Photographer sent our entire wedding album to all of our guests without permission

You would think that YOU would be able to review, share, and post photos of YOUR own Wedding. However, that is not the case in the current “look at me, instant gratification, over sharing climate” that we live in.

I am not on social media and people in my Wedding party KNOW this and I have seen pictures of me from my Wedding on FB via DH’s page.

I’m like, hello?! Have you met me?! Then, I had people that were NOT invited trolling and liking pictures, but haven’t sent one “Congratulations” text.

It’s sucks... however it sounds like close family so not too many. I would just get a head of it since you cannot change what she did. I would let her know you were upset and maybe send an email saying that you and your husband would appreciate if people would not post photos before you two do. I think your dad would still enjoy an album. I hope you are able to enjoy your post wedding time besides this.

I'm sorry you're upset but I think the photographers own the rights to all the photos they take and can send them out as they see fit. If I remember correctly, someone else had posted on here about asking photographers not to share any of their wedding photos (like on their personal pages and in their albums they show other people) and that's when other people had explained that photographers own all the rights to all the pictures. So you may not be able to do anything about it, besides tell her how upset you are.

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No, we did not have a contract (even if we did I would not want to pursue any action against her since she is so close with my in-laws.) At one point she did ask me if I could sign one to cover her equipment in case of damages and I sure, but she never ended up giving it to me to sign. My Father In Law offered to pay for her trip to Hawaii (flight/hotel/meals) in exchange for her services which was his wedding gift to us. Because of that, I would have understood if she felt the need to give my Father In Law the album since he had an investment in it. I just don't understand the reasoning for sending it out to everyone else. She told me she didn't think she could un-send it from anyone and when I told her I was disappointed that my husband hadn't even seen them yet (she forgot to send it to him out of all people) and didn't think it was very considerate of her to send our entire wedding album out over email she said she was sorry I felt like that- which did not feel like a very genuine apology. I think most professional photographers know the importance of wedding day photos and the protocol is usually to deliver to only the bride/groom so I am just surprised that it happened and pretty disappointed in her general lack of understanding.

100% justified anger. I would contact my guests and let them know that it is NOT okay to post the pics and that they were sent in error. I would also give her a stern talking to.

View Quoted Comment I think there is a difference between owning the rights to post for their own sites and promotion, and sending someone else’s photos to a group of people. You are paying for this service, and often for the copyright, so as the customer, you are the ones who should be given access. I hire a photographer at work as freelance, and he sends me the images and no one else, because we are the ones paying him. We can use them as we see fit for work, but others (our performers) have to pay for individual images. However, I am the one that sends them the photos to look at, as I am the one who hires him. She should not have done this, whatsoever. Sorry you didn’t even get a gold apology! Ugh!! The worst!!

View Quoted Comment That's true too

That frustrates me on your behalf. But it is a lesson for all of us to learn.... to #1 make a contract and #2 specify things like how pictures are to be used.

WOW that sucks no you are not overreacting that sucks that she would do such a thing. the posting on social media grinds my gears!

Does she do this professionally? If so, I would leave a review.

"My Father In Law offered to pay for her trip to Hawaii (flight/hotel/meals) in exchange for her services which was his wedding gift to us."

So, your in-laws paid her for her services? Are you sure they didn't give her permission to send the pictures to everyone and she's not telling you because she doesn't want to get in the middle of it?

View Quoted Comment I think she would have told me if my father in law requested them to be sent out to everyone because I asked her why she did that. She told me that she talked to everyone at the wedding and told them she would send them the photos when they were done when they asked.

My Mom said she was surprised to get any pictures sent to her so I know our photographer didn't talk to everyone that was there about it. Im thinking she made promises to send some people the photos (which is just a weird thing for a wedding photographer to do) and for whatever reason sent them in a mass email to everyone we invited. We were not planing on using her for our wedding because she has said in the past she does not like working for anyone she knows. I wondered if that could be a red flag for her not taking some jobs seriously and ruining the friendships. We were actually negotiating with other photographers when my father in law told us he had already bought her plane ticket. That put me in an awkward position as I did not want to offend my father in law or her so we decided to accept their generous gift.

