Balance due options

Sorry but I agree with pete.

We are the following

Nothing is done until contracts are signed and everyone agrees to terms of contracts

$500.00 Non refundable deposit takes date off the books

Remaining balance is done in 2 payments

1st due 6 months prior ( non refundable )- will return if wedding is cancelled and date is rebooked
2nd due 30 days prior

We typically book 9-14 months out in advance. For us to take a date off the calendar costs us $$$. We only book 24-28 pr year so they better be sure they want to get married. No Refunds unless date is rebooked.( yes this has happened )

I dont want to deal with $$$ the day of the weddings and we work from written contracts. If clients violate terms of contracts, we have an exit option and they are in a breach of contract situation. Im a business person. I run my business the way I need to run my business. If you want to retain our services than you agree to our terms. If you do not, you can choose someone else. Pretty simple concept.

I have 1 wedding from 2011 that was in a situation where the groom lost his job 3 weeks before the wedding. We felt bad and agreed to shoot the wedding and told them that they would get the pictures when the balance was paid.......its 2016 and we still dont have the final balance. They sent us 1 bad check that bounced. Luckily, we waited until it cleared before we shipped files. Needless to say files were never shipped. We get an email from them about every 8-9 months saying they want the photos and are asking for payments, can we work something out. My answer is always..sure lets work it out. Send me a good check and you can have your pictures.

To be perfectly honest, there are some really flake people out there and you as an independent business person have no way of knowing. Set up policies and business practices that work for your business and stick to them.

My contracts put the clients in Breach of contract. They dont pay, we dont show up. End of conversation.

Set your policies and stick to them. Bend to these policies and they will start asking for other changes.

I do 50% non-refundable due upfront with the signed agreement to book your date.
The remaining is due no later than 7 days prior to the wedding.
There is also a statement in my agreement that says that the agreement is void if final payment is received later.

I have never had an issue. I always tell them it is to help them so they have less to worry about the day of. It also ensure that I don't get forgotten about.
I would walk away.

If they say no other photogs are doing it that way, they may be dealing with some noobs.
How do they pay their caterer? Venue? DJ? Hair stylist? etc....
Why is it always the photogs that have issues like this? I know why, it's because too many of them are desperate for business so they let it happen. Then it creates false expectations for everyone else who is trying to make a living at this. Same goes for pricing and every other policy. Stop bending to their will. This is a business. Run it like one.

There are two schools of thought on this topic, summarized as:

School A:

1. Payment to book me
   
2. Full payment received from you (before event) for me to even show up
   
3. I deliver previews/final images to you some time after the wedding
   

1. Payment to book me
   
2. Second payment from you (before event) for me to show up
   
3. You fork over final payment, and I deliver the preview/final images to you
   

BlakeC wrote in post #18051233
How do they pay their caterer? Venue? DJ? Hair stylist? etc....
Why is it always the photogs that have issues like this?

Because the caterer delivers the goods on the day of the wedding.
Because the DJ delivers the goods on the day of the wedding.
Because the Hair Sylist has delivered the goods by the time the bride walks down the aisle.
Because the florist has delivered the goods by the time the bride walks down the aisle.
But the photographer and videographer merely show up and spend 8-12 hours at the wedding and reception, but delivers nothing until some time after the bride is back from her honeymoon.

BlakeC wrote in post #18051233
Why is it always the photogs that have issues like this? I know why, it's because too many of them are desperate for business so they let it happen. Then it creates false expectations for everyone else who is trying to make a living at this. Same goes for pricing and every other policy. Stop bending to their will. This is a business. Run it like one.

^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^

Luckless wrote in post #18047357
Work with your clients and judge them on a case by case basis. Thirty days is not a remotely uncommon payment window in business, and I even roll with some clients (not photo related) who get ninety days after I finish the job.

I've also worked with a guy who I only trusted with cash up front and each bill verified by a banker before I started.

Don't be scared to negotiate and work toward a mutually acceptable arrangement. Just make sure the final agreement is in crystal clear and written terms.

Remember in Wedding photography you aren't just doing a job when a client comes to you, but you're also doing your advertisements for next year. Don't low ball yourself and don't let a client walk all over you and take advantage, but being "Difficult to work with" or "Rude and unfriendly" is not always the best long term business strategy even if it keeps you from being burned by a bad client who skips out on the bill.

30 days is nomal because it is a business. They have a physical location and assets. They have accounting departments and are accountable to public relations. Your bride on the other hand isn't a business and has really no reason to pay after the fact if she feels like she got enough images from others at the reception who took pictures on their cell phones or personal cameras.

When dealing with individuals, you need to have full payment just like everyone else at the wedding does.

BTW this forum section is laden with stories of why you don't accept payment or look for payment the day of the wedding. It is also laden with sample contract language and reasons why the 1 week to one month early payment is the best idea.

mikeinctown wrote in post #18051283
30 days is nomal because it is a business. They have a physical location and assets. They have accounting departments and are accountable to public relations. Your bride on the other hand isn't a business and has really no reason to pay after the fact if she feels like she got enough images from others at the reception who took pictures on their cell phones or personal cameras.

When dealing with individuals, you need to have full payment just like everyone else at the wedding does.

BTW this forum section is laden with stories of why you don't accept payment or look for payment the day of the wedding. It is also laden with sample contract language and reasons why the 1 week to one month early payment is the best idea.

Last contractor I paid got his money 2 weeks early, which was two weeks after he finished his work. I bought the materials and such up front, his crew came in and did the work, then he sent out an invoice to finalize everything, and then I signed off on everything and sent them their money.

