They can’t make you beautiful, skinny, blemish free, or into Angelina Jolie. Well, I mean, technically they can edit out a blemish or two if need be (just ask), but they don’t want to spend hours editing you because of your negative body image, and nor should you expect them to.
One thing many wedding photographers have in common is that they spend HOURS editing and perfecting your photos after the 5-14 hour day shooting your wedding. They tweak the lighting, they might change the image to black and white, and they go through the thousands of shots to ensure you see the essence of your day in the images they deliver.
Photographers already spend hours on every single wedding they do, well beyond the 8-hour package you’ve paid them for. You may think that their price is high considering how many hours they work, but you may be shocked at how long they spend on editing, admin, email correspondence, meetings and designing albums. This is why many do ask for a small editing fee per image when it’s requested that changes be made. Because otherwise, they’re eating into their own time (and therefore losing money).
There’s one thing that many wedding photographers hear all too often, from brides, grooms, and guests…. “make me beautiful”, “make me skinny”, “make me young” and “make me a supermodel”. And we hate to be harsh, but they’re photographers, not magicians. They want to capture the day, as it happens, not spend hours in order to create another version of yourself that you may or may not be happy with in the end anyway.
Your wedding day should be about the two of you and your love, not about negative body image. You are SO loved. And your spouse to be is marrying you for you, not a photoshopped or airbrushed version.
Do yourself and your photographer a favour, and accept yourself the way you are.