Ruined wedding photos
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What can you do when your DIY wedding photos suck?

Ruined wedding photos

I want to talk today about a huge source of embarrassment I have about my wedding. No, Uncle Ned didn’t get drunk and upturn the cake during an awkward breakdance session. The biggest source of embarrassment and the biggest heartbreak of my wedding is my wedding day pictures. They suck!

The following is an excerpt from a guest post I wrote about my ruined DIY wedding pictures. Read the whole story and see the photography train wreck at Lotus Blossom Photography

What can you do when your DIY wedding photos suck?

Nothing!

When I was planning my own wedding I found so much inspiration on all the pretty wedding blogs. Though I only had a $5000 budget, I was determined to have a sweet, wonderful, beautiful wedding. With careful planning and lots of DIY spunk, I indeed had the wedding of my dreams.

We DIY-ed everything: our cake, the favors, our invitations, the bunting and pinwheel decorations, our centerpieces and flowers, the wine labels, and the iPod “DJ”. Everything but the bouquets and the clothes. It was an amazingly cute wedding. Many of our friends remarked that it was “so us,” and “so much fun” What more could a bride want?

Right now I want beautiful pictures to match the beautiful wedding we put so much time and love into creating.

Let me say that again: Right now I want beautiful pictures to match our beautiful wedding.

In the thick of planning, I was happy to be saving so much by going the DIY route. I felt clever, empowered, and on top of the budget-bride, DIY world. When it came to hiring a photographer I scoured the wedding forums for advice. Lots of brides and budget-minding blogs were talking about hiring a student photographer.

Ding, ding, ding–I work at a University! What a perfect solution, I thought. I asked around campus for recommendations and found a student. I assure you ladies, I covered all of my bases. I interviewed her three times: Once to get to know her and look at her portfolio; once to show her blogs and tear sheets so she would know what I was looking for. I met with her one final time so she could show me wedding pictures she found that she thought would appeal to me. When I saw that her style matched mine, we signed a contract, went over the shot list, and I paid her half of the $150 I had offered her.

Note: You get what you pay for.

I got: no framing, blown-out colors, blurry images, and weird facial expressions. It seems like my photographer was either blind or didn’t care…

Read the whole story on and see more awful wedding day photos on Lotus Blossom Photography