Bride complaining

insanefred

So0o0o0o, I did a wedding a few months ago..

The bride is now complaining there is not enough photos. I gave them over 270. I post them on my site, send them a disk of the photos and a few sample prints.
I don't give out/publish any of my work that I feel that is not acceptable. Like OOF shots, underexposed, over exposed, noisy, group shots with someones eyes closed, redundant photos ( I pick out the best ones and get rid of the others) and etc...

She never mentioned it before, til now. She wanted more candids photos of her dad and mom together (they're divorced and moved on). IME, that is almost impossible to capture a divorced couple that have moved on and remarried. So the brides dad is a ghost other than the ceremony and formals.

The bride also claims to be a photographer. Of course, I'd ask her the question, "If you were the photographer, would you want all your unacceptable photos be published and released?"
I didn't think so...

FWIW, I got only paid $400 not all for me, I still got to pay my assistant.


But since I am fairly inexperience with weddings (I have been doing other types of events for years). I'd like to try to find a happy medium though, if that is even possible. :dunno

What do you think I ought to do? Your opinions/advice?
Thanks in advance

Andy

insanefred wrote:

FWIW, I got only paid $400 not all for me, I still got to pay my assistant.

What do you think I ought to do?

Say "tough cupcakes," move on, and charge quadruple for your next wedding.

ShepsMom

Does your contract state number of images you will provide?
My contract states that for x amount of hours, they can expect x amount of images. So, for 4 hours shooting, they can reasonably expect 200 images or more.
The last 8 hour wedding we shot around 2000 images, from which 800+ were given to the customer.
I'd put that on your contract, so customer understand and have reasonable expectations, and you'll cover yourself as well.

urbanaries

the satisfaction of my brides has been inversely proportional to the amount they've paid. (or is that disproportional? I'm not a math girl).

cheap brides complain.

brides who pony up and choose who they want give you all the creative freedom and kudos in the world.

just my experience.

This summer, photographed a wedding for next to nothing for a family member. Three days after the wedding, she's wondering where her photos are.

My top selling wedding this year (5K plus) was a killer event that next week, 3000+ shots. Three months out, she's cool as a cucumber, telling me to take my time and do my best work, and has referred several brides to me without seeing her photos yet.

Test-Pilot

urbanaries wrote:

the satisfaction of my brides has been inversely proportional to the amount they've paid. (or is that disproportional? I'm not a math girl).

cheap brides complain.

brides who pony up and choose who they want give you all the creative freedom and kudos in the world.

just my experience.

Couldn't agree more. Clients truly assign as much value to the service as they've paid.

insanefred

urbanaries wrote:

the satisfaction of my brides has been inversely proportional to the amount they've paid. (or is that disproportional? I'm not a math girl).

cheap brides complain.

brides who pony up and choose who they want give you all the creative freedom and kudos in the world.

just my experience.

This summer, photographed a wedding for next to nothing for a family member. Three days after the wedding, she's wondering where her photos are.

I think you nail it.

If my photo where $400, they think what could have gotton if it were $4000 but if I charged $4000, they won't think the photos are $400 worth.

Hence more application.

Art Scott

Andy wrote:

Say "tough cupcakes," move on, and charge quadruple for your next wedding.

+1 here....................

Tim Kamppinen

+2 for Andy's solution. 270 shots is plenty. I know lots of people deliver more, but that's an individual thing that is up to the photographer. Bottom line is, you practically did this wedding for free, AND you handed over the files... you don't owe them anything, especially months later.

Scott_Quier

Andy wrote:

Say "tough cupcakes," move on, and charge quadruple for your next wedding.

FWIW - my contract stipulates that I retain the right to decide what photos are to be delivered. When I'm asked what that means, I tell them that I deliver only technically/artistically acceptable product and the number of such is driven by the activities/events at the wedding reception. I relate that there's one wedding/reception where the entire bridal party and most of the friends, etc spent 95% of their time on the deck smoking - nothing exciting there so there weren't many photos to be delivered. For another wedding/reception, because the B&G were fun and were having fun and were involved in making sure the party was a success .... they got LOTS of images. Continuing ... "It's a case of what you get out of the process is proportional to what you put into it."

Moogle Pepper

urbanaries wrote:

the satisfaction of my brides has been inversely proportional to the amount they've paid. (or is that disproportional? I'm not a math girl).

cheap brides complain.

brides who pony up and choose who they want give you all the creative freedom and kudos in the world.

just my experience.

