Bride Refuses to Pay Wedding Musician Who Showed Up in Same Color Dress
For wedding guests, it's a common courtesy to not wear white to a wedding as to not match or potentially outshine the bride. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for one woman who showed up to a wedding in a blue dress — the very same color the bride was wearing!
Sharing her story on Reddit, the 18-year-old woman detailed she was hired to play the harp at her father's friend's wedding, but after showing up in the same color dress as the bride, the bride refused to pay her for her performance.
"Normally, I would ask for payment beforehand, but since it was a family friend, they asked if they could just pay me at the reception and I told them yes," the harpist wrote via Reddit. "The dates worked out for me, and it was set in a church about 1 hour from my house."
Once she arrived at the venue, the bride's mother-in-law ran up to her, insisting she change her navy blue dress so as to not upset the bride, despite the bride knowing what color dress she was going to wear beforehand.
The harpist declined to change as a new dress would be too expensive, costing more than she was making to perform.
Not realizing it was a big issue, the woman went ahead and performed during the ceremony. She later realized the bride was furious.
"At the reception, when I talked [to the] mother in law about payment, she refused to pay me. I didn't want to cause a scene, but the bride came over and heard us talking," she continued. "This time, she was also upset with me and also refused to pay me. I didn't know what to do. As my parents were busy and couldn't attend this wedding, I didn't have anyone there to back me up."
The harpist left the venue without getting paid and eventually got her dad involved.
In the comments, Reddit users back the teen up, advising her to make sure she collect payment or at least a deposit beforehand next time she plays a wedding.
"Lesson here is to get paid upfront. No money, no music," one person wrote.
"Perhaps in the future you should type up a contract and have whoever is paying for the wedding sign it along with you. Might need a slot to fill in the color of the bride's dress, so that it's signed off and you know what color to avoid. This protects both sides ahead of time so there are no surprises; plus, you have a legal document to force payment in case a similar situation arises," another recommended.
"Shame on them for trying to take advantage of a young adult! And you played at the wedding. It's not like they told you to leave. (Not that that would've been ok, but at least they would have sort of a half leg to stand on)," another person weighed in.
"This was a business transaction and you held up your end of the deal. The dress was approved (twice). They had no reason to refuse payment," another user wrote.