Oops. Well, great minds think alike and all that. 
The photographer wants to make a ton of money, IMO. The markup on the pictures is insane and a special item like that…$$$. I concur with the board: it’s bizarre and tacky.
If I could say “No” to photographers, I probably wouldn’t be marrying one. 
The one shooting the wedding though, is one I can say “No” to.
And that, my friend, is why no Dopers have been invited to the wedding! 
I may have exaggerated in my shock at what I was being asked to do. The photograph won’t quite be life-sized. What the photographer has in mind, I’m told, is a large portrait of me in the dress. If it’s my head and shoulders, which is what I had a mental picture of, I’d say it will be about 3/4 life-sized. He had several similar shots in his studio. Even if it isn’t life-sized, it will still be far too large a portrait for my taste.
As for the photographer himself, he’s a friend of the gentleman, he does excellent work, and he’s giving us a discount because they’re in the same photography club. (the gentleman’s hobby is photography). I like him, but I will say “No” to him when necessary and I already have. I don’t know where he got this notion from. He’s from Pittsburgh and got his start as a photographer in New England.
Thank you for your input and for the laughs. The gentleman sprang this on me yesterday morning while we were getting ready for work, and I thought it sounded strange.
That’s just creepy.
This is what I envisioned as well. A friend of mine wanted to do something like this at his wedding. But he wanted cutouts of both the bride and groom and to have the cutouts do all the posing for pictures, thus freeing the couple up to mingle, eat, and enjoy the party. Needless to say, his wife nixed the idea.
Anyway, another vote for TACKY.
That’s exactly what I was going to come in to say. You display a formal portrait of a person at their funeral, for heaven’s sake, not at their wedding.
What the hell do you need a picture of yourself for there, anyway? You’re going to be right there in person, in your gown, for God and everybody to see.
I’d also echo the people who say, What on Earth are you going to do with a life-sized photo of yourself afterward? I’m reminded of the portrait of the Queen that for many years hung in the Winnipeg Arena; since it was demolished, they’ve been trying for years to find someone who wants a gargantuan picture of the Queen, and it hasn’t been easy going.
I’m getting married in August, and wouldn’t dream of subjecting my fiancee to that.
The life-size cake, on the other hand…
I want to believe what Sarafeena said, that this is really a miscommunication. What he meant was a ‘full length’ photo, meaning a shot of her in her gown where it’s not just a head shot style portrait but all of her, head to foot. But actually just a normal sized photo.
Even so, it makes me wonder why it isn’t a full length photo of both the bride and groom instead of just the bride.
Life size? Tacky, weird and creepy, not to mention expensive (I’m guessing), all in one.
I used to work for a swish caterer and have been to hundreds of weddings. The kind of weddings people like to call ‘over the top’. Thought I’d seen it all, but this idea leaves me speechless.
Oh, man. I’d be using that thing to scare the crap out of my new spouse for months to come!
Hear screaming from the bathroom? That’s because I put the demon bride behind the shower curtain.
Blood curlding scream worthy of a B-horror movie? Demon bride was behind the front hall door
Squeal first thing in the morning? Demon bride was in the closet behind her bathrobe.
I wonder if you could use it as a passenger in the carpool lane? Think anyone would notice?
Weird and tacky!
I keep imagining it to be one of those cardboard cut out things: http://www.cardboardcutout.net/
Just don’t have it done naked and on pillows.
I like the way you think. I’m not sure I’d want to be married to you, though
I think it goes back to the ridiculous and sexist notion that the wedding and all its trappings are mostly about the bride and it’s supposed to be the greatest day of her life, the pinnacle of all she’s ever achieved, etc., etc. The groom just shows up.
Believe me, I wish this notion was totally outdated, but you would not believe how much the wedding industry still caters to it.
They cater to it because it sells.
If there were not a large grain of truth to the idea of weddings being big extravagant festivals where the bride gets to be a princess, there would be no show Bridezillas.
Old Joke:
Kid at wedding: “Mommy! Why is the bride dressed all in white?”
Mom: “Because it’s the happiest day of her life!”
Kid: “Then why is the groom dressed in black?”
g,d&r…
This is what I figured. At our wedding, we had a larger portrait of us both next to the entrance where people could sign the matt around the picture instead of a guest book. It’s a nice picture, that also has some good words from family and loved ones. But that sounds a bit different than what is going on here.
What’s really scary is how young it starts…a bunch of the little girls at my daughter’s preschool all want to dress up and play wedding every day, and the boys want no part of it. They had to take their Flat Stanley down from the wall the other day to use him as the groom!
Once, I was getting measured for a tux, for a friends wedding, and this little boy and girl were there. The girl (7 or 8?) was going on and on about how the bride gets to choose everything about the wedding. The dress, the cake, the tableclothes, everything! I pointed out how the groom gets to pick one thing. She looked up at and said What? I leaned down and smiled and in a decent Jack Nicklson said the groom gets to pick the bride.
Only if you would be naked. Or maybe the garters and stockings look. That would shake up the guests.
Awwww! I hope you got a picture of that and sent it to labtrash. Flat Stanley gets married…
Edited to add: Playing wedding isn’t a reliable indicator of anything about what a girl will be like as a grownup. I used to play wedding when I was little. Now, I am probably about as un-girly as you can get without actually being a butch lesbian. The last time I did anything with my nails other than cut them when they break, I’m pretty sure Bush I was in the White House. The last time I wore makeup was for my wedding in 2003, and the last time before that was for senior pictures in 1992.