Contract with Coordinator or Couple?

[cory1848]

If you are contacted by a wedding coordinator for an upcoming wedding, do you contract with the coordinator? or the couple themselves? Is there any guideline to this?

[adam8080]

Who is paying?

[cory1848]

Who is paying?

Not sure yet, Havent got that far... I am guessing by your question, you contract with whoever pays?

[adam8080]

The people who sign contracts are the people who pay money. Get everyone to sign a contract if you want, but the only one that really matters is the one that you receive money from.

[Peacefield]

Exactly. Contracts are essentially about "this" for "that". Your shooting is the "this; their paying is the "that".

[books64]

I would contract with the couple, at the very least, and also with the coordinator. Cover your bases! Contracting with only the coordinator could cause problems for you if either the couple or the coordinator backs out of their agreement with each other.

[Rubi Jane]

I would contract with the couple most definitely, and add the coordinator if that's what all parties want. I'd also note clearly which party is responsible for payment.

[LBaldwin]

I would contract with the couple or family member ONLY and here is why,
1. Your agreement cannot be enforceable to a third party unless they ALSO sign the contract.
2. The coordinator could damage, or alter/lose your images prior to giving them to the couple.
3. You don't want the coordinator to markup your work and take a cut of your profits. If she wants a reasonable finder fee that can be done.
4. If the wedding coordinator screws up the wedding, you don't want to get painted with the same brush!!
5. For tax purposes you don't want to be a 1099 employee of the wedding coordinator, you will want to tax the sales of the images and prints directly so that you can show that profit to your business.

[tim]

Here's a line from my contract

"The client is always considered to be the bride and groom, regardless of the payee."

There's a separate line on the contract for the payee to sign on, so they agree to basically pay the fees then have no input. In practice I try to keep everyone happy, but the B&G are my real customer.

[cory1848]

Great tips guys! Thanks, that helps a lot. I assume the same applies if the MoB sets this up as well?

[jgrussell]

Great tips guys! Thanks, that helps a lot. I assume the same applies if the MoB sets this up as well?Yes. And, by the way, you might want to make sure you get signed releases from the bride and groom for portfolio and other advertising uses of the images.