In all my years, this is a first. I was supposed to shoot a wedding tonight and I just got a call from the Maid of Honor that the bride's mother died an hour ago of a sudden heart attack. It was a small wedding of only 30 guests but the whole thing is now being postponed. How about that for a weird wedding memory...the day you finally get married and your mother dies? Pretty crazy and quite sad actually.

So what's the weirdest reason for a last-minute cancellation you've ever received? I'm not talking about the stupid flake excuses, dead grandmother type things that everyone knows is a lie, etc.

I dont shoot weddings.

But, years ago, my SO talked me into shooting her best friend's ceremony. She understood that it wasnt "my thing" but they were doing the whole thing on a shoestring budget---and you know what kind of "pressure" my SO used

Shot the rehearsal dinner... it went pretty well.

Middle of the night, I get called telling me the whole thing was delayed. Seems the rehearsal dinner (which I DIDNT eat) gave everybody food poisoning. The ceremony could have been held in the local ER I guess

shot the whole thing about a month later. Bride was happy, SO was happy, and I have not shot a wedding since.

well i don't exactly know what happened but i had a shoot scheduled with a photographer that i had worked with once before through MM and he was really nice and everything was awesome. we scheduled another shoot for the beginning of december and set up the time, place, etc. so a week before i sent an email to confirm with him and he didn't get back to me at all. so i sent another email the day before, plus a message on MM. never got back to me. the day of the shoot i emailed again asking if everything was ok, that i understood if he had to cancel and to just let me know. never got back to me, and his MM showed that he hadn't even been on in like a month anyway. wtf? a few days ago i went to go look at his MM profile to see if he had done any recent shoots and his profile was down, and this is a guy who has been on since like 2005. i hope he is okay and just decided to quit photography or something instead of, ya know, being dead or something.

I actually did have to cut a shoot short because my Grandma was on her deathbed. She died the next day

Worst for me was when the model was called home because her boyfriend had committed suicide.  The relationship was as much friends as model/photographer and we did maintain correspondence for a while.  Eventually that dropped off as she put her life back together.

The photographer has Taco Bell the night before and had gastrointestinal distress. We rescheduled for the following day.

I did a shoot with another photographer who had a model text him saying she couldn't make her shoot(It was a 3 day shoot marathon he was doing) because her sister had a car wreck. She even sent him a picture of the car. Sad that models need to do that but he did appreciate that it was a real excuse.

A bride once fired because she THOUGHT I was ignoring her texts 10 seconds after she sent them. God forbid I was traveling though the mountains & had shitty reception.

Thankfully I don't shoot wedding very often & began the policy of only doing them if I myself offer it (like if its for friends or family).

Here's my strangest real excuse for canceling:

I had a noon shoot scheduled the next day, and in the middle of the night I awoke with excruciating abdominal pain, the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.  In the early morning I went to the emergency room, where they correctly diagnosed a kidney stone. 

The funny thing was that in all my agony, I fest a responsibility for calling the model.  I explained that I was calling from the emergency room, and that there was no way I could keep the appointment.  I felt she thought that I was giving her a  line.  The story must have just sounded too extreme for an excuse to cancel.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and I wonder if she suspected I just wanted to play hooky.

I had to postpone my first shoot with my fiancé because I got arrested, he thought he was getting the most elaborate flake excuse of all time...till I showed up a day late exhausted and with a pending court date. The first time we ever spoke on the phone I was calling him from outside a state trooper car to tell him not to go to buffalo to pick me up that night, and I'd call him back when I wasn't under arrest anymore because they needed to put my handcuffs back on   (I accidentally had a knife in my accidentally carry on bag in the airport, someone really wanted to make an example of me that night, rather than just take it away or tell me to go back to ticketing and check the bag clean record now though)


I had a shoot end hours early when, from what I can gather, the photographer and I were busted shooting in a house he didn't actually have the permission from his ex wife to be in at the time....I didn't ask any more questions, just got the hell out and hoped *i* wouldn't get any nasty phone calls.

I had a shoot cancel because the building the studio was operating out of was condemned or some such...but that was in Baltimore so it wasnt exactly surprising, just sucky.


