overall just a tragedy of a wedding.
#23
Just remembered another. Large Catholic ceremony - groomsmen had written “HELP ME” in bright white on the bottom of groom’s shoes as a prank. When he knelt for the ceremony the entire church could see. Snickers and laughs throughout somber ceremony. Bride was FURIOUS and wouldn’t speak to any of them after she found out for the rest of the day. We were asked to photoshop it out of the final album. Probably mean but also hilarious.
And another - not a photo issue but Groom spilled entire pint of beer down the DJ’s main Bose speaker at the beginning of the reception. Music goes down with no way to continue playing. Bride immediately bursts into tears and spends the next hour in the bathroom crying. The groomsmen come to the rescue by backing a pickup truck up to the open reception doors and plugging in an iPod - pre-smartphone days. Groom was schwasted and Bride finally came out of the restroom to finish the night.
So many more stories... it was an interesting job to say the least.
#24
I know about a shot that a guy that filmed a wedding I went to caught. So he's doing the whole interviewing guests routine and catches a couple and starts doing his routine at a place where he could set his gear and catch people.
What he caught in the background was subtle but so freaking bad, he had a door to a bathroom in the frame. And yeah you can identify the people going in and out.
Anyways you can see the groom leave the bathroom and closing the door and he's instantly swept up by some people. But then for about 5-10 minutes more or less the door is shut and no one goes in or out, no cuts and the people being talked to go on and on about something. Imagine the double take that some people will do when they notice the bride's younger 17 year old sister leaves the bathroom. It took a while for people to notice, I mean who fully watches these videos anyways. Well someone did and it got out.
And there was drama.
P.S. 17 years is legal here but common he was 27 and literally just married.
#25
I used to be a videographer that worked with a photographer. We did weddings and parties and various other events.
We once shot a wedding where the bride and groom seemed forced to be together. 300 pound obnoxious fat slob of a man with a very pretty black woman. He was absolutely wasted right from the beginning of the reception and she didn't look like she wanted to be there at all. The groom paid no attention to her the entire night and proceeded to make her and her family look terrible. It truly looked like the kind of situation where he could do anything and she was forced to follow him. It was so sad. The wedding reception was at a HUGE expensive country club so I know that one of them was probably very wealthy and by how entitled him and his family acted all night, I can tell it was probably the groom.
#26
Did post it here before but will keep the detail short a bit mostly for privacy reason. Also, not a photographer but someone who help film the wedding.
Was in a nice church wedding where I am in a wedding production team helping out the camcorder equipment to film the entire wedding at the time (think 2005ish). The entire wedding went smoothly without any issue and the priest asked this question and out of the blue, a lady stand up and start talking. Because of where this lady sit, I was the closet camera at the area and manage to move the camera a bit to get a closer shot of this lady. Our team didn't know what this was about and though it was some sort of prank from maybe the bride or groom friends which they didn't notify us ahead of time. Later, we found out this lady was actually the groom former lover from another country he was dating for a while (5-6 years) and break it off the relationship quite suddenly without a trace and somehow she manage to found out about this wedding and literally, fly to the wedding uninvited and somehow manage to get in the church without causing any suspicious from the people of the family.
For around 10 minutes, this lady talk about the groom and their relationship between them during the time both was in the country she was from and the how the groom just left her and literally cut tie between without any explanation and how it literally destroy her during the time in need and she just want to warn the bride about the groom dark past so, she don't have to go through the same pain she have to go through. During this time, it was quiet as the guest didn't even say anything and you can see the groom was sweating and turning in red on the face. As for the bride, she take in quite well for someone who have to hear all this dark stuff of her future husband and also for someone who kinda crash her wedding. When the lady finished her talk, the priest was fluster and shock of what just happened and the bride thanked her of telling her about this and even with the info, she will still stay with her husband but want to be friend with the lady and try to help her if she need any help from what happen in the past.
Wont' discuss much about the wedding video but will say we have a very interesting discussion with the bride and groom parent of what to do with that shot of the lady talking. As for the bride and groom, the last update I have long ago is the bride is keeping a tight leach on her husband just to be sure he didn't do anything naughty while keep in touch with his ex lover.
#27
I did a little bit of videoing for a friend's wedding once. Nothing super pro, just a simple little camera to film some stuff with. At the reception, I'm asked to get the camera, realize it's still in the bride's car. Went to the car, got the camera, came back about 3 minutes later and found the groom in a fistfight with his now father-in-law about 5 seconds before the former broke the latter's nose and the two got separated.
I never got the full story of how and why this managed to happen (though what hints I picked up afterwards were not pleasant) but I felt like Donald Glover with the pizza in his hands.
#28
Speaking for the cameraman who got me on camera.
I was so drunk that I forgot the bride's name on camera... I knew her for around 5 years.
Needless to say, the whole family saw the film and they are still making fun of me (this happened 4 years ago).
#29
I had a poofy dress, during our first dance my husband slipped and fell not once but twice. There's a series of shots where you can see his legs go akimbo and the ankle bend oof.
#31
Drunk maid of honor giving drunk father of bride lap dance... With non drunk mother of the bride sitting right next to him. Then drunk maid of honor got in huge fight with Mom of bride. Drunk Bride wanted it all photographed because she thought it was hilarious. That night, I believe the flower girl and I were the only ones not drunk...
#32
My brother is a videographer who used to do weddings when he first started out. He once showed me a video of a bridesmaid falling down an entire LONG flight of stairs. The reception was at a classy hotel and they were introducing the bridal party in this lobby that had a beautiful staircase as the focal point, so not only were ALL of the guests there watching, but a ton of random people too. When she took her first step the heel on her shoe went inward instead of straight up and down, sending her head first down like 20 steps- at the bottom of which she actually landed on her feet before sluggishly making her way off camera. Oh, and she wasn’t wearing underwear.
#33
A family story, that doesn't work written down, goes:
This was when filming weddings where new and exciting, but not completely understood. In this wedding, everything was going well, except up to the point where someone sitting next to the camera whispered to the cameraman; "Doesn't she [the bride] look a bugger in that hat". Important to note 2 things:
1. The accent this was said in made "bugger" and "hat" rhyme
2. This was right next to the mic, and the video and audio was watched by the whole wedding after the ceremony.
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