Wedding photographers call on vicars to stop 'rude' and 'aggressive' behaviour

Sophie and John were unable to get the wedding photos they wanted.

"Rude" and "abusive" behaviour by vicars towards wedding photographers needs to end, photographers say.

A petition, signed more than 900 times, has described vicars' "humiliating" behaviour as a "huge issue" in the wedding photography industry.

Photographer Rachel Roberts said she started it to "reset the relationship".

Vicars have told the BBC photographers should respect wedding ceremonies, but said they were sorry to hear of their bad experiences.

Ms Roberts said she wanted to start a "public conversation" about the relationship between photographers and clergy at church weddings.

"Some of the stories that have come out are quite shocking," she told BBC Breakfast. "A lot of photographers and videographers say they now flat out refuse to go anywhere near church weddings."

She was driven to start the petition after seeing a video on social media of a wedding photographer being "spoken to really aggressively" by a vicar in front of a church full of "horrified" wedding guests.

Photographer Rachel Roberts talks to BBC Breakfast about her petition.

Ms Roberts said she had clergy members ask her to hide behind pillars or to stay at the back of the church and only take one photo.

One vicar threatened to pause the ceremony and kick her out if she took photos at the wrong time, she said.

Ms Roberts told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that at one wedding she was told to stay in one place and not make any noise, only for the vicar to welcome children to freely roam the church and play in the aisles.

The children caused an "absolute cacophony of noise" and "no one could actually hear the vows," she said, adding this felt like a double standard.

"People can be quite dismissive of photographers for wanting the 'shallow' part of the day," she said. "A lot of clergy members often say to us, 'This is not Hollywood, it's not a photoshoot'."

Sophie and John's wedding, photographed from the back of the church

'It was his way or no way'

Sophie and John had a church wedding in April 2022. They were told on the day that their photographer had to stay either at the front or the back, and that she could not move around.

Sophie told BBC Breakfast she was "devastated."

"We wanted those shots of me coming into the church and seeing John's face when I walked down the aisle," she said.

Her husband added: "It's the way the vicar handled it. It was almost like it was his show and it was his way or no way."

Rev Bryony Wood said she has always had good experiences with wedding photographers, and she was sorry to hear about the negative encounters raised by Ms Roberts's petition.

"I guess we do our best but some vicars can feel the pressure too," Rev Wood told the Today programme.

Since a wedding is a legal process, "if we get it wrong, the couple might not even be married," she said.

Rev Wood said: "I just think if you're in a really quiet moment when the couples are sharing their vows, and there's a click or a photographer's moving around, then people will automatically look at what's going on in the background rather than actually focusing on that incredible moment."

But it is not just the priests who can cause problems with one reverend telling BBC Breakfast he had been pushed aside by a photographer, had one stand between him and the couple during the vows, and even had one stand between the bride and groom.

Rev Anna Alls, a vicar for six parishes in Nottinghamshire, told BBC Breakfast: "I think communicating with the vicar about what's appropriate is probably okay.

"Not being in the vicar's face and distracting them."

Rev Anna Alls said clergy had to be on top of everything during a wedding service

She pointed out that many churches are ancient buildings which can be dangerous.

Photographers climbing medieval pulpits to get better angles could cause a major distraction, she said.

"I am going to put quite a lot of effort into planning a wedding," Rev Alls said. "There's a lot going on, it's really stressful. And you've got to be on top of everything.

"So I can understand why clergy are precious about that. We don't want to be distracted."

Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, admitted some vicars could be a "complete pain" and "over controlling" with photographers, in an interview with the Sunday Times.

But he said it was "not unreasonable" to ask photographers to be respectful.

The number of religious weddings in England and Wales is steadily declining, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

In 2016, 76% of marriages took place as civil ceremonies. That rose to a record 85.5% in 2020 - the latest available data - though Covid restrictions at the time may have affected this figure.