I've gotten a few deaths, laid off from the job, illnesses, kid/marital/etc troubles none of those really struck me as weird, that happens to everybody in every profession. I've had to cancel due to illness and family issues before, I've had to call in from my real jobs for the same in the past.

I was extremely late to a shoot once when I stayed at my then-boyfriends house, where there was only one road to get me back to civilization, and they decided to do construction on it right then. I sat in my parked car on that back road for over 45 minutes until they were done whatever they were doing, that sucked.

Sorry, I re-read the OP, and my story was just a stupid flake excuse.

I've only been flaked on once, and the photographer just didn't show.  No call, no text, nothing.  Just left me high and dry standing outside his studio.

He later e-mailed to apologize, and said he had caught the flu and was out "straight on his back, unable to move".

Model called me the morning of the shoot to cancel. She had just joined a new gym and was really sore.

OK, lame, but not unbelievable, right? Yeah, until she continued with the explanation that she hooked up with the really hot trainer and...

I then realized her soreness had nothing to do with the workout that I had attributed it. I shared with her that that was way TMI and, needless to say, never shot with that model.

I'm assuming it was real. Who would make up that kind of story?

In retrospect only, the most unique legit excuse came from a model who I had previously shot, but who didn't show for a subsequent shoot.  I called her repeatedly, sent texts, and hung around for a couple of hours waiting for her.  I couldn't believe that she would be the "no show" type.  I finally packed up a studio full of lights and camera gear and left. 

Later that day, I got a call from her with profuse apologies.  She had taken an Ambien the night before after having a glass of wine, hoping to get a good night's sleep before the shoot.  Her BF called her needing a ride from a local club, and stupidly she decided to go pick him up.  A cop pulled her over and she was booked on a DUI.  At the time of our scheduled shoot, she was still in jail!!!!

As far as I know, all verifiable true reasons for cancelling have been mundane. I do recall some that were a bit more "exciting" after Hurricane Ike in 2008.

I had a model call me the night before a shoot one time sobbing about her friend that OD'd. I ended up consoling her for a while. It was pretty sad. We never ended up shooting either.

i was discussing a shoot with a mayhem model and she said that her brother had just been life-flighted. i haven't heard the outcome of that one.

i've seen posts from photographers who've had their first model flake worrying if the model is even still alive. it's kind of cute really. i guess it's possible for a model to die right before a shoot but more often i think it's a grandparent (and sometimes one who has died before and risen from the grave just to die again).

hopefully your guy is ok. sometimes i wonder how the various models i've worked with are doing. you can certainly feel affection for them after doing a shoot together.

reminds me of the time i broke up with a girlfriend (nasty fight) right after taking some nyquil. somehow i managed to drive myself to a hotel and not get pulled over.

ambien is bad news.

Mine have not been strange at all....

"My friends are going camping this weekend and I want to go, so I need to cancel" followed on Monday by a note "I got a flat tire and a speeding ticket this weekend, can we reschedule ASAP, because I really need the money."    (Hint to aspiring models: Not a good idea.)

"You're not going to believe it, but I forgot it is my live-in boyfriend's birthday, so we'll need to reschedule"... followed by *crickets*

Both had excellent references, the latter especially.

Needless to say I was not terribly impressed, of course "stuff" happens, but if I did that to someone, I sure as hell would "make it right" and not arrogantly shrug it off as no big deal.

ADAM: Condolences to your bride and her whole family, that is truly a horrible thing to have happen.

Had a model drive 2 and a half hours from Rockford using her phone for gps to get to the studio, and she forgot her car charger.  Phone died, no more gps, address, or my phone number because they were all in the phone.  She drove the 2 and a half hour drive back home in tears.

Later that night when she called me after getting back home she described everything around my studio, so she found the right area but just didn't know where to go.

Best one I ever had was in person.

Had lined up a two model bodypaint shoot.

First model shows up, and we start to paint.

Second model shows up, walks in, and then she has to leave as she did not realize that she would need to take off her clothes to get painted....

did she even LOOK in my portfolio????

I did miss a deadline once because I had a seizure (out of the blue, as I have no history or reason to have a seizure) and the next thing I know I'm at the ER. I told my client, who became angry with me and accused me of lying because I hadn't finished, etc., understandably. He realized he was wrong and apologized when I gave him the completed project the next morning, which clearly couldn't have been crammed in a day's work. That was probably the incident that convinced him to trust me the most, actually.

