It's supposed to be the greatest day of every woman's life.
Your hair is perfect, your make-up immaculate, your dress is drop-dead-gorgeous, the venue is beautiful...
And the photographer? Of course, you've hired a top photographer for your wedding. And he'll immortalise your day in celluloid, making you look eternally beautiful.
What could possibly be go wrong?
Well, how about this...
Ugliest bride I have ever photographed. Winged the whole time. Bridezilla #1
The above was posted on the Facebook page of Lee Maxwell Judd, a photographer working out of Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia, after he was hired to take pictures at the wedding of Ashlea and Daniel Howard.
Ashlea and Daniel were married on February 21st 2015, and waited expectantly for what they assumed would be professionally-taken photographs of the day.
According to a Facebook post by the bride, she wasn't just upset about being described as "Bridezilla" on the photographer's Facebook page:
The quality of the photos was unacceptable and he acted very unprofessionally leading up to and especially after the event. The photos were sent on a USB with no note, business card or any form of packaging to the WRONG person. A random had all our photos. This was after many weeks of asking when we will have a sneak peek or a copy of what we paid for. Disgusting behavior in how he responded at every stage. Lying to me directly on the phone. He has been rude and unprofessional at every stage. Even asking if I wanted sexy/lingerie shots the day before my wedding, not asking in advance. It came across very creepy. Red flag!
Whether the photographer did a good job or not is outside the scope of this article, but what is interesting is that Lee Maxwell Judd reportedly claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and he wasn't responsible for the "Bridezilla" comment.
If that's the case, then we would hope that he would contact the authorities and report the crime - which could be very damaging for his business.
The Facebook page for Lee Maxwell Judd's photography business has now have disappeared from the site (whether it was deleted by a hacker or deliberately removed by its owner is unclear) but that hasn't stopped a Facebook group being formed where others have posted about their experiences or shared screenshots of what either Judd or the hacker posted on the page.
In that group, users are actively exchanging screenshots of what are clearly derogatory and highly offensive messages sent by whoever had control of Judd's Facebook account.
Whether that was Judd himself or a hacker who clearly had an interest in destroying Judd's reputation is a question best left to readers...
So what can we learn from this?
Firstly, if you run a business be very careful what you post on social media. One ill-advised comment might end up damaging a business that you have been trying to build up for many years, and could result in you receiving the unwelcome attention of the media.
Secondly, to avoid the danger of having a hacker hijack your social media accounts and posting something inappropriate, enable additional security measures and use a unique, hard-to-crack password. In the case of Facebook, it's a good idea to enable Login Approvals - the site's version of two-factor authentication.
Thirdly, if you do ever have your social media account hacked act quickly to regain control and apologise to any customers who may have been impacted. How you respond and recover from a hack can be as important to your clients as the fact that you were hacked at all.
Finally, never ever do anything that might ruin a woman's wedding day. You have been warned.
