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I'm a little bit confused - was the engagement session included as part of the overall photography package? What was included with the engagement session (originally) as a deliverable? In any case - yes, I think making someone wait 3 weeks for an answer is unacceptable.
I hate to say it, but you're breaking a contract, and the photog is under no obligation to give you anything for free. The deposit is there to deter you from breaking the contract. Did your contract stipulate how much photos would be if she also shot the wedding? It sounds like you got a package that did not include digital files or prints (just photography), and now you're asking for photos only because you aren't using this photographer (I could be wrong). If your contract did include digital files, you may have some room to negotiate her pricing. Otherwise, she already gave you an answer ($850 for the dvd or $85 per digital proof).
Honestly, if it wasn't in your original contract that you get the disk with images and the prints, you technically should not receive them without further payment. Is she within her rights to "bend the rules" and give you more? Yes. But she doesn't have to and getting bent out of shape about it really isn't your place. You broke the contract. That's on you. If she ends up not being able to fill your date now she is out a substantial amount of income. Why should she give you free stuff when that is a real possibility?
@greenmint: No the engagement pictures were additional $300 for the session and all images were ala cart.
The wedding package was $4000 for 5 hours of coverage, dvd of the wedding images and book
@unixfairy: Since that's the case, I'd say if she wanted to be really nice, she could give you some photos for free, but the deposit is there so you don't break the contract. She has no reason to give any freebies, unfortunately, and if you have been contacting her for three weeks, she probably doesn't want to give you a freebie.
@unixfairy: Ouch - that's kind of steep! It seems like the way that this contract was structured, she is under no further obligations to you, since you did break the contact. Like other's have said, she is out the money you were originally planning on spending, so she is probably less inclined to be charitable about the e-pics - but maybe you could let her know that you know that, and if she does happen to re-book for your date, see if she might be more lenient then? Or maybe she would be open to letting you have some (less than 10) of the pictures? It's most annoying that she isn't answering you, though, I agree.
I may have missed this, but did the OP pay the deposit + $300 for the engagement shoot? If that is so, I think the photog would be very kind to let her have some of the prints. ( I said kind, not required). I know some PPs are saying that if the photog is unable to re-book, she's out a lot of money, but on other threads I see a LOT of 'the photog barely makes any money by the time hours of editing, making a book, etc. are done'. In this case, the photog is getting $1500 with no wedding to shoot, no book to make, no photos to edit (again assuming that the e-pic session was under the separate $300 fee. She's getting almost 40% of the 4000 for much less than 40% of the work.
That seems like a nice chunk of money free and clear. Again, I'm only saying it would be nice of the photog to give the OP the pictures, she contractually does not have to. But either way, she could still give the OP the courtesy of a response, whether or not she's willing to provide free photos.
@hisgoosiegirl: Yes we paid for the e-session separately. I think I am more frustrated by the lack of an answer than anything and her poor communication is one of the reasons we were wanting to change to a different photographer. The funny thing is we are going with a more expensive photographer most likely - we are meeting with her today so it is not about the money as much as the professionalism that we like.
In this case, the photog is getting $1500 with no wedding to shoot, no book to make, no photos to edit (again assuming that the e-pic session was under the separate $300 fee. She's getting almost 40% of the 4000 for much less than 40% of the work
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Exactly. Geesh a lot of these photographers out there sound they they are real prima donnas.
he made $1500.00 I think he can spare a couple of photos for that. And I am quite sure he was able to rebook that date. *rolls eyes*
@unixfairy: Photographers are busy people. And many times they are not the ones answering their e-mails, it's their assistant. So their assistant may know very well that April is not available. But they wouldn't know if you could get the pictures for X amount, since you're not using her anymore.
Because you are not paying the whole contract, it is very fair for her to take you deposit in full. If you want any pictures, you would have to pay for them. And to be honest, the pricing seems fair. If I didn't go with a package deal, my DVD would got about $1,000 and each digital photo was about $150. I don't think she is trying to pull one over on you. In fact, those prices may be in her contract to begin with. People get discounts when they do package deals.
@Oneeleven: I don't think you can look at this just like: what is the value of the work the photographer has done. You have to consider the fact that if this photog is charging $4000 for 5 hours, they are probably pretty popular and work most weekends. Which means that there is a very high likelihood that they turned down other jobs to take this job... which now isn't going to happen. And since most people book a photographer at 8-12 months out, or maybe a minimum of 6 months out, to cancel just a few months before means that they probably won't get re-booked for that weekend. So they are losing out on $2500 because this couple canceled.
