Photographer accused of 'fat shaming' couple by photoshopping them to look skinnier
A bride-to-be who wanted to capture perfect memories of her wedding day claims she was ‘fat-shamed’ by the photographer booked for the big day.
When Katie Liepold, from the US state of Ohio, turned to Facebook to find a photographer for her wedding, local business Tower Photography stood out from the rest.
The wedding package Ms Liepold purchased consisted of an engagement shoot, along with two hours of coverage at the wedding reception for US$600 (just over AUD$750).
On the day of the engagement photoshoot, Ms Liepold said everything seemed to be going well with photographer Linda Silvestri.
"We laughed, we talked, we joked, we shared stories," she told News 5 Cleveland.
But when she received the photos back, she was left shocked and confused.
Some photos were blurry or crooked, but it was one image in particular that enraged the bride-to-be.
Ms Liepold said the photographer had taken it upon herself to digitally alter an image of the couple, even though the couple had not requested it.
"She actually photoshopped one picture of us skinnier,” Ms Liepold said.
"She probably took like, 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms) off each of us.”
Feeling hurt, she contacted Ms Silvestri and cancelled the contract. Ms Silvertri refunded the amount less $150, for the two hours she spent on the engagement shoot.
"That wasn't asked for, and I just felt like that was really hurtful and my pictures weren't good enough to be left alone," Ms Liepold said.
Ms Silvestri then went on a Facebook rant, telling a page for ‘wedding professionals only’ about the struggles of working with the couple.
According to News5, the post read: “It is extremely difficult to get Pintrest worthy lovey dovey pictures when people can’t even get their heads together.”
"A whole big rant about how just that week she had a photo shoot with two morbidly obese individuals," Ms Liepold recalled.
“I didn’t pay her $150 to have her make fun of me on a site.”
When contacted by Yahoo7, Ms Silvestri said: "The situation has been resolved. Therefore I have no comment."
The Facebook rant has since been deleted.
