Bride-to-be roasted over ‘dodgy’ email request to her wedding photographer: ‘I respectfully decline because I don’t want to go to jail’
A bride has been criticised as ‘untrustworthy’ after asking her photographer to commit fraud to save money on her wedding.
The young woman, who is an event planner, panicked when she realized that her budget no longer covered the photographer’s costs.
Australian couples spend an average of between $33,000 and $53,000 on their wedding, with a photographer typically accounting for $3,200 of that budget.
The bride emailed the professional suggesting she hire him to organize events for her company and overcharge him to compensate for her wedding.
“We are so excited to have you as our wedding photographer. Hard to believe it’s only a few months away,” she wrote.
‘I wasn’t sure how to approach this with you, but the budget has grown rapidly as we’ve gone through this process. I’m sure that happens with a lot of weddings and you’ve dealt with it many times before.
“I was wondering if we could work something out. I work in the events department at [a company]and I wonder if I can hire you to photograph some events there. You can then overcharge, and what you overcharge, you can then deduct from our remaining balance.
“What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?”
The bride emailed the professional suggesting she hire him to organize events for her company and overcharge them to compensate for her wedding.
The shocking email branded the ‘deranged’ bride ‘tasteless’ and ‘criminal’, with some urging the photographer to report the bride to her workplace.
“Does this person also tell the florist, the caterer or another supplier?” someone asked.
“Stop expecting to be able to negotiate with creatives like photographers. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, ask a family member or friend to take a few photos. This is so tacky.”
Many could not believe that the bride would stoop so low.
One woman suggested, “Just write back, ‘I politely decline because I don’t want to go to jail.’”
“That’s one way to lose your job,” one person wrote. “I work in the events industry and I can’t imagine anyone who works in the events industry doing something like that.”
A second said: ‘Excuse me? I thought she was going to ask for an extension or a payment plan, not fraud!’
“Why would someone sacrifice their integrity to give you a better price?” one woman asked.
“Sometimes I wonder if people are just ridiculously stupid or if they really have that much privilege,” someone said.