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| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Wedding Photographer |
Is this a good way to do business for my Bride and Groom? |
Starting next year (Feb 08 ) I'm not going to want any money up front for Pictures. After all when one buys a car you look at it first and drive it then you pay for it. Now, when a Bride and Groom hires me I will do the pictures with no money up front. Two weeks later I will show them the pictures. If they like them they pay me 1,500 dollars. If they don't like the pictures they don't have to buy them. I keep them. All wedding photographers I know want the money up front. I'm going to do something different. What do you think? Oh man WP, your making my brain bleed. You say you are confident that your work is so good that you know you will sell the pics, however you are selling yourself short by saying your actual time is not worth anything. You could spend up to 10 hours and you will be working for free. $1500? Is that all? Your just going to hand them some pics and be done with it? I'm sorry buddy, I know you have said the economy where you are is shot but you are bottom dollaring yourself. I have technicians who charge me for their time. If my computer guy comes out it is $75 whether he does anything or not. The AC guy charges me $110 just to walk into my door. Are you, a skilled craftsman, an artisan worth nothing. And you'd better believe that there will be someone who doesn't buy. Some brides uncle with a great Canon D5 will be right there next to you shooting his sweet little Pookie's wedding and when she sees your's she is gonna say, Oh, I've already seen all these shots. My Uncle Buddy too the same ones. Good thing I didn't have to pay you up front. I speak from experience from years ago when we used to just charge for our time up front. We tried to sell the pics and album later. Some bride's mother's cousin (honestly, that is how it was!) had a new 35 and shot 21 stinking rolls of film. When we gave them the proof book that is exactly what we got from them. "Oh we have that one... and that one... and that one...'. They didn't buy a single picture until about five years later when the mother wanted to buy them a 16x20 as a house warming present. Too littlel, too late. You better have a contract too. As a bride it would make me so nervous that you would show up. You know you are professional and make your living this way but to charge nothing would make me shaky. Hope it works for you. That will be great but I have my doubts. If is does I hope I see you one the tour circuit preaching to all of us die hards who want the $$ up front. Don't you want paid for your labor though? That is why they take money up front. So people do not stiff them for at least their labor. I dont think it would be a wise business choice for you. But that is just my opinion. Call me! LoL! On a serious note, consider this: Most people get grossly in debt when having a wedding. I would be afraid that after all the bills are paid up, there won't be nothing left for you! That's what the deposit is for, to assure that your work and effort would be compensated even in the worst case escenario. Good luck In my experience as a bride, it was easier to pay a deposit up front so I didn't have to come up with the total amount all at once. Also - who is going to say no when you have the only pictures of their wedding! I would think it's a little fishy that I don't have to pay a deposit. The bride will be freaking out that you might not show up. On the photographer side, deposits protect you. If they cancel the wedding and you lost another booking that you could've had for that day - you need to be compensated for your loss of income. I guess it's up to you. Most people who hire a photographer for a wedding are going to want the pictures no matter what. So as long as you do a good job, you are going to get paid. I think it might put the bride and groom more at ease to know that they have a firm commitment from YOU. It might cross their mind that since you haven't been paid, it would be easy for you to not show up to take the pics. I don't know if that would be an issue though since I'm not in that business. You're setting yourself up to lose a lot of money. You could work all day at a wedding and the couple could decide not to pay you afterward. I also don't think that I would feel comfortable not giving my photographer a deposit. When I give someone a deposit and we have contract, I feel confident that they are going to be there on the wedding day. If I haven't given them a deposit, then I'd be worried that they wouldn't show up. As a business plan, that makes no sense to me at all (and I teach MBA courses, so I know a little). You are completely at risk for getting paid after having given time, labor and materials with no ability to recoup your costs. And, as someone pointed out, couples often overspend on their weddings, and may well not have $1500 to pay you later. Our photographer is charging $650 for three hours. She'll give us the CD with full rights, do a DVD set to music, and offer a 25% discount of her usual fee for any reprints that anyone wants to buy through her (keep-forever-framed ones that you want to be just right). We paid half up front to hold the date and will pay her the other half on the wedding date. Seemed like a really fair deal to me for al of us. |
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