What do you do when your bride is crying?

I had a bridal shoot last weekend. She came out of the dressing room, and didn't fit in her dress quite right. Her well meaning uncle gave the her pointers to fix it. (she had gained weight since the fitting) She went back into the dressing room and started crying. I went in and smoothed it over. I rolled my eyes about her uncle, and told her she was beautiful, and that she was going to love these pictures. It went pretty well once we got settled into the shoot. I also had one mother of the bride sobbing in the back during an entire ceremony, because she didn't want her daughter to marry this guy (just so happened I agreed with her on that one, but I just take the pics:rolleyes So I wondered what are the stickiest situations you all have been in? And what are the resulting photo's you got from the situation? Here are a few of mine from the first senario.

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Wow. that is nuts.
nothing crazy like that has happened to me YET but i do find it humorous that the bride/groom always look to me to tell them what they should do next for the wedding. I had this one wedding - i showed up early to do the getting dressed. i went to check on reception site (outside in mountains) i asked thefather of the bride where they were actually getting married at and he looked at me and told me to find a place. Get it all set up.. I had to laugh. you people are planning this wedding and it did not occur to you to get a location to get married at...

You seem to get a lot of tears at your weddings - are you sure it's not you causing them?

Only joking - your bride looks really nice and very happy.

I have to say that #4 is very, very, very unflattering. Pretty girl but that pose makes her look a lot larger than she is, I don't think it'd help the self esteem.

I disagree. I think she looks beautiful in the shot. (#4) And you only seeing a half dozen shots, and me knowing this bride, I think it is flattering. I really like it. I guess that's what makes us "artists". To each her own and all that.... anyway, no other sad stories that you've had to be the therapist for????

That's why I LOVE LOVE LOVE bridals! You can iron out all the kinks before the actual big day!!! She is a beautiful bride!

This kind of situation is not all that uncommon. Weddings can bring out the best & worst of people. Don't get involved in family dramas or rather don't let bad-vibes affect your duties which is to do your best to catch the best of the day.

Federkeil wrote in post #5240268
I disagree. I think she looks beautiful in the shot. (#4) And you only seeing a half dozen shots, and me knowing this bride, I think it is flattering. I really like it. I guess that's what makes us "artists". To each her own and all that.... anyway, no other sad stories that you've had to be the therapist for????

It doesn't matter how many shots we see since #4 is duscussed here and this particular one is extremely unflattering for her. If You compare 2 and 4 it's like two different people. You might like it but my opinion is she looks 30 pounds heavier than she really is.

drogos wrote in post #5242258
It doesn't matter how many shots we see since #4 is duscussed here and this particular one is extremely unflattering for her. If You compare 2 and 4 it's like two different people. You might like it but my opinion is she looks 30 pounds heavier than she really is.

Thanks for backing me up. I'm surprised if the bride said she liked that photo, perhaps she was being nice. Lying down is a hard to pull of pose even for those who aren't carrying a few extra lbs.

Yep. You may like it, but it DOES make her look quite a bit larger than she is. Doesn't matter if we "know" the bride or not. And a pointer for you here - Learn to take criticism a bit better... You posted the shots and the beauty of a forum like this is that all of these people are looking at your images completely subjectively BECAUSE they don't know the subject, and you will get real, meaningful input.

Congrats on handling a sticky situation with grace and pulling off the photos. She really is a beautiful bride and you managed to capture that despite all of the obstacles.

Absolutely love #3 and so will she. It minimizes her size and is a very flattering facial portrait of her. Good Job!

Crazy stories? Wow. A whole lot of them. One had a tipsy bride and groom leaving the reception and planning to WALK, yep, walk - something like 4 blocks to their hotel. So, I pulled my vehicle around and gave them a ride to their hotel. In the final leaving photos, my vehicle is in the background... Isn't it fun handling these things? Seriously, I love it, because then they just absolutely love you for it, and somehow think the photos are awesome...

Thanks collier, I actually really appreciate the unbiased criticism. I didn't mean to sound defensive, I just really like that picture. And your right I love #3. I didn't even mean for this thread to get off on a critique tangent, I just thought it would be funny to hear some stories.

Yes, we have seen all sorts of situations with weddings. My studio has 4 shooters including my wife. When we KNOW we have a high stress bride, my wife makes some death by chocolate cookies for the bride to enjoy before she gets ready. You have to keep food away from the gown.

It takes a lot of self restraint to not get involved. You wouldnt believe the crazy things brides do that cause the tears. We had one that bought her gown a few years prior and had it fitted, then called off the wedding, and didnt try it on again until the wedding day. She was very nervous. The gown not fitting at the bridals is workable. And you can also tell them that dry cleaning it may shrink it. I've heard lots of tears over that and most dont know what happened.

At another wedding, my 2nd shooter was in the back with the bride waiting for her to enter with the wedding march, and the bride was asking if she should bolt or go down the aisle.

The short version is never answer any questions like that, and if they are upset, try and make them happy. We use cookies. We also have a rule that wont allow more than 1 person to come on the bridals to keep the level of foot-in-the-mouth syndrome to a minimum.

I agree about image #4. The others are nice..