weddings

How the cost of this couple's wedding suddenly ballooned to over $1.3 million.

Nearly three years have passed since Andrew and Neely Moldovan’s wedding, but this week the cost of the US couple’s dream Dallas nuptials has ballooned to more than US$1.08 million (AU$1.3 million).

The pair has lost a costly defamation lawsuit filed by their wedding photographer, Andrea Polito, who claimed they embarked on an extensive and excessive media campaign that ultimately destroyed her business.

And all over a US$125 (AU$155) album cover.

The Moldovans. Image: Facebook/Neely Moldovan.

According to Dallas News, the contract signed by the couple stated that they would not receive their images until the entire wedding album was completed. But the couple had failed to fill out the form for their custom cover or to pay the $125 fee to create it.

After weeks of back and forth, Polito agreed to waive the fee. But it was too late.

According to the suit quoted by Dallas News, the blogger and her husband had posted "disparaging and defamatory" statements on social media and blogs claiming Polito "cheated" and "scammed" people, and in 2015 told a local television station that she was "holding their photos hostage".

Farewell, flower crowns. (Post continues below.)

In the year that followed the photographer booked just two weddings - in a normal year she would reportedly manage as many as 100.

"My business was destroyed," Polito said.

On Friday, a jury determined that the Moldovans were liable for US$1.08 million in damages over defamatory, disparaging and malicious statements, according to Dallas News.

"I was proud of my accomplishments, what I have done. They took that away from me," Polito told the outlet. "It's been a fight for myself to get my reputation back."