Photographer question

puddytat1003

Hi everyone!  I've been lurking for a while and noticed that you all seem to have really good advice and insight, so I was wondering if you could help me with a question about wedding photography.  I really don't have much experience with weddings and neither do my friends or family, so none of them seem to know the answer either.  I was going to post this in the Photo and Video board, but it seems pretty dead.

We found a photographer we love and we are getting ready to sign the contract.  I noticed there's nothing in the contract about when we will receive the photos after the wedding.  I asked her and she said it's normally about 2-4 weeks, but shouldn't that be in the contract somewhere?  It makes me really nervous to sign a contract where she has no obligation to return my photos to me in a certain amount of time, especially since we have to pay her in full one week before the wedding.

Is this common with wedding photographers?  Do you just go by their word and hope they stick to it?  That just doesn't sound right to me...

novella1186

Nope, have her add it to the contract. Your instincts are correct. 

lacqueredlover

Add it to the contract.  If she says it's normaly 2-4 weeks, then put it at 4 weeks.

jenijoyk

I'm sure she'd be happy to add it to the contract. I even had my florist hand write details at the bottom of our contract and initial it. I could tell she was secretly rolling her eyes at me, but I just wanted to memorialize everything she was telling me.

sarawifenow

Definitely have her add it to the contract!

climbingsingle

That should absolutely be put in the contract. 

puddytat1003

Thank you all!  I thought it should be in the contract, but then I received a contract from another photographer we were talking to and there was nothing in hers about it either.  I started wondering if this was a typical thing that most photographers do since they're busier in some months than others.  I will definitely ask her to add it to the contract.

theartistformerlyknownas

I would expect them not to have it in the contract - they're protecting themselves from having timelines affected by situations which may be outside their control, and then getting burned. But there's nothing stopping you from asking her to add it if it's important to you. I would just make sure you think 4 weeks is enough time for her to do a satisfactory job editing them - would you be happy getting sub-par work if she ended up rushing to meet this deadline? 

FutureMrsN3312

Before signing all of my contracts I made sure everything was clearly stated.  If it wasn't I added it in, sent it back for the vendor to initial, and once I got that back I signed it.

I just wanted to cover my ass.  I  heard so many stories that made me paranoid.

puddytat1003

lolo883 said:

I would expect them not to have it in the contract - they're protecting themselves from having timelines affected by situations which may be outside their control, and then getting burned. But there's nothing stopping you from asking her to add it if it's important to you. I would just make sure you think 4 weeks is enough time for her to do a satisfactory job editing them - would you be happy getting sub-par work if she ended up rushing to meet this deadline? 

That's a good point.  I really don't know how much time to edit would be sufficient, though.  We're getting married in October (which is the busiest wedding month in her area) and she said to plan on receiving about 600 edited images since she's doing 6 hours of photography.  Maybe I should ask for 6 or 8 weeks instead...?

I honestly don't think it will be a problem because she's a very reputable and popular photographer, but I just keep thinking it would be very easy for her to blow them off and not get them to me for months.  I don't live in same city as her (destination wedding) and she'll have all our money a week before the wedding.  I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid.

huskypuppy14

I don't think we had a timeline in our contract, but I also didn't have to pay in full until I had all the pictures.

jenijoyk

You might as well ask. I'm sure she's been asked before and any professional would try to accomodate you or explain to you why she couldn't. Never hurts to ask!

theartistformerlyknownas

puddytat1003 said:

lolo883 said:

I would expect them not to have it in the contract - they're protecting themselves from having timelines affected by situations which may be outside their control, and then getting burned. But there's nothing stopping you from asking her to add it if it's important to you. I would just make sure you think 4 weeks is enough time for her to do a satisfactory job editing them - would you be happy getting sub-par work if she ended up rushing to meet this deadline? 

That's a good point.  I really don't know how much time to edit would be sufficient, though.  We're getting married in October (which is the busiest wedding month in her area) and she said to plan on receiving about 600 edited images since she's doing 6 hours of photography.  Maybe I should ask for 6 or 8 weeks instead...?

I honestly don't think it will be a problem because she's a very reputable and popular photographer, but I just keep thinking it would be very easy for her to blow them off and not get them to me for months.  I don't live in same city as her (destination wedding) and she'll have all our money a week before the wedding.  I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid.

I think if she were the type of person who would do that, she wouldn't have earned a good reputation, and now that she has it why would she jeopardize that? And photographers don't only deliver photos to people who live local enough to stop by their front door and bother them so I don't think the distance should be a worry. 

