The Most Ridiculous Wedding Lawsuit Ever

Photo courtesy of ThinkStock.com.

Ok, so I realize that this didn’t happen here in Philly—but I figure that if there’s a story coming out of the wedding industry that keeps my jaw dropped onto my desk for both the entire time spent reading it and the following ten minutes spent fixing myself a double hot chocolate, then it’s worth sharing. And I’ve just got to know what everyone thinks of this. (And hope hope hope that no one has a story to top it.)

This afternoon, I came across this article from the New York Times. It’s about a lawsuit filed against a wedding photographer by a disgruntled groom, which, sadly, isn’t really uncommon. We all certainly hear about lawsuits of this nature often enough, and I always think they’re sad, whether it’s for the couple, because a vendor really screwed them over, or the vendor, if it seems like they probably did the best they could, and the couple is just flat out nuts.

But this? This is really something. You’ve got to read it—but, some highlights:

• The couple was married in 2003. The groom decided to sue in 2009.
• The couple was divorced in 2008. The bride has since returned to her native Latvia.
• The groom’s gripe: The photog dropped the ball on the last 15 minutes of the reception, and didn’t capture the last dance or the bouquet toss.
• The groom’s demands: The photog should pay him back the fee he was paid to shoot the wedding, plus another $48,000, that the groom might use to recreate the entire wedding (which includes flying all the involved parties to New York) and hire another photographer to shoot the whole shebang, this time not missing the last 15 frigging minutes.
• One more time: The couple is divorced.

The man at the unfortunate end of this lawsuit is highly respected 87-year-old photographer Curt Fried—who has an amazing history—who has since retired, and whose son is now running the studio. They say they have, at this point, spent as much defending this lawsuit as the disgruntled groom is demanding.

So, I can’t help but be curious: Philly photographers, certainly you’ve heard of couples not being happy with their wedding pictures, and possibly even suing. What is the best response for a wedding vendor when a couple is unhappy with that vendor’s service? What would you do in a situation where a couple was unhappy, in order to keep it from going so far? In a way, you can’t blame a bride or groom for being upset if they feel some very milestone-y moments at their wedding were missed—but the reaction seems just a little extreme. Have you ever heard of demands as out there as this? Share with us your thoughts and stories in the comments!

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