Snapshot Horror: 16 Wedding Photographers Reveal Their Unforgettable Captures
16 Wedding Photographers Reveal the Worst Moments Caught on Camera
As a wedding photographer, you get to travel to new places and engage with a wide range of individuals, including the bride, groom, and their family. The work of a wedding photographer is not as enjoyable as it may appear. These people consider changing their line of work on many occasions.
Real bridezilla and groomzilla moments as well as numerous other unexpected occurrences occur behind the scenes of capturing the ideal shot, according to wedding photographers.
On Reddit, a few wedding photographers shared their worst moments captured on camera. The majority of them were unaware that they would see anything like that.
Grammar and clarity have been improved in the comments.
1. It Began to Pour
It was a pier wedding. u/TouchToLose. In order to determine whether to hold the wedding inside or outside on the pier, the couple and the coordinator were constantly monitoring the weather report on their phones.
They decide to do the wedding on the pier despite my comment, “I don’t know what your radar says, but those are rain clouds,” as I glanced at the pier.
It begins to rain three minutes into the ceremony. A man shows up out of nowhere carrying a wicker box shaped like a heart.
Every time, I ask the couple if there’s anything unique about the wedding that I should be aware of. I was taken aback because they had never mentioned this to me. Nice. Alright. I simply keep shooting.
He gives the bride the package. There are two doves inside when she opens it. Alright. Very cool. Though I’ve never really witnessed one, I’ve heard about dove releases. But these did not seem to be sensing it. They just sat there, realising that it was the beach and that it was pouring.
The bird handler catches the bride’s eye. Retaliate against the birds. The box trembles. Nothing. He gestures for her to push them aside from the container. They run out of the box as soon as she reaches inside.
Both of them fly right into her face. I took a series of quite bizarre pictures while shooting in burst mode. She swats at the bird to release it after it becomes tangled in her weave and shakes her head.
The bottom then comes out. There was a lot of rain and strong winds. The officiant keeps on with no haste, as if nothing was happening.
Individuals are just rising and going inside. A family member yells and cries, “JUST SAY I DO! KISS!” as they stand up in the midst of the aisle.
When they do, the rain gets even more intense. While they ran through the rain, I retreated along the pier. Beautiful pictures of them sprinting in the rain have been captured.
The entire wedding ceremony was a disarray. The bride and groom told me that I was the only reason their wedding day went well, that my photos brought them joy, and that they transformed the terrible day into something lovely.
2. The Depressed Duo
u/BioregenerativeLamp: I arrived far earlier than necessary since I needed to take some pre-ceremony and location photos. I spoke with the future husband and his wife about my plans when I first met them.
When the ceremony begins, everything are going fairly smoothly. I had to stay alert and scout for the pair at all times in case they called or something else happened.
Occasionally, when I noticed a nice moment or had an idea, I would ask them if they wanted a picture, and then I would snap one.
Eventually, the pair leaves the room, so I go around trying to find them. They were out on the lovely patio in the back of the establishment, which was decorated and all.
I think to myself, “Aww yeah, this is going to be a great pic,” as they are conversing side by side with their heads slightly cocked, and I try to move closer without their noticing.
They don’t notice me until after I zoom in to take their photo, and when I do, they have the saddest faces I’ve ever seen on a bride and groom.
They claim it’s all right when I ask, so I let it slide. “Not my place,” I replied, but as the celebration was about to end, the groom came over to me. He stated that they had barely known anyone at the ceremony, which was why it had been so tiring for them.
It turns out that the groom’s mother “had” to marry his son and planned the entire event behind their backs, inviting her friends and relatives and informing them that they would have to go from their remote home to attend the wedding.
Not only that, but the bride detested her mother, and the son didn’t get along with her. It seems that the mother was an extremely controlling and abusive person.
The bride knew no one, and the only person the groom knew was his brother, who became severely inebriated as soon as the ceremony let it.
Later, when I looked at the pictures, I saw that the two appeared beautiful and content while they were alone; but, their warmth seemed to fade a little when the mother was around. but, that observation may have been the result of confirmation bias on my part. I’m not sure.
“I probably know you more than I know most people at this party,” the groom remarked, and he made me sit down with him and the bride to eat cake and drink while we waited out the remaining guests.
Even though I’ve always questioned if I should have, I didn’t send them that photo of them. It was a great picture beyond the emotion, as they were deeply in love and going through something together.
3. The Infant
u/EmptyCupMedia: I captured a man pushing a pram. The two families did not get along well, but I captured a sweet exchange between a dad and a baby in a pushcart on camera.
When the infant reached for his beer bottle, the man allowed the child to touch it. The child’s father, however, snatched up the beer bottle and threw it across the pitch before yelling, “You don’t give beer to kids!” at him.
Thus, the beer guy winced and gave the carriage a little shove. I recorded everything from a distance of roughly 20 feet. The man tossed a beer bottle, and I even got a cutaway of it.