When we got to Hawaii she told me she had decided she did not want to hike with her equipment bc she didn't want to risk damaging it so she left me scrambling to find another photographer the day before our wedding to do our after-ceremony cliffside photos we had planned. That was also really unprofessional because that was the very first thing I asked her if she would be comfortable with before accepting their offer to shoot our adventure elopment. The pre-ceremony photos not great- she had all of the guys standing beside our rental car in a parking lot! (We were at a marina with 200+ boats, the sun was rising, and surrounded by the beautiful Pacific and mountains) Luckily though the ceremony photos were gorgeous!! And the after ceremony photos the other photographer took are amazing!

I thought about leaving a review in the heat of the moment when I was really upset but I do not want to cause long lasting animosity between us since she is so close with my in laws. All of her reviews online are actually really great, so I get the vibe like she didn't take this job as seriously as a normal job. I wonder if maybe she felt like she was not compensated enough since my father in law and her worked out a deal for travel/hotel/meals in exchange for photos. That is also something I discussed with her prior to accepting the gift I told her I know she doesn't like working for friends and not to feel obligated to come as our photographer bc we would love her to be there just as our guest since she is dating my brother in law. I told her our wedding photography was very important to me and that we wanted someone who was into it 100% and she assured me she had no reservations and would be more than happy to shoot our wedding in exchange for the free trip to Hawaii.

I’d be irritated, but not livid. Getting yourself all worked up now isn’t going to change anything. As she is a professional photographer though I do find it strange she felt she had the right to send it to everyone - she should know very well that isn’t her place and that’s your call. I wouldn’t use her again or recommend her to anyone, and yes I would look over the contract (if you had one) and check to see what your release was for - most contracts state the photographer is working for you and would only be able to release the photos to you and your husband, unless you agreed to let her use the photos for her website in exchange for a discount.

I would be livid for those that did not come get to see them. The ones there not so much but to comment that's a NO as well. I thought you have to see which ones you want first?


The place where we are getting married will have a link for out guest only to see our photos.



That's messed up that you two are having that problem.

I don’t think you’re overreacting. I would be upset, too. You might want to ask her to take down the link or make it password protected/change the password until you get a chance to do what you need to do. Even though it was disrespectful, it sounds like she had zero ill intentions; however maybe this is a learning point for her. What the photographer should have told these folks during the wedding is that these photos would be released to the bride and groom and that they can ask you for access to the photos. That way, you can be the first to see your pictures, you choose who you want to share the photos with, etc. You might want to explain that to her so she can be cognizant of that in the future. Anyway, to help resolve the problem, maybe you could also reach out to those on the email and ask them to not post/remove any pictures until you and your husband have a chance to look through them?

I’d be mad!! My photographer shared our engagement photos on her Instagram before we even saw them. And then she wrote a blog about our photo session with our photos before we saw them. I was not happy but I didn’t say anything. However for wedding photos I will ask her to share them with us before she posts them. It’s just rude in my opinion, simply asking before she did that would have been so much better!

I feel like since this was a family friend who took your pictures, whether professional or not, this shouldn’t be that surprising. Honestly, after reading the horror stories that most people have with friendors this seems very minor. I’ve been married for almost 3 months and this honestly wouldn’t bother me and this is coming from someone who hasn’t received their wedding pictures yet.

I would agree this is inconsiderate, but I also don't think it is very typical for the photographer to have contact details for wedding guests (so this is probably a bit of an unusual situation). I think it is totally appropriate to have a follow up conversation with the photographer about how their actions upset you. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about it but it is important for the photographer to know you were hurt by what they did and hopefully they can learn from this experience and not repeat this mistake with another couple.