Terrible wedding photos

[Roiiae]

Not AIBU but posting here shamelessly for replies.

Got married a few weeks ago, and the photos from the photographer are awful. I look like crap, I didn't get my hair or make up done professionally and thought I looked ok until I saw these. It was a very small wedding so the photographer was an acquaintance, but he didn't edit them.

I'm not sure what to do, just wondered if in the only bride to hate my wedding photos the bride is supposed to look her very best on her wedding day and I cringe to see fhese.

Firstly, congratulations!

Sorry your photos are crap - the only think I can think of is for you and your new DH to have a professional make over and photo shoot as if it were your wedding day. The only thing with that though is that you would know they aren't real.

I don't know how to make it better for you but I must tell you that we have been married nearly 30 years - our wedding photos were also crap and I don't even know where they are. But for sure we are still happy and it hasn't made a single difference to our lives together

My photos were terrible and we paid £1000 for a professional photographer who had won awards. I can only assume that he couldn’t be arsed, he was a friend of a friend so he sort of got pulled into it as a favour and I don’t think he really wanted to photograph our wedding. Loads of photos are out of focus or people have their eyes shut or shadows on their faces. I look shocking because I couldn’t afford professional makeup. I wanted to sue him but DH wouldn’t let me because he didn’t want to upset his friend who had pulled in the favour from this guy.

I have one nice photo that someone took on a phone. I suppose you only put one photo on the wall anyway. It’s upsetting but life goes on, you’re just as married as someone with a nice photo album on the shelf that they never look at.

This happened to me but it all turned out ok. In the end, I've never looked at the horrible official photos (also done by a mate) but I have some really treasured photos from the day where we look lovely - taken randomly but friends and family.

Mine were a shit show taken by a family member who was supposed to be a pro.
I was gutted as looking through my parents album was a really important memory for me growing up.
I've got over it because I now see I have a marriage which is more important than a wedding iyswim but I really sympathise with you OP I was gutted when I saw my photos?

All the professional photos you see have the bride with full make up and hair done. So it’s understandable that you don’t like what you got.

Life is all smoke and mirrors, and Instagram. Apples and oranges etc. I’m sure you look lovely, just not what your expectations hoped for.

Definitely look into paying a professional for a post wedding wedding shoot. You'll be relaxed and the images from these are often far better than ones taken on the day.

Weddings can be quite rushed so at a post wedding shoot you would have time to get images you love. Contact someone and talk about styles you like, look on people's websites and Pinterest for examples and discuss them with a photographer.

It will make you feel so much better about them all.

A bad wedding photographer can really leave a horrid aftertaste of your wedding so absolutely try and turn it around by creating something beautiful.

Holy shitballs. Is this a thing now? Putting on our wedding uncomfortable dress and going through 3-4 hours of oncomfortable positioning shoot?

Fuck me I'm glad my late H died in 2008 and we didn't get pressured into any of this shite.

We had a photographer at £150 for about a couple of hours outside the town hall and almost all the prints we ordered were of our son.

The only person who gives a shit about your wedding photos is you (and possibly your mum might give a minor shit.) So do whatever what you make you feel better, bearing in mind your H's family is is currently unlikely to want to spend money on fake re=dos.

Our "official" photographer was a talented friend who volunteered his services as a gift and then got totally smashed and forgot to take any photos. I have some candid shots from friends and am quite happy with the them and the memories.
I couldn't bear to have paid the hundreds of pounds quoted for duff pictures and am really not into Hello! style spreads.

I sympathise, I did my own makeup but had my hair professionally done as it was my second wedding and I hated my first.

Random offer, I am not an amazing editor, but happy to run a couple of photos through my software if that would make you feel any better?

Ask if any friends or family took some photos. I always take a few at weddings as a lot of friends have also hated their formal photos, but liked the guest unofficial ones

Should add, I mean for free, wouldn't charge you

I would choose a few of the best and get them edited.

@Rainbowsintherain I hope you kicked off! If my photographer had taken a photo of a tuna sandwich but not a full shot of the dress I’d be fuming!

I loved my photos but HATED the video. It's my only regret no spending more on videographer

*not

What is the main problem with the photos OP? Is the problem that they just don't look "professional"? I suppose they wouldn't because they weren't taken by one. That's OK though, alright they probably won't make it to a wedding magazine but it doesn't mean they can't be nice pics.

Is the problem a few specific things that could be fixed with some editing? In that case I'd select a few and have them edited by someone else. The website fivrr can connect you with people who do this sort of small job, it costs (as the name suggests) around $USD5 per photo. Just 2-3 for the wall would be all you need.

If the problem is that you didn't have pro hair and make up, I'm not sure what to suggest. Even a very expensive pro wedding photog wouldn't photoshop on make up and different hair on to a bride!

It might not help that the photographer has given you all the photos, not just the ‘good’ ones?
Maybe pick out a dozen of the best and then get them edited.

You get what you pay for sometimes, that's the trouble with having an acquaintance doing photos for free/cheap, you should have hired a professional photographer that you'd researched. Is it that the photos are bad quality or is it just that you don't like how you look in them though? I used to be a wedding photographer, if you want to send me a couple through I can have a look and see if I can edit them for you if you like, although again I suppose it depends on what you're hoping editing would do?

You're bound to know someone who is a whizz with photoshop if not you can find someone on a Facebook photo editing group. Or there are companies that can do it. My friend works for one and he once had to edit in a horse to someone's wedding photos!

Send them to a professional editor.
There is only so much that can be done with poor quality photographs, but a lot can be improved with some good Photoshop 😀

My wedding photos are beautiful and elegantly shot, doesn’t stop me from looking like a grinning monkey in the ones where I’m walking down the aisle. I think it’s very easy for your expectations to go a bit crazy because we’re all so used to seeing photos that are filtered and photoshopped to death. I’m sure your natural hair and makeup looked much better in real life on the day than an OTT professional job would have done. And when your husband saw you he saw the woman he fell in love with, not a weird surreal drag queen version of her. Try not to let it spoil your memory of the day.

Honestly, it seems like a massive deal now, but in a year or two it won't even register. We have one picture in frame, hidden on a low shelf on the bookcase. A photobook album that I painstakingly laboured over creating that is never looked at and shoved in a cupboard because it's too bloody big to fit on the bookshelf!

Wedding photos are overhyped really. You have lovely memories of the day already.

Still unhappy with mine 4 years later. Showed them to a professional photog friend of mine and she was also horrified. Couldn't believe how they looked.

My photos are awful of me and dh, I really do not like them. I just look so moody in them, there is only a couple which I love, ones that someone took without me knowing, but that's OK, like others have said its the memories that count!

notangelinajolie "Sorry your photos are crap - the only think I can think of is for you and your new DH to have a professional make over and photo shoot as if it were your wedding day."

Excellent idea.

"The only thing with that though is that you would know they aren't real."

But they are real. Real photos of the happy couple; just not taken on the actual day.

Get the digital copies and edit them yourself- a simple filter makes a difference.

Or get them in black and white/greyscale - easy way to disguise any imperfections!

Mine were shit. Proper shit. The photographer was recommended but wouldn't listen to what we wanted and the bossy cow insisted we did what we were told. It was a horrible experience.I didn't even order an album. My mother has one but I've never looked at it. I don't have pictures of me up anyway so I don't care. If you really don't like them and really want one- you could get one done of you and your DH and use that.