The $1,500 deposit seems reasonable based on the package price: it's insurance for the photographer should situations like this arise where the client cancels with them. As a part of that, the client isn't really entitled to anything additional for free - the deposit is simply holding the date.
Regardless, the 3 week wait for a response is not ideal and you are entitled to finishing the process with her and moving on. Regardless of wedding season and how busy she may be, she should still be responding to you and appropriately ending the contract. In many cases, the vendor will provide a form for you, the client, to sign releasing the remainder of the contract. That covers both of you because it releases both of you from the terms of the cotnract: removes the obligation on your end to pay the remaining balance and removes the obligation on the photographer's end to shoot your wedding.
Have you tried calling her? Might be the best way to get an immediate response. Good luck!
@unixfairy: She DID give you an answer. She gave you prices. That is your answer.
The photographer is a businessperson. They are not taking wedding photos as a volunteer gig. I changed my wedding date by a week and lost my deposit with both the photographer and the DJ. Sucked, but I signed contracts with them both and knew what would happen.
ya I know I'm answering emotionally, sorry. I just find a lot of this stuff really harsh and expensive.
@crayfish: No the prices were given to us after the engagement shoot. We just want an answer from them (either email or voicemail response would be fine) that our contract with them is cancelled with no further obligation on either part and we did ask if we could have the digital negatives for 10 shots with no further processing nicely and would happily take no for an answer if an answer is given.
I am a corporate executive with a major gaming company in Nevada. I know about being a busy professional. I think photographers who see this as a business should follow business etiquette and I find many of the posts here cite that as the number one complaint. That photographers are unprofessional - not that they are expensive or poor performers. Poor business practices do not compensate for talent. Especially not in a market like Las Vegas where there is a huge number of photographers of many talents and budgets to work with.
@MrsSl82be: I have the same question!
If you hadn't cancelled, would it cost $850 for the pictures? If so, then it is absolutely fair for her to charge you that amount. I was thinking of it this way - if you didn't cancel until after you received pictures, what would you have paid?
@unixfairy: It sounded as though she told you what the price would be for the disc of images and the price per print allready. If you've already cancelled the contract, and told her you won't be paying for the disc or prints, i'm not sure why there would be further contact. She likely considers the contract null and doesn't want to waste more time dealing with it since she knows you won't be giving her any more business/money.
@stiletto: We have left a couple of voice mails as well as emailed to try and get a response to closing our contract. The last we heard from her is that she is not available for that date in April. We responded back that it was fine and that we would be closing out our contract with them per the terms. The engagement shoot was not done as part of the contract and it was not clear from the contract terms if we had and engagement shoot as well as the wedding if we got all of our images on DVD or simply all of the wedding images.
Honestly the images would be nice to have digitally but there is only one we loved and since our new photographer includes engagement shoot as part of the process we can look forward to new pictures.
I think a few days is a good time fram for communication. 3 weeks is a lot of time.
I agree with Cray and the probably don't want to waste any more energy. The contract is canceled, and your deposit forfeited. She gave you a price if you choose the option of purchasing the digital files. What else is there to discuss?
And to the people that think the photographer should hand over something because they are getting 1500 bucks for doing nothing, well look at the bigger picture. The photographer wants to shoot the wedding, not take 1500 bucks. In the end they probably would of made more than that, and even though they don't have to do anything it's lost opportunity cost if they can't rebook the date.
UPDATE:
Well a very happy ending - we heard from her late last night and she is crediting the engagement shoot against the deposit and giving us a $200 print credit. She keeps the $1000 for the loss of the job but she is in demand and it is Vegas so weddings are not always hard to book just a few months out. We will purchase a couple of the images that we did like and we did rebook last night with a WONDERFUL photographer that we really clicked with and is available on our date
So we are very happy and I think we learned a lesson that it is not just the quality of the work but the connection you develop with the photographer. They are recording something very precious to you and if they do not feel any emotional ties it will probably show in their work.
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OK so for those of you who have not heard our saga - we had to move our Oct wedding to spring 2012. The two venue dates available to us in April did not work with our photographer and so we chose to go with the venue not the photographer since we did not click during our engagement session and were a bit relieved to have an excuse to find a new photographer.
However we have paid a deposit of $1500. And while we understand we are contractually obligated by the deposit we asked if we could have a dvd of the engagement shoot or at least the digital images of the 10 pictures that we liked. Now she wanted $850 for the dvd or $85 per digital proof.
We are getting no response at all. She was very quick to tell us we could not have the date we needed in April but we have waited three weeks and sent emails and left voice mails. Not every day but a couple per week. She has updated her blog so we know that there has been some online time.
So are we being demanding in wanting an answer after three weeks? And would it be outrageous to ask for some pictures given how much we are losing.