Dear Snarky – I Was Scammed By My Maid of Honor and Her Brother

Dear Snarky,

I am devastated! I got married two weeks ago and have just found out that due to a huge photographer error none of my wedding pictures came out!!! I used my maid of honor’s brother as my photographer. He allegedly had a wedding photography business and my maid of honor literally begged me to use him. Like she was basically harassing me to use her brother.

I kept on saying no and then finally gave in because she showed me weddings he had photographed and promised me that he was super talented and in demand.

It turns out my maid and honor and her brother lied to my face and this was the first photography job he had ever done. Also, those photos I was shown of beautiful weddings was a f’ing scam. My maid and honor and her brother took photos from Instagram of people’s weddings and compiled a fake portfolio.

The only thing keeping me from losing my mind is that I hired an amazing videographer and she’s told me that she can turn a lot of the wedding videos into photographs. But she and other professionals in the business I talked to suggested that we recreate some of the bride and groom pictures. 

This is going to be a major pain in the ass and won’t catch the significance of the day but I can put on the bridal gown and my husband can get in his suit for some photos and I guess that will give me some closure.

I told the fake photographer and my maid of honor, who I now despise, that they have to pay for the photo shoot and glam team for the new wedding photos. Because I wouldn’t need to do this if they hadn’t teamed up and scammed me.

They are both refusing to pay for anything and barely said I’m sorry. They also haven’t even returned my wedding picture deposit!!! Instead they are blaming “technology.” The way I see it the only choice I have now is to go on social media and let everyone know how bad they suck.

My husband is not really for this because he says it never ends well for anyone. What do you think?

Signed, Mad as Hell Bride

Dear Mad as Hell,

I don’t blame you for being heartbroken and and wanting to get some justice. I can’t begin to imagine how upset you must be. Not just about your wedding photos being MIA but also being aggressively lied to by someone who must have been your best friend since she was your maid of honor.

But before you head to social media to exact revenge, I think there are some better options.

I would first get an attorney involved. What this brother and sister did was fraud. I’m not a lawyer but I can google and fraud is defined as a “false statement, misrepresentation or deceitful conduct.” So, I think their actions hit the fraud bullseye.

The photographer certainly misrepresented his experience and both brother and sister lied to you. The fake wedding picture portfolio is evidence of that.

I think a sternly worded letter from someone in the legal profession is called for and that might be just the nudge they need to fork over the money to pay for the wedding pics 2.0 and get your deposit back. Because offering up some monetary restitution is a whole lot better than facing legal action and some one-on-one time with the police.

I would also do an unemotional but very factual post about what happened and share it on wedding sites. Do not make it a rant! Instead focus on helping other brides not make the same mistake you did by insisting on references (besides your maid of honor) and checking the veracity of a wedding photographers’ portfolios by doing a reverse Google image search.

Once you get your new wedding photos you can post them on your social media accounts and praise the photographer who took them while ever so briefly mentioning how your wedding photographer was a no show in the picture department thus requiring a post wedding photo shoot. 

But keep it light. #EvenMoreInLoveNow. Trust me people will get the message and the fact that your remaining calm totally negates the brother and sister duo ever trying to spin a bridezilla narrative.

Good luck and I know that your new wedding photos will be amazing!

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