miserable bride

jols · Jan 12, 2008

has anyone ever took wedding pics and the bride just wont smile.

i had one last summer and luckily they picked my smallest package so i could manage to filter out the unhappy look.

i have just looked back through them and she really doesn't look like she wants to be there.

what do you guys do if the bride or another important guest say brides mum just don't smile?

Mike_E · Jan 12, 2008

There can be any number of reasons someone doesn't smile. I find that most often the reason is that the person has bad teeth. If it's some one that is important to the shoot then you could mention that you can adjust what ever is making them uncomfortable in Post Production ( you will want to make allowances for this in your initial pricing).

If they are truly unhappy then there is little you can do aside from offering to call them a cab. (or any other name you like I suppose

)

Garbz · Jan 13, 2008

Or maybe the wedding was rushed and forced upon the couple. I did one like this a while back. 400 photos and 2 with someone smiling. Sad indeed.

JIP · Jan 13, 2008

For me it is usually te men who don't want to smile or give you a decent photographable expression. It is your job (to a point) to coax something out of your subjects. Although it is not your fault if an immature bride or groom wants to show the wrong kind of expression on the day they will remember with your images long after they have gotten past wanting to look surly or the arguement they might have had that day with someone.

TATTRAT · Jan 13, 2008

marriage IS an institution, they put crazy people in institutions. Not happy.

LaFoto · Jan 13, 2008

Didn't we have one member who photographed a wedding (shotgun wedding it might have been, too) with a teenage bride and groom, maybe of Mexican origin, I don't remember clearly, and he did not manage to get either groom or bride to smile in ANY ONE of his photos? Nor would anyone of the entire family smile? There was something up here somewhere!

Big Bully · Jan 14, 2008

LaFoto said:
Didn't we have one member who photographed a wedding (shotgun wedding it might have been, too) with a teenage bride and groom, maybe of Mexican origin, I don't remember clearly, and he did not manage to get either groom or bride to smile in ANY ONE of his photos? Nor would anyone of the entire family smile? There was something up here somewhere!

Hmm sounds to me like someone was forced to get married because of a bun in the oven.

Big Bully · Jan 14, 2008

I did a wedding of my husbands best friend and his wifes mother does not smile. I am not sure if she wasn't happy to be there or what. But she just wouldn't smile. So I would set up the shot, and the family in a group, and then I would just stand there with the camera ready.. and I waited. Soon the family started talking and goofing around, and then the mother in law began to relax. And I got some good pictures of her acting normal. But if I would set up the shot and say 1-2-3 smile... Wouldn't happen... I even went up to her and told her that this was her daughters day, and she would like to see her mother happy about it... Yeah that didn't work either.. lol
But usually when I let people act natural, that is when I get my best shots. Because at some point in time SOMEONE is going to crack a joke.

I also did a wedding for my cousin, and her mother and father practically hate each other as well as the siblings. No one got along in this family. Not to mention the grooms parents WERE NOT happy that he was marrying my cousin. No matter how I tried I could not get the grooms father to smile. (He was (R.I.P.)a police officer in Northern Idaho) I told jokes and everything just short of tickling the guy to get him to smile. Finally I just ended up using the same tactics as above and left things to nature and eventually he started laughing. But as soon as he started laughing he would quit as soon as he would see the camera.
So people are just weird. But my best suggestion is hold the camera ready and just wait, the opportunity will arise soon enough.

nicfargo · Jan 14, 2008

This is why I meet with the B & G before hand, maybe even a couple of times. If I sense that something is not right, I'll bring it up in conversation (I used to do counseling, so it's pretty easy for me). I will not do a shotgun wedding. I will do a wedding if a bun is in the oven ONLY if the couple actually wants to get married and they actually love each other. Those are the couples that I meet with a couple of times just to get a better feel of what I'm getting myself into.

Some photogs I know even require that the bride and groom both meet with him/her so that way the photog can see how genuine the whole thing is...just makes it easier to know what they're getting into. Of course exceptions are made (groom is in Iraq, groom lives in another town currently, etc).

AprilRamone · Jan 14, 2008

I actually did a wedding where the bride just wasn't a real smiley type of gal. She was just a more serious type I think. I did manage to get one big smile out of her, but there's no way I could have come up with enough jokes to get that spontaneous laugh for every formal shot we did! I think she just preferred her little smile.
Here's my non-smiley bride:

Jeepnut28 · Jan 14, 2008

yeah the "hey I just farted" and "I am not wearing any underwear" jokes I tell my brides can only go so far. LOL

Big Bully · Jan 14, 2008

Hey well at least your bride looks somewhat happy though.. I don't smile big either.. But it doesn't mean I'm not happy, I just don't like my toothy smile.

jols · Jan 15, 2008

nicfargo said:
This is why I meet with the B & G before hand, maybe even a couple of times. If I sense that something is not right, I'll bring it up in conversation (I used to do counseling, so it's pretty easy for me). I will not do a shotgun wedding. I will do a wedding if a bun is in the oven ONLY if the couple actually wants to get married and they actually love each other. Those are the couples that I meet with a couple of times just to get a better feel of what I'm getting myself into.

Some photogs I know even require that the bride and groom both meet with him/her so that way the photog can see how genuine the whole thing is...just makes it easier to know what they're getting into. Of course exceptions are made (groom is in Iraq, groom lives in another town currently, etc).

i meet the bride and groome three times before the wedding and i am not there too counsel them......they both seemed fine at the meetings although she was quite quiet,

but hey they bought the pics and more and i made a tidy sum,

but a few smily pics would be good for the portfolio.

nicfargo · Jan 15, 2008

I'm not saying I actually counsel them, I just like to know what I'm getting myself into. If it's not a joyous occasion...I'd like to know that upfront and sometimes asking certain questions will help determine that. You can also usually just tell by the way they play off each other in conversation.