Annie Leibovitz Backed Out of Photographing Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's Wedding, Says Kanye West

The result of four days of hard labor. *NOT by Annie Leibovitz. Photo: @kimkardashian

The trials and tribulations of being the Number One Famous Person in the World and marrying the other
Number One Famous Person in the World (they're allowed to tie) are many
— not least of which being that your combined celebrity can intimidate your wedding photographer to the point that she backs out the day before.

That, at least, is what Kanye West claimed at a recent Cannes Lions panel, according to Page Six. West says that photographer Annie Leibovitz, who headed up the couple's infamous Vogue shoot, backed out the night before, forcing them to get inventive.

"Let me tell you something about that kiss photo that my girl put up,"
he begins. "This was pissing my girl off during the honeymoon, she was
exhausted because we worked on the photo so much because Annie Leibovitz
pulled out right before the wedding. I think that she was, like, scared
of the idea of celebrity.”

So
instead, West was forced to spend four days — FOUR!!! DAYS!!! —
photoshopping that one image trying to get the floral wall to look just
right. You can't just slap a Valencia filter on the
#WORLDSMOSTTALKEDABOUTCOUPLE's wedding photo and call it a day, you
know? #thestruggle

"Can you imagine telling someone who wants to
just Instagram a photo, who’s the No. 1 person on Instagram, ‘We need to
work on the color of the flower wall,’ or the idea that it’s a Givenchy
dress, and it’s not about the name Givenchy, it’s about the talent that
is Riccardo Tisci — and how important Kim is to the Internet," West
explains.

Luckily, his hard work paid off. "And the fact the No. 1
most-liked photo [on Instagram] has a kind of aesthetic was a win for
what the mission is, which is raising the palette."

Who needs
Annie Leibovitz when you have a Macbook Air? And as for which lucky
photographer got the privilege of shooting the wedding? Still unclear.

Update: The good folks over at the Daily Beast report
that a rep for Leibovitz has responded to West's complaint, noting that
she was never confirmed to shoot the wedding photo in the first place, a
fact of which West apparently wasn't aware. The photographer and
rapper's people were going back and forth on booking her for the gig,
but the deal didn't come through in time for the wedding. And there we
have it!