Unbelievable, but true!!

When wedding vendors get together there are always funny wedding stories to share.  Afterall laughter is the best medicine! These are actually true stories as told by seasoned wedding professionals who have seen it all!  The names of the vendors and the couples have been changed to protect the innocent!  Enjoy!

"Elope to avoid a Control Freak Mother" (by a Niagara Falls photographer)

I arrived at the bride's house in plenty of time to photograph everybody! I arranged and photographed all of the bridesmaids and the bride with each one. I took pictures of the bride alone, the bride with dad, the bride with brother...every combination possible, while waiting for the mother of the bride to come out of the bedroom. I was asked to wait and she will be right out...wait I did...and wait...and wait...it was getting too close to the ceremony time and I announced that I really had to go. I had to find the church, find parking, touch base with the minister, photograph the groom and groomsmen...and to add to the stress was the weather...it was pouring rain...not sprinkling ...POURING CATS AND DOGS ...relentlessly. This makes my job 100% more difficult as I have to try and get thousands of dollars of equipment from location to location without getting it wet! So I pack up all of my equipment...get it to the car and get ready to head to the church, when the father of the bride comes to the door of the house and is frantically waving to get my attention and is shouting "the brides mother is ready now, can you come back in please"! So. I turn off the ignition...unpack my equipment...mad rush inside to keep it dry...set it all up again...and WAIT and WAIT! Honestly, it is now 20 minutes to the ceremony time and mother STILL does not come out of the bedroom, after 10 minutes I said to the father, I apologize but I really have to go. The ceremony was to start at 2:00 and there were 200 guests in the church. The groom and groomsmen were waiting at the front and the bride and bridesmaids were in the church hiding in the side room ...all waiting for the MOTHER to arrive! The mother of the bride was 1 hour late! She then proceeded to turn all the planning that the couple had done for the events that day upside down!  We get to the park with reduced time to work with, thinking we are safe and can relax when Mother shows up and starts to orchestrate what photos need to be taken with Her! One of the groomsmen advised me this person is a complete control freak and could not handle that she had no say in the planning of the wedding and therefore set out to sabotage it. True enough. At the reception, the couple wanted a quick cake and dance shot and then to be free to mingle. As we arrived in the door I spotted Mother coming at us like a freight train mumbling something about them having to do something. The groom (a football player )grabs me with one hand and the bride with another and bolts in an opposite direction away from Mother! I was practically floating through the lobby!  We were knocking people down...dodging food trays...all the while we could hear mother behind us, trying to keep up. We barely made it to the cake table, the groom yells to the staff "LOCK THE DOORS" ....Lock the doors!!! They didn't' know what was happening! It was hilarious! But we did it ! We managed to get the photo shoot done and then they snuck out through the kitchen. I wish we had a video! Where is Dr. Phil when you need him? Just another reason to plan an elopement wedding with just the two of you! Top

"Too late to disapprove "

Big wedding planned...150 people...big wedding party...happy couple....3 days before the wedding the mother of the groom decides that the bride is not good enough for her son and cancels the limo.  ( the bride finds out about it the night before the wedding along with the fact that the mother refuses to pay for the people she invited) The mother arrived at the ceremony and stared at the wall during the entire thing, refuses to look at the bride. She arrives at the park for photos, and was sent away by the co-ordinator so that she wouldn't cause trouble. The bride who was paying for the photos tells the photographer on the day of the wedding while at her house "I don't want any photos of his mom" then the groom tells the photographer " Can you please take some photos of my mom and me and our family before the ceremony".... Everyone at the reception had 9-1-1 speed dialed into their cell phones as they did not know what she would do. The Mother comes to the reception and proceeds to get completely fall down drunk and then did just that in the middle of the bar. At 10:00pm they poured her into the back seat of a truck in the parking lot!!!! Top

"Divorced parents can cause so much turmoil for the poor couple."

I was in a wedding party where the parents of the groom hated eachother so much that they could not even be within 10 feel of eachother. The park photos were actually arranged and timed so that Parents "A" were to arrive at the park and park in parking lot A at precisely 3:00 for their photos. Then Parents "B" were to arrive at 3:30 and park in the opposite parking lot, so that neither of them would run into eachother!! How ridiculous I thought.  Well...we were all set up and getting our photos done with Parents "A",  and all of a sudden the grooms face turns white, and he is trembling, and yelps 'Oh my god."...the other couple were heading straight for them". So he sends sister out to stop them from proceeding towards us as they were early and the other parents with their new spouse were still here. The sister holds them up at a tree so they don't come any closer untill we are finished with parents "A" and once they have cleared the area, then Parents "B" can come over! The reception was chosen due to the fact that the venue had washrooms at opposite sides of the room. So parents "A"  were seated on one side and would use that washroom and Parents "B" were seaed on the other side and use that washroom! Geesh....Who are the parents and who are the kids? Top

"So much for elopement "

The night before a destination wedding in Niagara my phone rings, the number is a local hotel: "Hi I am Jane's mother, and I just wanted you to know that her father is a jerk" She went on to tell me that he never pays and never pays on time, and if I have any problems with what he owes me to tell her and she will pay and she doesn't want anything to upset her daughter on her wedding day! Ok, I said, thank-you ! As god is my witness, the phone rings 1/2 hour later and it is Jane's father calling from a different hotel number. "Hello, this is Jane's father and I am calling you to tell you that her mother is a jerk" (I Swear those were his exact words! I can't make this stuff up!) he went on to say " I don't want anything to upset my daughter on her wedding day so I will be paying you when I see you and if there are any problems you come and see me". OK!.....this ought to be interesting ...I thought to myself. The entire day ended up being a complete disaster for the poor bride. The couple had planned on eloping to avoid all this nonsense and originally called to book a wedding for just the 2 of them. People got wind of their plans and next thing you know there were 30 quests including all the divorced parents and spouses and their "marital baggage" . During the family photo sessions, duplicates of each composition had to be taken. i.e. Jane and Joe , her mother and spouse and her brother Jane and Joe, her father and spouse and her brother Jane and Joe and her mother with grandmother Jane and Joe and her father with same grandmother. As, the parents would not be in the same photo together and did not want to be slighted by not having the exact amount of photos taken of each of them. Sort of a "photo competition" No one was to be outdone. After ALL and EVERY type of photo composition was taken, the couple just wanted to go to a park for some photos of just the 2 of them. Oh no....this was not to be.....as each parent decided THEY wanted photos taken at this particular location also!  So the entire entourage followed the couple to the park for MORE photos . Janna and Joe with her mother and spouse at the bridge then oh of course....after watching that, dad pipes up; " I wish to have a photo like that also" So, Janna and Joe and her father and spouse at the bridge... and on and on......... This continued into the evening at dinner with equal time for the long speeches, with each partner not wishing to be outdone by the other.... Lesson to be learned: If you are planning an elopement! Lips have to be kept sealed.....tell absolutely NO ONE! Top