Also proud to say I haven't missed a deadline besides this one incident.

Earlier this year I had a really crummy job. Like really crummy. Off the books, low hourly pay, low hours, and an unyielding,irrational boss.


I had spoken to a photog about a shoot in Long Island, and he gets back to me with further details. Only after this do I check my meager chump change and realize I don't have enough for fare to the LIRR before my next paystub. I contact the photog right after to inform him of my situation, explaining to him in detail what is going on. Never heard back from him. He probably thought I was making up silly stories.

"I fell off the stage."

I once had a photographer no-call no-show.  His wife left me a message the next day and explained he had been in a car accident, had a massive stoke, and had passed away.  It was truly sad.

Had a cancelled wedding many years ago. Turned up at the church the groom was there with his best man. Don't know the reason but they had a fight, the groom ended up in jail the best man in hospital. All before the bride was due to arrive. Never did get it rescheduled.

I HATE(Super-size font) FLAKINESS!  but a couple a couple of years ago, I had a great studio and pro equipment set up and two models coming; minutes before the shoot, my wife calls me very emotional regarding my needing to deal with our car about to be towed.   I had to beg off the shoot with both girls because of a "Family emergency", but showed them the set up to prove I was legit.  I even passed by my own home to Drop one model back off at her home.  Sorry to report, I never could get an opportunity to work with either of them again.  Happy to say the car is paid off.

I had paid many times over for that  This year I have had one model call me the exact time the shoot was supposed to begin, cancelling because her escort was unavailable.  and another time more recently, a model called at 3AM, JUST after I finished setting up my lights and props and was heading to bed, because she was called in to work.  I generally take people at their word. But it doesn't change how bad it sucks for all the pre-shoot effort photographers go thru.  3AM?

I've went to shoots when I probably shouldn't have- ie, my Gram was in the hospital, delayed trains, moving crisis, etc. The only scheduled shoot I've cancelled however was when I had poison ivy all over my arms. The photog told me to bring coverup and he'd 'shop it out. I stayed in bed!

Last April I was contacted by a magazine editor who needed a cover photo for a fitness-themed issue - within three days. The editor had to pull the cover photo when she learned that one of the models in it did not sign her real name to the model release.

I pitched an idea to the editor, and she liked it - a model jogging with her dog at a lake in the suburbs. The editor called the two largest agencies in town to see if they had a model who fit the specs (and had a dog who was large enough not to get lost behind the model's shoe). Neither did.

So I contacted 15-20 models on MM who expressed an interest in fitness, looked fit, and had signed on to MM in the previous three days.

After a couple of aborted attempts, I bookied a model for a shoot six hours before the magazine's deadline. (She kept talking about how large her 13-year-old daughter's boobs were and insisted that I include her daughter in some of the photos. I had little choice but to agree.)

When I was a couple of miles from the lake, and the model was approaching from the opposite direction, I called the model to make sure we ended up at the same spot.

She said she had just gotten a phone call. Seems her daughter (the 13-year-old) was backing a car out of the driveway to drive to the shoot, and she dragged the model's boyfriend down the driveway in the process.

Although nobody was hurt, the model felt compelled to go home and deal with the situation immediately.

Fortunately, the editor had also contacted other photographers.

As of September, I was still receiving replies from models who had just signed on and read my April email.

She (Callie Childers) calls me up all upset with some noisey commotion in the background... 'GARYEEEEEEEEEEE'... parametics are here... I'm stuck in my pants and I can't get out... they're cutting me out of them now'...

Callie tried to put her pants on while wearing her tennis shoes.  She got both legs in 3/4's of the way... then she got STUCK... couldn't get her legs or feet out and was rolling around on the floor... a helpless prisoner in her own pants...

I was scheduled to shoot two models. Only one showed. when asked if she knew where the other model was, said: "Well, we were going to carpool so I texted and she didn't reply. It might be because the dude whose kid she is having killed himself this week." Ya think?

how do you know it's real?

I recently had to leave in the middle of a shoot when my wife called and said there was water coming out of the back of the house, I got home and found a water line to the hot water heater had broken.