This summer, photographed a wedding for next to nothing for a family member. Three days after the wedding, she's wondering where her photos are.

My top selling wedding this year (5K plus) was a killer event that next week, 3000+ shots. Three months out, she's cool as a cucumber, telling me to take my time and do my best work, and has referred several brides to me without seeing her photos yet.

Lynne for the win!

Ed911

Scott_Quier wrote:

FWIW - my contract stipulates that I retain the right to decide what photos are to be delivered. When I'm asked what that means, I tell them that I deliver only technically/artistically acceptable product and the number of such is driven by the activities/events at the wedding reception. I relate that there's one wedding/reception where the entire bridal party and most of the friends, etc spent 95% of their time on the deck smoking - nothing exciting there so there weren't many photos to be delivered. For another wedding/reception, because the B&G were fun and were having fun and were involved in making sure the party was a success .... they got LOTS of images. Continuing ... "It's a case of what you get out of the process is proportional to what you put into it."

+1 for Scott. You way under charged...you did do the wedding for free...and if you look at your time and overhead, it probably cost you.

If you paid an assistant, then subtract federal, state, and sales taxes from your portion...wow...what was left. I'm with Andy...quadruple your price for the next one.

KA0TVO

$400.00 for wedding with essentially two photographers, 200 plus keepers
You will never please this person.

saurora

Andy and Lynne's advice is spot on. The less you charge for your work, the less value and confidence the bride feels you have in your work. Seems to make them feel they can push you a little further into giving more for less. Raise your prices and don't give in....

Shima

saurora wrote:

Andy and Lynne's advice is spot on. The less you charge for your work, the less value and confidence the bride feels you have in your work. Seems to make them feel they can push you a little further into giving more for less. Raise your prices and don't give in....

Yup, cheap brides tend to be push overs. Start raising your prices and you'll notice the class of clientele and "chill level" of the brides increases.

zoomer

For $400. she got a lot of pictures.

quark

I also have a clause in my contract that explains that I am NOT responsible for specific group photographs (like Dad and Mom and Uncle Bob with his niece) unless the bride provides someone to organize these people for me. It takes way too much time to chase down all these people (that I don't know) for me to be responsible for it.

I always schedule a time for family photos, and I shoot whatever groups they tell me to and show up in the correct window. You should always make it clear you are not responsible for specific group shots, it would require telepathy.

holzphoto

only charge 4x more if you can step up to the plate.

PortraitProAlex

holzphoto wrote:

only charge 4x more if you can step up to the plate.

I don't know about this. Like others have said, a lot of the time people assume 'you get what you pay for'. So the bride paying $1600 may be happier with exactly the same shots than if she had paid $400 (behavioural economics has strange phenomena!). So the bride is happier, and of course you are getting a fair return on your work!

If you can't do wedding photography at all, of course, then you shouldn't do it. But if you can, you should charge reasonable prices.

Agnieszka

urbanaries wrote:

the satisfaction of my brides has been inversely proportional to the amount they've paid. (or is that disproportional? I'm not a math girl).

cheap brides complain.

brides who pony up and choose who they want give you all the creative freedom and kudos in the world.

just my experience.

This summer, photographed a wedding for next to nothing for a family member. Three days after the wedding, she's wondering where her photos are.

My top selling wedding this year (5K plus) was a killer event that next week, 3000+ shots. Three months out, she's cool as a cucumber, telling me to take my time and do my best work, and has referred several brides to me without seeing her photos yet.

+1

But in general I'd say I'd plan on handing out at least 500 photos of a wedding, and adjust your pricing to that. It's ok to just do a favor to somebody, but they WILL complain if they get a feeling that they didn't get enough photos, and the WILL compare their photos with their friend's wedding photos, no matter what they paid.

holzphoto

maybe so.

but so many people get into wedding photography that have zero business doing it.

so when you start charging a higher fee, you better be prepared to step up to the plate.

PortraitProAlex wrote:

I don't know about this. Like others have said, a lot of the time people assume 'you get what you pay for'. So the bride paying $1600 may be happier with exactly the same shots than if she had paid $400 (behavioural economics has strange phenomena!). So the bride is happier, and of course you are getting a fair return on your work!

If you can't do wedding photography at all, of course, then you shouldn't do it. But if you can, you should charge reasonable prices.

zoomer

Testify!

holzphoto wrote:

maybe so.

but so many people get into wedding photography that have zero business doing it.

so when you start charging a higher fee, you better be prepared to step up to the plate.