The bride rioting over her wedding photos.

A bride's viral TikTok videos have ignited a major discussion about wedding photography and the importance of communication between couples and their chosen photographers.

Meet Alexandra Jaye Conder (formerly Weinstein), the bride at the centre of this sepia-toned saga.

She tied the knot in a lavish destination wedding in Anguilla last November, with photographer Hannah Elise capturing the big day as part of the bride's content team (which also including a videographer and a content creator for the day). 

Alexandra initially "loved" the snaps, but fast forward a few weeks, and her tune changed faster than you can say "I do".

After she says she reached out to the photographer to ask for edits, or to be given the raw images so she could re-edit them herself, Alexandra claims the photographer threatened to sue her for slander. 

So naturally, the bride headed on over to TikTok, venting her frustrations in a series of videos that quickly gained traction online — and dividing social media users over what's been dubbed the "sepia bride" drama.

Watch: Bride calls out wedding photographer. Story continues after video.

The 'sepia bride' controversy.

"Imagine paying almost $8,000 for a wedding photographer. And when you raised your concerns, they threatened to sue you for slander if you spoke your truth," the bride began in the first video of her 14-part series (which is pinned to her TikTok profile, in case you want to catch up on the entire debacle).

She explained she had found her photographer on Instagram, loving the "bright, airy" style that "also had this golden-ness to it" showcased on her feed.

She shared, "Her feed looks so bright, airy, but also had this golden-ness to it and I loved that the golden-ness still captured the beauty of like colours, blue, your skin tone, etc."

However, after the photos from her own overcast wedding day arrived, the bride's initial excitement faded. 

“Our wedding day was overcast, nothing you can really do about that. However, photographers should know how to shoot in an overcast situation,” she noted, adding that over time she noticed what she felt were some issues with the images.

"I'm a makeup artist, okay? I was a makeup artist in the wedding industry for years. And I do my own makeup for my wedding. And I'm staring at the solo pictures of me and I'm like, hmm, I kind of look really pale and my makeup isn't showing at all," Alexandra said.

When the bride raised her concerns, she says the photographer offered to edit the photos for an additional fee. However, the results still didn't meet her expectations.

"What did she put on my lipstick? What blush am I wearing? Like what is all my eyes, my skin, everything?" Alexandra questioned.

She compared the photographer's edits to screenshots of her wedding video to highlight the differences post-edit.

Image: TikTok.

 

"I then came to the conclusion that I need to reach out to her and tell her that some of the edits felt like there were a preset that was copy-pasted and I wasn't happy whatsoever," she explained.

The bride also pointed out that in some photos, the ocean looked dull and grey. 

"It looks like we got married in Seattle. What is that?" Alexandra remarked, while still acknowledging that the photographer captured beautiful moments.

A mixed reaction on social media.

The TikTok community had mixed reactions to the bride's complaint.

"Do people get married for the photos?" one person commented on the initial vid. "This is insane to me. I don’t understand."

The bride quickly replied, "No, we do not get married for the photos. But we do get married. And love photos."

Some users sided with the bride, agreeing that the sepia tone was unflattering. Others defended the photographer, arguing that the colour grading was a stylistic choice and that the lighting and background at the wedding were responsible for the differences.

Photographers in the comments section offered their professional insights.

Hudson Valley NY Wedding Photo commented, "I think these are all gorgeous. The editing is consistent, the difference is the lighting & background, which plays a role in the final product. No image will look exactly the same in different light."

Photographer @asiachristine_ added, "11 yrs as a wedding photographer — it's 100% the lighting, location, backgrounds that makes them look so different. LOVE film edits, but it's so tricky bc it can look so beautiful in some situations & muddy in others.

"They can be tweaked so they're not so warm & give more true tone. Photog edited in her style & this is expected based on her edit bc lighting/environment is constantly changing on [wedding] day."

The story didn't just stay on TikTok. It spilled over to Threads, where @hannahreed.co asked, "I wonder if sepia bride knows her drama has left TikTok and is now being widely discussed over here on Threads…And that we’re all team photog 😂"

Alexandra responded, saying she was "taking notes for lots of brides on who to hire vs not".

@alexandrajaye5 The internet is a crazy place. Thank you for all the love & understanding of what happened to us. And to the haters, karma is a b. 🤍 #weddingphotographers #sepiabride #weddingtiktok ♬ original sound - Lachlan Sutherland

A final word from sepia bride.

After her videos went viral, Alexandra posted a series of short videos from her wedding day with the caption, "All that matters in the end 🤍 thank you to everyone who listened to my experience & my story. I will no longer be sharing more on this issue as I need to move on with my life. If the photographer ends up sharing her story on the matter, I will comment. But as of now, I'm going to try to redo my wedding portraits & close this off…"

She added, "If anyone has questions regarding wedding vendor decisions, I will follow up on those subjects. But I have left everything on this situation on the table. I wish this doesn't happen to anyone in the future, and I hope we as clients & photographers can learn from our mistakes from both sides."

In an email with the Daily Dot, bride Alexandra also shared, "I sent the photographer multiple Pinterest galleries for the vibes I was looking for. Ultimately now I'm realising that there was miscommunication between the 2 of us with the reasons of the Pinterest board.

"Additionally, I liked her style & her editing upon booking her. I just found that a lot of the special moments in my gallery did not live up to the expectations of her work. I had yellow-looking teeth, red streaks in my hair, extremely harsh shadows and she made the greenery look super brown & dead-looking. I was not expecting that, due to what I saw on her social media. 

"No person on her feed looked like (in my opinion) to have red streaks, yellow teeth, huge shadows under the eyes," she added. "She's a really great photographer, no discredit to that. The editing is what I wasn't happy about on certain images."

The real lesson here? Hash out those photo editing expectations before walking down the aisle. And remember, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but memories? Those are priceless. 

Feature image: TikTok/alexandrajaye5