On Tuesday 12 April, Bokeh published a story recounting the sad tale of bride Jaclyn Ying. She published 21 of her wedding pictures online to show friends but the story went viral, with over 18,000 shares.
She explained in her Facebook post how the “pretty reputable” bridal shop arranging her wedding package had informed her that she would not be able to choose the photographer for her big day and that one would be assigned to her.
Fast forward past the wedding day to the reveal of the images, and Ying and her now-husband were understandably surprised by the quality of the photographs given to them.
They did not, however, name and shame the bridal shop or photographer, merely shared the images to let their guests and friends enjoy the hilariously bad shots.
The photographer himself then took to Facebook to defend his work, before quickly retracting his post and issuing an apology to the couple, and an offer to buy them a coffee.
Photographer Goh Chung Siew replied to Sunday’s post on Tuesday with a public post claiming responsibility for the shoot.
In a now-deleted message, he lamented the fact that the bride chose to share just 20 of the 900 images taken over 10 hours that he alleges he edited for them, taking issue with the fact the bride chose to damage the reputation of the bridal shop and photographer, although she had revealed neither.
Facebook screenshot via tnp.sg
Several hours later Goh deleted the post, replacing it with a message apologising for the quality of the photos Ying shared, and offering to buy her a coffee.
Goh wrote, “My bridal company and I could have done better by QC and removing them first before giving to you. I received $350 for this full day wedding photography & editing assignment, and I should have done better.
“My usual practice is to give the bridal company all the actual day photos and in turn, they will pass them to the couples. Lesson learnt, I will instead QC the photos first before giving them to the bridal studio.
“I sincerely hope you find the remaining 800-plus photos good. I thoroughly enjoyed covering your wedding that day.
“Once again, my sincere apologies for the hurts you went through with the terrible photos. Perhaps we could meet up and allow me to buy you coffee and apologise to you in person for the inconvenience caused.”
For reference, SG$350 is around US$250, not much for a full day of shooting plus editing, though that’s an issue for another day.
In an interview with TODAY, Goh shared in Mandarin, “The couple are nice people. On their wedding day, I felt that we had some chemistry going on, so I decided to give them something more by trying out new styles. I thought it was a nice gesture. Times are different, and there is a generational gap. So, the photographs I sent did not appeal to the couple.”
Ying has stated that she accepts the photographer’s apology and reports that since her post went viral she has been approached by many people offering a free do-over photo shoot.
- Further reading
- Newlyweds’ Terrible ‘Professional’ Wedding Images Go Viral