50% deposit

DirtyWater

Would you think that 50% deposit for any vendor is high?  I'm kind of blown away right now and a little upset.  We are having the worst time finding a photographer and videographer.  We finally found one that we were ready to book and they want 50% for a wedding thats 18 months away.

How high were your deposits? 

Krystalynne21

most of ours were 20-25%. 50% sounds realllly high. Our photog (John LoConte) was $300 down, videographer (Dave at WAVES Salem, NH) was $250 down. 

noodle_oo

Yeah, our videographer made us put down half as well, but we were also only about 6 months out from our wedding.  Our photographer did 30% I think.  I think that is high since your wedding is so far away.  Have you asked if that is negotiable?  Some of our vendors allowed us to change the payment schedule so that it worked better for us, which we really appreciated!  I do think that at least 30% is pretty standard though.

carolbridebabe

we also used john loconte AND Waves and put the same down... 50% would scare me but some vendors do require it 

venrena

We put 50% with our photographer but broke it up into 2 payments, 25% to sign on, 25% 6 months out and 50% 2 weeks before the wedding. I'm personally more offended that I have to give anyone full payment before they show up for my wedding but every vendor we talked to, DJs, photographers, etc. were like this. Oh well. It's a racket, what are ya gonna do?! i didn't mind putting the 50% down because I really love our photographer and I know that if something got messed up on his end he'd refund all our money. I made sure it's in the contract. Plus it kind of is nice having that major expense mostly paid for so early. It's less of a hit to our wallet when we're paying for everything else two weeks before the wedding too. But you have to do what you're comfortable with.

megandjay

We did 25%, then 25% 6 months out, and then the rest of the payment was due 2 weeks before the event.

karmellah

50%. i dont see anything wrong with that

LyssaBella

Krystalynne and Carol we are using Dave at Waves too!! Isn't he the sweetest person?
I wanna say we put down $250.00 for Videographer and $1,000.00 for Photographer.

MeaghanandMichael

I don't see why 50% is that big of a deal. You are set on using them right? You did you homework to find out if they were reputable vendors right? Unless you worry they are going to do something shady with the money, it is almost better to be all the more secure with the vendor.

DirtyWater

50% to me is just really high for us right now and he was the first out of the many I've spoken to that requires 50% down and wont negotiate.

His 50% takes up the money we have right now to try to book a photographer, videographer, florist and cake.

Now we have to decide if we book the video and wait on the rest and hope the other vendors we want don't book another wedding in the mean time.  We don't have help on this so its hard for us.

I just wanted to see what the standard was.  That's all.

backbaybride

For our photographer we were required to put 50% down 2 years before our wedding.  Looking back, all of our vendors aside from the Seaport required 50% down.  I think that gives the vendor confidence that you are serious about using them for your wedding.  I am sympathetic to this because there are a lot of brides out there (including myself) who second guess their decisions and may want to change vendors if they don't have a large financial stake in their choice.

Erica1011

I think 50% is high.  I only had to put 25% down.

SN318

We put a 50% deposit towards our videographer and 40% towards our photographer. The rest of our vendors we only put about 25% down.

Blueyed228

It depends on how far in advance you booked them.  If your wedding is within a year, I dont think 50% down is a lot.

DirtyWater

Our date is 18 months away.  I'm still going to meet with them and see if we can negotiate breaking the payment up a little bit so we don't lose other vendors.  I'm just waiting to hear back from them.  I hope it works out.  We've struggled to pull this wedding together on our own so we need some good luck to come our way soon   Thinking positive!

Ishaba11

I paid 50% for my photographer as well but I got him for a good deal.

october010bride

We put down 50% for our DJ  and limo. If you uncomfortable, ask to break up the payments a bit. It can't hurt to ask.

catsorr

We put down $500 for our photographer, and paid in full for the videographer (with a signed contract)- he gave us 10% off.  So I think 50% isn't taking it to the extreme.  We put $300 down for the DJ and I think they all require payment in full 10 days prior to the date.