FTR, I'll have my photos 8 weeks after the wedding and we paid our photographer in full about a month beforehand. Of course I wish it was sooner, but I have no doubt I'll have them as promised.

photokitty

puddytat1003 said:

Hi everyone!  I've been lurking for a while and noticed that you all seem to have really good advice and insight, so I was wondering if you could help me with a question about wedding photography.  I really don't have much experience with weddings and neither do my friends or family, so none of them seem to know the answer either.  I was going to post this in the Photo and Video board, but it seems pretty dead.

We found a photographer we love and we are getting ready to sign the contract.  I noticed there's nothing in the contract about when we will receive the photos after the wedding.  I asked her and she said it's normally about 2-4 weeks, but shouldn't that be in the contract somewhere?  It makes me really nervous to sign a contract where she has no obligation to return my photos to me in a certain amount of time, especially since we have to pay her in full one week before the wedding.

Is this common with wedding photographers?  Do you just go by their word and hope they stick to it?  That just doesn't sound right to me...

We only look dead on P&V, but we have an active group that responds - promise.

You should get a time frame for delivery in your contract. You should also have a backup plan listed in it. Payment plan. Type of rights you'll have for your images. Rights the photog will have for the images. Cancelation/ refund rules. 

FTR, my contract said 2-5 weeks, but that was his timeline, not one I requested. I would expect 8-10 weeks max for digital images. The majority of photogs don't do heavy retouching and it doesn't take as png as we want you all to believe.

puddytat1003

Thank you everyone for your replies!  I talked to her and she added it to the contract with no hesitation, so yay!  I just didn't want to cause a potential issue for her for no reason if it was something that's standard for wedding photographers.  As I said, this wedding stuff is very new to me...I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing half the time!

puddytat1003

photokitty said:

puddytat1003 said:

Hi everyone!  I've been lurking for a while and noticed that you all seem to have really good advice and insight, so I was wondering if you could help me with a question about wedding photography.  I really don't have much experience with weddings and neither do my friends or family, so none of them seem to know the answer either.  I was going to post this in the Photo and Video board, but it seems pretty dead.

We found a photographer we love and we are getting ready to sign the contract.  I noticed there's nothing in the contract about when we will receive the photos after the wedding.  I asked her and she said it's normally about 2-4 weeks, but shouldn't that be in the contract somewhere?  It makes me really nervous to sign a contract where she has no obligation to return my photos to me in a certain amount of time, especially since we have to pay her in full one week before the wedding.

Is this common with wedding photographers?  Do you just go by their word and hope they stick to it?  That just doesn't sound right to me...

We only look dead on P&V, but we have an active group that responds - promise.

You should get a time frame for delivery in your contract. You should also have a backup plan listed in it. Payment plan. Type of rights you'll have for your images. Rights the photog will have for the images. Cancelation/ refund rules. 

FTR, my contract said 2-5 weeks, but that was his timeline, not one I requested. I would expect 8-10 weeks max for digital images. The majority of photogs don't do heavy retouching and it doesn't take as png as we want you all to believe.

When you say a backup plan, do you mean what happens if there's an "Act of God," failure of transportation/equipment, or photographer illness?  The contract currently says she will return deposits but she'll have no further liability with respect to the agreement.

Aray82

That was the wait time for ours, but it should be in the contract.

photokitty

puddytat1003 said:

photokitty said:

puddytat1003 said:

Hi everyone!  I've been lurking for a while and noticed that you all seem to have really good advice and insight, so I was wondering if you could help me with a question about wedding photography.  I really don't have much experience with weddings and neither do my friends or family, so none of them seem to know the answer either.  I was going to post this in the Photo and Video board, but it seems pretty dead.

We found a photographer we love and we are getting ready to sign the contract.  I noticed there's nothing in the contract about when we will receive the photos after the wedding.  I asked her and she said it's normally about 2-4 weeks, but shouldn't that be in the contract somewhere?  It makes me really nervous to sign a contract where she has no obligation to return my photos to me in a certain amount of time, especially since we have to pay her in full one week before the wedding.

Is this common with wedding photographers?  Do you just go by their word and hope they stick to it?  That just doesn't sound right to me...

We only look dead on P&V, but we have an active group that responds - promise.

You should get a time frame for delivery in your contract. You should also have a backup plan listed in it. Payment plan. Type of rights you'll have for your images. Rights the photog will have for the images. Cancelation/ refund rules. 

FTR, my contract said 2-5 weeks, but that was his timeline, not one I requested. I would expect 8-10 weeks max for digital images. The majority of photogs don't do heavy retouching and it doesn't take as png as we want you all to believe.

When you say a backup plan, do you mean what happens if there's an "Act of God," failure of transportation/equipment, or photographer illness?  The contract currently says she will return deposits but she'll have no further liability with respect to the agreement.

Yep, that's what I mean. I prefer the clause that says they will fond a replacement bc they have a network of photographers and they will make sure there is a photographer there if they can't be there.