I was doing video for a wedding that booked another, pretty expensive company for their photography. We went to Holden Arboretum to shoot formal pics where the couple wanted to shoot in the butterfly garden, as well as the grounds of the area. But we stayed under the canopy of the trees, which was nice, but basically just like shooting in the paths in the metroparks. (they did pay ($200?) to Holden to be able to shoot there). At first we thought they were avoiding the Butterfly Garden because they thought it was "too busy, too many people around." My second videographer went to scope it out, and panned around on his camera, showing the maybe dozen people inside the whole area. When the photographers were asked again to shoot there, the reply was "Oh we can't shoot in direct sunlight, we need a cloudy day. Today it is too bright." Uh, so . . . wow. So tempted to speak up, but that day it was not my job, and the photographer and the bride had a good repertoire, so I thought maybe they were friends or something. So I let it go.
But, so you know . . . IT IS POSSIBLE TO TAKE PICTURE IN BRIGHT LIGHT.
People do it all the time. Professionals do it ALL THE TIME.
Professionals that know how to use a fill flash to compensate for the sun so the bridal party does have super dark eyes, do it ALL THE TIME.
Professionals that know how to use a shade or scrim to block/diffuse the light do it ALL THE TIME.
I checked out the photographer's sight, he charges like $2500 for a wedding. I don't know. Maybe the pics were amazing that they got. But they didn't get them in the beautiful butterfly garden. For no other reason than the photographers simply didn't understand how to work with light as well as others. Hire professionals.