Originally posted by Seppatown I'm pretty sure this situation here is different from what most on the site are used to. It's safe to say that the bride has never seen a professional wedding album up close. The sight of such a thing would probably just make her feel uncomfortable and out of place.
What the OP has described and shown resembles more of an intimate, homey sort of affair. She just wants her friend to be there for her.
An ugly duckling to you could be cute as a button to her. We all have different needs and expectations.
Sorry, i'm gonna be brutal but it must be stated clearly i think :
You think your story is different than the whole bunch we have all seen. Don't you think that if you see the same thing happen everytime in the exact same order, with a hope that the same action will produce different consequences, is ... insanity, madness, or something like this.
The bride SHOULD take a look at some pictures made by some pro wedding photographer : she have the right to not like it, of course, but she has to know what pictures taken by a pro looks like.
Then she could make an educated choice : she will know the different option, she could do a choice, and never look back and think "i should have done it differently", like in Jim example !
A Wedding is the most important moment in a life, with a birth and a death. Does she really want to take the risk of not getting good pictures of that day ?
More important : a wedding photog will know what pictures are THE picture that every client would like to have.
Anyway : she want her friend around at the wedding ? of course, but is it really friendly to ask someone you really like to work on such a day ? For such day everyone should be stress free, including the guest, the bride, the groom, the family.
To me, it's not friendly at all to ask a person you like to be stressed during such a beautiful day. And don't tell me it won't be stressful, the OP will have some stress just at least for herself, to do something that the OP find good enough.
We all have different needs and expectation, of course, no one deny that, all we say is : Don't say Yes, and push the bride to do things right for everyone : find a photographer, so everyone can enjoy that day, and the picture that will come after.