Documents needed for a wedding

[Karl Johnston]

I'm about to cover my first wedding (solo now), and I wondered about what kind of documents save for Liability, terms and a model release for the bride and groom. If I intend to use and sell the images to the family hiring me, can they contain pictures of other people?

Also, is it common to require a property release from the church or venue? Or do they classify as public property?

Surely I don't need a release for everyone attending the wedding..what do you wedding guys use for a checklist of documentation prior to covering the wedding?

It's in a month, by the way, we're having pre-meetings and organizing things now (I wanted 3 months in advance, though, they preferred to do it closer to the time).

[tim]

The only document I use is a contract, which describes what i'll do, products they're getting, prices, timeframes, has a model release, and has a lot of fine print written by a lawyer. I've never used a property release.

[Karl Johnston]

Great, thanks!

[Mike]

Yeah, same as Tim, I only have a contract and that includes all the legal jargon and releases etc.

[kenshinvt]

I would suggest just a contract dealing your obligations to each other (terms of what will be done, their rights and yours, liability waiver, etc). You should be able to find one online or get one somewhere. Look over it and modify it for your needs.

Also, I can only speak to US law, but here you don't need a person's permission to sell images of them unless you are specifically profiting from the use of their likeness (e.g., product endorsement). You own the copyright to the image and can do with it as you please.

[Karl Johnston]

Gotcha!

[elisesanchez]

We only use a contract. It includes release and such.