Home Latest News

Beauty Blogger Ordered To Pay Wedding Photographer $US1 Million After Trashing Her Online

The photographer sued for malicious defamation

She’s the Texan beauty blogger whose profile skyrocketed after she appeared on TV slamming her wedding photographer, but now the tables have turned.

Neely Moldovan, who blogs at it Starts With Coffee, married Andrew Moldovan in Dallas in 2014, hiring wedding photographer Andrea Polito to capture their big day. But post-wedding, they weren’t happy when they found out about the $US125 cover fee they needed to pay to receive their wedding album, The Cut reports.

After emailing back and forth with Polito’s studio, they went public with their story in January 2015, appearing on local TV holding empty photo frames and claiming the photographer was holding their photos hostage.

“It’s heartbreaking, because, you know, these are our memories,” Ms Moldovan told reporters.

The story quickly garnered global media attention and Polito was inundated with negative reviews and online comments as the Moldovans’ story gathered steam. Within two years, her wedding photography business folded.

RELATED: The World’s Most OTT Wedding Just Happened In Capri

But now, Polito has come out on top. After taking the Moldovans to court, a judge has ordered the Moldovans pay her over $US1 million in damages for malicious defamation.  

As it turns out, the Moldovans agreed to pay the $125 album cover fee when they signed the photographer’s contract before the wedding. “She basically didn’t read her paperwork,” Polito told The Washington Post. “It’s in bold in our contract.”

Emails shown in court reveal that Polito explained all this to the Moldovans, and even offered to waive the $US125 fee, as they continued to court media attention and defame Polito on social media.

The Moldovans have gone silent since the ruling, but Polito is hopeful she will now be able to rebuild her career. “For two and a half years I walked around my daughter’s school feeling ashamed and embarrassed,” she told The Post. “They know I’ve won now.”

Related stories