Last venue I rented to host an event took a 10% deposit on booking, and got the rest the night off as we were cleaning up (paid in cash out of the collections from the evening) because that was easier than dealing with it some time in the month after.

The people I was dealing with knew what kind of work I do for a living, but they were dealing with me as a person and not any of my businesses.

Contracts are contracts. If a client flakes on their bill, then send it to collections and let them take their credit hit. People have budgets just the same as everyone else, and you're shooting yourself in the foot if you treat everyone as a criminal and refuse to budge on absolutely everything.

You're not a door mat, you do have to draw the line at some point and judge your clients carefully, but frankly I would rather get a remote trigger on my camera and do the photos myself than deal with some of the attitudes as presented in this thread.


Fine line between being firm with customer service and where one stores a spare tripod.

If you look at it from the customers point of view paying after is nice, if you look at it from the photographers point of view (which should be as a business) being paid up front is nice. I run my business as a business, I also have my contract posted on my website, if someone does not like it they are free to move onto the next photographer. If they like my work and are fine with the contract then we do business together. A good third of our brides pay in full when booking us anyways. We have 1 right now that makes payments every Friday, has been for the last 2 months and will be for another 2 before her wedding, cost us a bit more in CC processing fee's but were good with that.

At the end of the day I get paid before I shoot, I don't want to deal with money the day of, I don't want my brides dealing with money the day of and I certainly do not want to end up not getting paid after because they decided my images were not good enough (we have tons of sample images on our website with lots of the mundane wedding shots to show just what they can expect from us).

We have a good amount of our brides comment on how nice it is to deal with us, we have our sh!t together and run our company like a company, not like a fly by night photographer hoping to book a few weddings and figuring things out along the way.

Luckless wrote in post #18051304
Last contractor I paid got his money 2 weeks early, which was two weeks after he finished his work. I bought the materials and such up front, his crew came in and did the work, then he sent out an invoice to finalize everything, and then I signed off on everything and sent them their money.

Last venue I rented to host an event took a 10% deposit on booking, and got the rest the night off as we were cleaning up (paid in cash out of the collections from the evening) because that was easier than dealing with it some time in the month after.

The people I was dealing with knew what kind of work I do for a living, but they were dealing with me as a person and not any of my businesses.

Contracts are contracts. If a client flakes on their bill, then send it to collections and let them take their credit hit. People have budgets just the same as everyone else, and you're shooting yourself in the foot if you treat everyone as a criminal and refuse to budge on absolutely everything.

You're not a door mat, you do have to draw the line at some point and judge your clients carefully, but frankly I would rather get a remote trigger on my camera and do the photos myself than deal with some of the attitudes as presented in this thread.

Fine line between being firm with customer service and where one stores a spare tripod.

But you are still trying to compare a business to an individual. In your first example, the person doing the work has recourse against you, or at least he would here in the US. They could file a lien on the property if they don't get paid.

Same with the venue you rented. If they merely took a 10% deposit then you likely booked as a business and provided them with necessary paperwork.

That stuff doesn't fly here. Food, flowers, venues, they al require payment up front because they are booking for a given day and tying up their asset(s).

So lets say that you only collected 10% down and the bride decides to not get married. Say she discovers he was cheating on her. You really going to accept that 10% as your pay for the week? I seriously doubt it. Weddings have more of an uncertainty than do most other events and so photographers cover their arses more because of it. If the norm is payment due before the event, there is a darn good reason for it.

mikeinctown wrote in post #18051511
So lets say that you only collected 10% down and the bride decides to not get married. Say she discovers he was cheating on her. You really going to accept that 10% as your pay for the week? I seriously doubt it. Weddings have more of an uncertainty than do most other events and so photographers cover their arses more because of it. If the norm is payment due before the event, there is a darn good reason for it.

And that is why there are those of us who want 2/3 of what the contract is written for, paid prior to the wedding date, which covers ALL OUR COST (including second shooter) and which leaves us with zero exposure...and the final 1/3 is paid when we deliver the photos to the client, thereby also reducing exposure for the client for a botched job by the wedding photog (it does happen!).

No different than 'progress payments' to contractors, their material costs are covered, and most of their labor costs are covered, and when the client says the job is 'done' the client releases final payment and the contractor gets his 'profit' on the job.

My above examples of the contractor and venue rental were on a First Name, Last Name, Price, and Handshake fashion, and was hardly business to business interactions.

And I'm very much not saying that anyone is a fool if they don't extend 30 days for full payment to each and every customer, but rather that being willing to be flexible and work with your clients is a very reasonable thing to do provided that you take your clients on a case by case basis.

If my choices for meeting my budget are between making a deal with a photographer for a non-standard payment plan (Where the photographer gets all their money), taking out a line of credit for a month, or not hiring that photographer, then the non-standard payment plan would be my first choice, and line of credit the last I would consider.

Here's the thing. When you're booking out for weddings as a phorographer you don't need to negotiate or bend over backwards to get every booking. If one person doesn't book because they don't like the terms it doesn't matter as someone else will book instead.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #18051653
If one person doesn't book because they don't like the terms it doesn't matter as someone else will book instead.

EXACTLY!
I turn down more weddings than I book simply because so many people want the same days or I am at my capacity. I don't lose any sleep over passing on a client. I'd rather work with someone who understands and abides by my policies anyway.

I find most people that wrestle with this are new and dont have enough confidence in running thier business

All i do is tell people to read our reviews from real clients on wedding wire and they have no problems booking with us. We have 55+ great reviews because clients love what we do.

Its not about having an elite attitude or acting all high and mighty

Its business plain and simple. This is how we do it and it works for us. I do not plan on changing

we book 22-27 a year and dont have any problems. Could book more but I dont want to work that hard