Should I refund.

Go by the terms in your contract, that both she and you signed, or be a good samaritan and refund it all. It's your choice. My opinion though is that if she paid up front and the check cleared, she can afford it. She just wants to use someone cheaper or free.

How far in advance is the wedding?

I voted 100% because that was closest, but under the circumstances as she has advised you in good time (you've literally just taken the booking) I'd be generous and give back more than the 50% that you contracted to - how about 80% ?

I voted 100% because that was closest, but under the circumstances as she has advised you in good time (you've literally just taken the booking) I'd be generous and give back more than the 50% that you contracted to - how about 80% ?

For a wedding to be successful photographically, everyone has to go into it happy and friendly.

I'd be inclined to give back 50% and let her go. If you stick her to having you there at the wedding, then you'll be shooting it despite her not wanting you to. That means there will be some "bad blood" and it will show not only through your working relationship (interaction) on the day but also in the images. The reason I say 50% is that September really isn't that far away so booking the date with another couple isn't as likely as it would be if this was 6 months' notice or more. Also if she's not being 100% honest, you don't want to reward her for it by giving her a full refund.

In other words, the only way to make her happy would be to reward bad behavior. She'll be mad at you no matter what otherwise (if she's a person that doesn't honor contracts at all and expects a full refund), but you can either give her half the money back and let her go away mad, or you can stick her to no refund and deal with her mad. If she's not the type to get fired up, she might even change her mind when she finds out you'll stick to the contract and only give back half...ie have you shoot it anyway.

Sometimes, the idea of a cancellation is a feeler....email and call around to see who's the first and/or easiest to bend. Doesn't have to be the photographer but if he's easier than the DJ, then that's good enough. If none budge, all steam ahead because they're already paid.

Absolutely you should refund as per contract 50%. No more. if it is true then that is a shame AND the couple have all kinds of choices they could make: cancel the whole wedding, not have a recption, not buy fancy new clothes, have a cheap food reception, and so on. They choose to cancel you as one option amongst many they could take.

If she cancelled within a matter of days of the original booking - I think keeping 50% is rather harsh. Had she made the booking in (say) January and you had therefore forgone the opportunity since then of booking those dates, then fine, withold the amount in your contract, but not under these circumstances.

I would suggest retaining 15-20% and refunding the rest.

TJ

This is very much personal choice, whether you value the customer relations aspect or the money in your pocket. Personally i'd give back some or all of their retainer, even though the contract says I don't have to. I'd rather sleep well at night, even if they aren't being entirely honest.

You could give back half now per the contract and then refund the rest if you book the day with another couple.

My concern would be having given that date and (probably) turned down other inquiries for that day since the signing. If I could get in touch with those couples and sign one after all, returning the retainer for a wedding not photographed wouldn't be a big deal...plus I'd feel like I was fleecing the original couple if I was paid for basically doing nothing and STILL making money on another wedding for the same day.

However, if you haven't had other inquiries for the date that you had to turn down & really don't have anything invested in this wedding yet (haven't checked out the venue or purchased special kit for it that you normally wouldn't need, etc) it's not really difficult to return all the money since you haven't accumulated much/any overhead.

Do the right thing and it'll come back to you.

If, as a result of entering this contract, you're going to be out of pocket in any way then stick to the terms of the contract. If it isn't going to cost you anything (e.g lost bookings) then, even if only for the sake of your reputation, you can afford to be generous.

The_Camera_Poser wrote in post #5694601
Do the right thing and it'll come back to you.

Unless you're out of pocket- then charge what you lost!

If in fact you do go by the contract and give half back and in fact you haven't lost anything you could maybe offer them their wedding at half price should things pick up emplyment wise for the husband and they then decide to use you again. Is the wedding still going ahead?

Personally I'd be refunding as much as possible purely from a reputation point of view.

Things are tough right now for a lot of people, myself included. Husband was out on dissability twice, had his leg amputated, finally went back to work and they closed the place and he lost his job, since has had two jobs and lost both of them and we are almost out of umemployement and may lose everything. I don't mean to go on and on, but I guess what I want to say is that when I try and figure out WHY this has happened to me that maybe I am being tought compassion and so I would say yeah give them back the money they may actually need it regardless if they had it one day, as I found out things can change on a dime and yes maybe she is lying to you, but that would be on her conscience not yours!