I don’t know what it is about weddings, but they turn literally everyone involved into a-holes.
There is no reason whatsoever to treat people who are providing you a service with anything less than respect.
Let me repeat that:
There is no reason whatsoever to treat people who are providing you a service with anything less than respect.
I don’t care if it’s your frigging wedding day. Nobody cares if it’s your frigging wedding day.
Wedding photographer Shayla Herrington explained in a now-viral video over on TikTok about how she canceled on the bride the night before the ceremony.
Which sounds pretty extreme, but there were absolutely acceptable reasons for Shayla to ditch this bride.
In her video, Shayla says:
I canceled my photography services the night before a bride’s wedding, and this is why.
So, rewind to about three years ago, a bride inquired and wanted me to do four hours of coverage for her ceremony and reception. I immediately got her on the phone and we talked about the details, and she said she hadn’t chosen a venue yet.
She still wanted to book so I sent her my contract and my non-refundable deposit, which she signed and paid.
I let her know that a few weeks before the wedding, I would send a questionnaire where she would need to give me the address of the venue and all the details so I could properly photograph her day.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I sent her the questionnaire. Usually, after a bride fills out the questionnaire, we schedule a time to call and go over a timeline. It had been a week since I sent her the questionnaire and I still heard nothing.
So, I sent her a text with a $5 Starbucks gift card and said, “Hey, you must have a lot on your mind right now. Go get yourself a coffee, and try to get me that questionnaire as soon as you can.” She never responded.
It had been another, like, three or four days and I was getting a little concerned. At this point, I have no address, I have no idea where I’d be going. So I tried calling her, I also send an email and another text. Still no response.
Fast forward and it is the night before the wedding. I have no idea what time I need to be at the wedding, and I have no idea where I need to be. It felt like the bride was standing me up but she paid her deposit.
So, the night before the wedding, I sent an email letting her know that our contract was void and that I could not perform my services – I have no information.
She responded the day of her wedding. She told me that was the most unprofessional thing she has ever witnessed. She proceeded to write a bad review on Facebook and I went ahead and gave her her deposit back
TikTokers were pretty horrified on Shayla’s behalf and absolutely supported the photographer’s decision to not work for this bride. It’s incredibly rude of the bride and wedding professionals deserve the same amount of respect the wedding party receives.
“I booked her and sent her the questionnaire right after our first—and only—phone conversation. She understood I needed it within that week so I could properly do my job and know where I needed to be and what time I needed to be there,” Shayla told Newsweek.
So what would you have done?