Wedding photographer shares story of kids causing $4K in damage. UPDATED
The debate over whether or not to have children at a formal wedding ceremony has been raging for years...
Considering how expensive most weddings are, the thought of a small child throwing a temper tantrum mid-vows can be enough to cause some awkward family discussions when the invitations go out. Providing childcare during the ceremony and reception can help families who don't have another option, but ultimately it's up to the couple getting married to answer the kids question.
So, when a shocked wedding photographer decided to vent to the gloriously judgmental 'Wedding Shaming' group of Reddit about some particularly destructive underage guests at a wedding they worked, people were eager to hear the gossip.
Crotch goblins at a wedding? No thank you...
So I once worked at a wedding and couldn’t help but notice how terrible the kids were. Now usually the kids I’ve seen at weddings will have iPads etc to play on during the ceremony (with headphones) and then during reception they aren’t an issue!
But for this wedding, these three kids (only 3 there) were monsters. I felt so bad for the bride. Just to summarize the minor issues.
The kids - 1. Kept interrupting the ceremony by yelling, running up the aisle etc 2. Strip down practically naked and run around 3. Throw the aisle decor off the pews (it was in a church) and basically destroy it.
The parents weren’t doing anything to stop them. Just kept ignoring the kids while they practically hung off of them.
During the reception it was even worse. They ran onto the floor during the dances for the couple and the couples parents. They threw food around, they screamed, one of them threw a plate and hit the other guest.
Finally the bride asked the parents if they could do something, which the mother replied with “it’s not my problem your wedding isn’t kid friendly. You should have gotten a kids station. Or at least given them toys!” A couple people at the other table sighed.
The bride left, but just before turning to go see her hubby to cut the cake, one of the kids ran up to her and rubbed their hands in the fluff of the dress...with chocolate all over his hands.
I guess at some point the kid found the chocolate fountain in the kitchen which the catering company had brought in for the fondue (thankfully I got pictures of it before it got destroyed) he was covered in chocolate, now the brides dress was covered too. You could tell she was about to cry.
And this wasn’t the worst part either. Thankfully her mom helped her change into her honeymoon dress (knee length white dress). The couple then goes to cut the beautiful, five tier tall cake. Guess what the little monsters did.
Right after the couple cut the cake, the chocolate covered kid (now in pjs) ran up to the bride and asked for a slice. When she said they were going to hand it out in a couple seconds, and that he had to wait, he screamed.
Big ugly tears falling from his eyes (I’m a monster so I took a picture of his melt down) He then had a full on tantrum. Kicking the table with the cake on it. I guess it wasn’t a strong table because the thing fell over, the cake landed all over the bride, the groom, the MotB and the kid.
The crazy mom then came out of the crowd, yelled at the couple that they hurt her child and then some fierce words were exchanged. After a good five minute screaming match the bride YELLED at everyone to get out. Then walked off with tears.
I left shortly after to get editing the shots I took. About a week later the bride called and asked if I had gotten any nice shots. I told her all the pictures we took during cocktail hour were safe, a couple during the reception were good (edited the kids out if they got in the shot).
And ceremony was okay. I also got pics of the cake, fondue fountain with all the goodies and the food etc were good. I took out the pics where the kids ruined it. But I let her know I took a pic right as his melt down started. She wanted that pic so badly. So I gladly sent it to her right away.
Out of my own curiosity I asked what happened with the monster kid and mom. She laughed and said she was taking them to small claims court to get back the money she spent on the dresses cleaning fee, the cake, the now destroyed fondue fountain and a couple other things.
All in all the kids caused almost 4K worth of damage which the bride and groom had to cover. And on top of that, since only parts of the dress could be cleaned (an almost $700 cleaning fee).
She had to get fabric to cut out the damaged parts and fix it (almost another grand). Furthermore, she had to postpone her honeymoon (causing a further 2k to the couple) so they could deal with everything.
Long story short, I gave the bride 50% off because the package was supposed to have a total of 300 edited shots but I could only salvage about 100-120. The bride and I (who is now becoming a good friend of mine) are going to get drinks when she comes back from her spa honeymoon (not her original honeymoon).
My question for you ladies, would you ever allow kids at your wedding? Cuz I don’t think I will after this...
Later, the post was updated to include more details:
Update on kid that caused 4K of damages at a wedding...
I met with the bride a couple days ago for lunch and she gave me an update. So far she has filed the documents for small claims court and she is being counter sued. Basically she told me they are suing for the medical care and costs the son has because of the cake falling on him.
She even have been getting nasty calls and emails from them. I’m trying to convince her to let me get screenshots to let you read them!
Her entire family has now left the entitled mom and husband in the dust. The EMs husband (EMH) has been reaching out to the brides husband to get him to convince her to drop the case. He’s taking his wife’s side and refusing, saying that if he stepped in and controlled his monstrous kids and wife there wouldn’t be an issue.
The EM has been posting all over fb saying how terrible the bride is and spinning the story to favour her. I’m not sure when they will be going to court.
Here's what people had to say about this $4,000 mess...
atseasheiscalm said:
I’m having kids at mine, it’s the irresponsible parents I’m not inviting.
sal1183 said:
The moment they disrupted the ceremony, that would have been it for me. I would have asked them kindly and sternly not to come to the reception. I'm surprised other family members didn't say anything. Mine certainly would have immediately.
perkypancakes said:
I think they were way too nice to this entitled family. The moment they started acting out at the church I would have had them kicked out and uninvited from the reception. It’s not okay to allow your children to run amok at someone’s wedding and not expect to be removed.
thatdinklife said:
My heart breaks for this bride. You do so much work and spend so much money on this one day, and maybe there are a couple hiccups, but this is just insane!