4. The Startling Sneeze
u/Motogirlmx: During my ten years of covering weddings, I was present when the groom sneezed blood upon the bride’s beaded dress just before the ceremony.
It seems that when he gets anxious, he gets bloody noses. They halted all photography and had the hotel/ceremony venue urgently cleaned with Sprite soda.
I was instructed to remove every picture and conceal the circumstances from the bride’s mother. Remarkably, the bride was understanding!
The two hours of pre-ceremony photography had to be cut short, but the stain was gone by the time the ceremony started.
I got the ideal mid-sneeze shot with the groom’s red teardrops flying out of his face after review. To see that one modified makes me sad.
5. The Unsuitable Images
u/plopploptoot: I’m very certain that the aunt of the bride or groom—I’m not sure which—wore a dress that was intended to be a long blouse.
I slipped between two people at the reception to take pictures of her dancing in the centre of the group.
Her “dress” was bouncing up when she jumped and showed her privates, which I didn’t see until I got home and looked them up on my computer.
I shot this wedding for an event business, so here’s how it goes: I send the raw files to them, and an editor does the editing and sends the customer the album.
You would think that they would notice that I neglected to alert them to the offensive photos. Nope. After it had been emailed to the couple, I ended up seeing their last album in the system, and sure enough, the pictures are in there.
6. Punch of the Groom
u/[deleted]: A photographer is a buddy of mine. He performs nuptials. Weddings seem to bring out the worst in people, as evidenced by the husband punching him in the face after deciding that the photographer was “taking too many photos of the bride.”
7. I was unable to contain my laughter.
u/OfficialAnorak: Instead of being a “real wedding photographer,” my primary focus is on figure and portrait photography. As a backup, I once received an invitation to a wedding on a really bright day. The bride felt hot in her lengthy dress as a result. She began to fiddle because she wanted to get out of the direct sunlight, even though the lighting was ideal.
Then she slid and fell directly onto the concrete, dislocating her shoulder. Upon witnessing the bride’s dislocated shoulder, one of the bridesmaids immediately passed out in front of the husband.
It’s difficult not to giggle when you witness a bride clutching her shoulder and the groom cradling a somewhat plump woman on his back.
8. Aid Me!
u/Motogirlmx: The guys played a practical joke by writing “HELP ME” in brilliant white at the bottom of the groom’s shoes. It was a big Catholic ceremony.
The whole congregation could watch him kneel for the ritual. Laughter and snickers at the solemn service.
After learning, the bride became enraged and refused to communicate with any of them for the remainder of the day. Our task was to remove it using photoshop from the finished album. Funny and probably mean at the same time.
And another: at the start of the reception, the groom, not wanting to ruin the photo opportunity, poured an entire pint of beer into the main Bose speaker of the DJ. Without a mechanism to continue playing, the music stops.
The bride sobs for the next hour in the bathroom after breaking down instantly. In the days before smartphones, the groomsmen save the day by reversing a pickup truck to the open reception doors and plugging in an iPod.
9. The Stepfather of the Bride
u/mytevesen: This summer, I was recording a friend’s wedding. The stepfather of the bride was seated in the front row.
I took note of where he sat prior to the ceremony commencing, as she had previously cautioned me that he might cause trouble. He took a seat in the front row and went to sleep right away.
For the whole twenty-minute ceremony, he was asleep. On behalf of the bride, I was furious. For the brief few minutes that the ceremony lasts, who among the front row seats can’t stay awake? Thank God, I avoided him in the final cut.
10. The Ideal Photograph
u/angry_baboon: I believe the bride was so nervous that she skipped meals and drinks for several hours despite the intense heat and sunshine.
The wedding took place outside, and once it was over, I had to snap a photo of the newlyweds and all of the guests standing in front of the wedding arch.
People then begin to assemble around the couple. It takes some time to get every guest in the photo because there are eighty of them.
The bride finally shuts her eyes and collapses when I tell her to “look into the camera and smile!” after everything is flawless.
She almost fell to the ground, but the groom held her. She passed out that day since it was so hot and she was probably dehydrated. And I managed to catch that moment on camera.
11. I was clueless.
u/invisiblebody: Those disposable cameras were on the table at a wedding I attended when I was twelve years old. The wedding took place in the backyard of a mansion, and it was immediately cleared out for the celebration.
I took shots of flowers, bees, and butterflies as I went about with the camera, and not a single one of them had anything to do with the wedding.
I didn’t even realise what I had done until I was instructed to put the camera back. I had completely forgotten who I was. I assumed they were meant to be brought home by us. Oh no.
12. The Groom and his Companions
u/soldatbullfrog: After high school, I worked as a freelance photographer for a while. A firm hired myself and another photographer to photograph a wedding.
As requested by the client, this company gave us instructions to obtain as many candid pictures as we could. We separated during the setup stage, and the other photographer was a woman. She went with the bride and bridesmaids, while I spent time with the groom and groomsmen.
