The Backstory

The original poster (OP) agreed to take photos for her Cousin Sarah’s wedding. OP was asked to take pictures of her getting ready, their grandmother putting a family heirloom necklace on her, the first look, the wedding, the reception, and more. Another photographer, a friend of the groom, was taking photos of the groom’s side getting ready, the wedding and reception. Since OP isn’t a professional, she asked her cousin to pay her $50 for the entire day. OP complained that she was harassed by the bride and several others to constantly take photos, and her cousin acted like a complete bridezilla. 

After the wedding OP edited the photos and copied them onto individual USB drives for Sarah to give to others if she wanted to. OP texted her cousin Sarah a couple of days later to let her know the photos were ready and was happy to meet her to exchange them for the $50. Her cousin never responded even after OP texted, called her for over three weeks, called Sarah’s mother (her aunt), and even stopped by her house to give her the photos. OP says that Sarah evaded her on every attempt to see her. 

Six months passed, and there was no communication. One night OP went to the movies with her cousin, Sarah’s younger brother, and some friends. Sarah’s brother told her “Sarah was wondering when you would give her the photos. She said she would pay you the $10 if that’s the only reason you were taking so long.

OP Gives an Ultimatum

OP was angry because it was supposed to be $50. OP told her cousin to tell Sarah if she wanted the pictures, she needed to contact her within two days to get them and pay the $50, or she would delete them. Two days passed and Sarah never contacted OP so she deleted everything, including the USB drives. 

A few days later, her aunt (Sarah’s mom) called, upset that she had ‘threatened’ her cousin into paying her when she didn’t have the money. OP told her aunt that Sarah had over six months to save $50 and refused to respond to OP and told her the pictures had been deleted anyway. 

The aunt, uncle, and other relatives refused to talk to her or her parents again. She said she “deleted the precious photos that can never be retaken, all because of greed.” OP’s mom thinks she should apologize, but her brother says she should have deleted the photos a long time ago, after the first week of trying to contact her and being ignored. 

The Readers Comment

“She had a whole wedding, and then couldn’t get 50 bucks for the photos? in 6 months?”

“Not just 14 hours either, with all the time editing them and transferring them to USB, not to mention the cost of the USB’s, electric and labour that normally companies would factor into pricing. For $50???? And she had six whole months to find that money or at least communicate with OP. As devastating as it is that those photos can never be retaken, she should have paid up and paid good.”

“I don’t see how you could have tried any harder than you did. She obviously didn’t care about seeing the photos if she’d been ignoring you for six months.”

“The photos couldn’t be that precious if the bride wasn’t able to get in contact with you for half a year. Especially after you tried to get in contact.”

“I couldn’t imagine asking a family member to do all that then not to pay them not to reply to them then lie to other family members about what was promised she realises an actual photographer for the full day charges around 2k?”

“Your cousin is a cheapskate and she tried to take advantage of you because you are young. Keep taking pictures if you enjoy it and keep any emails you sent to try to reach her. If anyone else tries to blame you, you can shove them in their faces”

Some offered alternatives she could have taken:

“$50 for a whole day, editing, AND several USB sticks. I wouldn’t have deleted them, but offered them to other family members: yes, grandma, I have the photos, but I still haven’t been paid.”

“I’ve seen a few comments suggesting keeping them to negotiate, but I doubt it’s worth wasting even more of your time and energy on this.”

“I would definitely snitch to her new husband about what kind of person he recently married.”

“Probably her mum or his mum would have paid. Next time go for the people who paid for the wedding.”

Some people thought she was wrong to delete the photos. 

“I’m going against the grain and say everyone sucks here. You should not have erased the usb drives. Certainly you could delete the photos on the camera. You should have simply told EVERYONE, I have the photos, for $50 they are yours. Your cousin is definitely inconsiderate.”

Was she right to erase the photos after six months and several attempts to contact her cousin? Should she have kept the photos and reached out to her aunt and uncle instead?

This article was produced by This Mom is On Fire.

The post originally appeared on Reddit. 

Image credit: © halfpoint via canva.com