When I got there, it was evident that the groomsmen had been drinking for some time, and they continued to do so. It took the groomsmen only a few minutes to get ready. Put on tuxedos and you’re done. Thus, we had a couple of hours to ourselves while the bride had her cosmetics and hair done.
The groomsmen used the opportunity to increase their alcohol intake. It was clear that these guys were pals, and I grabbed a few good images during that. Sadly, they overindulged in alcohol.
When the ceremony time finally arrived, they were all so wobbly that the groom was the worst of them. I parted ways with them to secure my spot for the ceremony and warn the other photographer about the potential chaos.
She informed me that the bride had voiced worries about the gentlemen abusing alcohol prior to the wedding. Neither of us was prepared for what was about to happen.
The groomsmen paraded up the aisle as the wedding got underway. There was a moment when the groom staggered and nearly bent down.
Then the bridesmaids arrived, and although it felt like a slow-motion train accident at the time, it was hilarious to behold the look of worry and rage on their faces as they observed the guys standing shakily on the dais.
The bride then walked into the church, and even through the veil, you could see her wavering between despair and rage.
As she approached the small platform, one of the groomsmen let out an extremely loud fart in the quiet minute that elapsed before the pastor could start speaking.
Half the guests gasped in horrified revulsion as the bride’s face collapsed, and the other half burst out laughing. The other groomsmen turned and punched the farter in the arm, and the groom barely contained his laughter.
These guys seemed unaware of their location or the significance of the occasion for everyone save themselves. Together with the other photographer, I tried my best to capture images and fulfil the tasks for which we were paid.
For the duration of the ceremony, the bride maintained angry facial expressions, making it challenging to capture close-ups of either of them. The groom was also having trouble focusing his gaze on his wife. He stumbled through his vows as he slowly rocked back and forth, and she mumbled them through gritted teeth.
From then on, the reception just got worse. Before the cake was sliced, the groom puked on the ground and disappeared.
Following his failure with the bridesmaids, one of the groomsmen turned his attention to the other photographer. Our scheduled time eventually ran out, so we departed. I gave the firm I worked for all of my RAW files and wished them luck in editing that farce.
13. My nuptials
u/Bonzaigiraffe: I assisted in creating my friend’s front garden when I was a teenager, and that’s where we were married. We were about to start crying, and you could hear people sniffling as we approached the vows, but then there was the distinct sound of an ice cream van.
It grew louder and louder until it ended suddenly. When the driver saw what they were getting close to, he turned off the music at the neighbor’s property line.
They slipped by the house in silence. Then, “Do your ears hang low…” caused everyone to erupt into laughter as soon as they reached the next house full blast once more. They would have made a tonne of money if the driver had come back ten minutes sooner.
14. An incredibly hot situation
u/Nelly0112: It’s not me, but my friend was a wedding videographer. The bride’s mother moved closer to take a better photo of her daughter as candles lined the aisle throughout the ceremony.
She began to move backward as she was snapping shots. She backed against a candle holder and accidentally knocked it over, landing in someone’s lap. Start the mayhem!
The man leaps up, attempting to extinguish the fire that has now caught in his lap. His spouse begins to yell at the woman. It took almost twenty minutes for the situation to settle down. Then the wedding proceeded according to schedule.
Indeed, everything of it was captured on camera. It was removed from the final video, at the bride’s request. My friend recorded it on a different tape so we could all laugh at it afterwards.
15. It Occurred By Accident
u/VealIsNotAVegetable: Our photographer didn’t capture a moment that was genuinely ideal. I made a beautiful, romantic move by leaning forward to kiss my wife’s hand in the front, which beautifully framed the bridesmaid in the backdrop.
The background features a pretty picture of the small cove where we are, and one of the bridesmaids has inadvertently exposed her bottom to the camera by bending over to look at something in the tide pool.
16. marriage record
Deleted user: I was startled out of sleep a week after photographing my friends’ wedding when I noticed that the bride had missed over thirty calls on my phone. I give her a call back.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?! DID YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE PHOTOS BEFORE YOU SENT THEM OUT?!” I respond, “Yeah, of course, what’s the problem?!” She responds, “YOU’VE DESTROYED OUR MARRIAGE,” and hangs up. I’m looking through the pictures like a madman. At the 41st picture, my heart just stops.
Something I had previously missed was there. In the backdrop of the picture was the groom, seen in an unguarded moment with a woman who was clearly not the bride. When I realised that this was the rumoured mistress who had been the talk of the town long before the wedding, panic struck.
The picture had just blown the lid off a secret that was never meant for a wedding album. It was a silent but damning piece of evidence.
The bride and groom’s behind-the-scenes photos are revealed in these candid remarks from wedding photographers. These first-hand accounts demonstrate that marriages are not always as spectacular as they appear to be and that unplanned events might occur. Have you ever attended a wedding and had a similar experience? We’d be delighted to hear about your encounter.
