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09/01/2008 10:02:57 AM · #1 |
Hey everyone,
I just finished up my first FULL wedding season. I had around 10 weddings this year (off the top of my head, give or take a few) and at the beginning I was charging WAY too little for my packages. A friend of a friend came to me wanting me to do her wedding and I gave her my prices (at the time) which were:
1.) wedding shoot for prints $800.00 - comes with $100 worth of print credit with my lab (they do amazing work). this covers the entire day, the ceremony, reception, etc. i'm flexible on anything, so just let me know any ideas you may have.
i spend countless hours editing images, and i do not charge by the hour like most people do. i put that into my shooting fee. here are a list of my print prices:
4x6s: $6.00 (10 for $50, 20 for $80 you can use different poses, you're not limited to one pose.)
5x7s: $15.00 (2 for $25, 5 for $60 you can use different poses here as well)
8x10s: $20.00 (2 for $35, different poses as well)
11x14s: $45.00 (2 for $75, different poses as well)
this package also comes with 2 copies of a custom made DVD with music of the brides choice as background music to the pictures of the entire wedding day. any additional dvds can be purchased for $25.00.
2.) wedding shoot for cd of edited pictures $1100.00 - this comes with all the edited pictures on cd to keep forever, and get prints of forever from the lab of your choice. it comes with a copyright release form that will give the bride and groom unlimited print rights to the images. a lot of people like this one b/c of being able to have the images on their computer, e-mailing, etc. like i said, it gives you full-print priveledges of them, and you can distribute them as you wish. (e-mail, etc) I will also throw in a custom DVD with this as well of the wedding day put to the bride's choice of music.
Like I said, WAY underpriced. Right now, I charge $650 JUST for the cd with images on them.
Well, I receive this e-mail from her this week:
Hi Jon,
I hope you are doing well! David and I were looking through our pictures trying to decide which ones we would like to order and we were talking about how it would be nice to have a CD of our proofs. I remember that one of your wedding packages included a CD. At the time when we were choosing a package, the one without a CD was more cost-effective for us, but now, we wondered approximately how much it would be to purchase the CD versus ordering prints.
Thanks for your help and, again, thanks for the beautiful wedding pictures!
My questions is...she has already used all her print credit (used it on her bridals). I even substituted $100 print credit for the DVD she did not want. I don't even want to think about editing ALL those pictures for a difference in the package price of $300.00, especially since I know I would make far more than that if they just placed print orders. (the mother-in-law just placed a $450 order herself).
So my question, is do I give her my $650 current price, or do I suck it up and give it to her for a difference in the quoted package price from almost a year ago. (The wedding was in May, booked in September)
Any insight to what I should do here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much!
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09/01/2008 10:33:14 AM · #2 |
I would at least give her the new price... and if you like (reading between the lines, you seem to want to give her something off the current price) have a recent customer discount or something (just make sure they know it's a once off). That way she sees the new prices but feels special. The other thing you could do is do the full price but throw in some free images for the next session.... birth of kid or anniversary e.t.c.
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09/01/2008 11:13:25 AM · #3 |
One thing I learned about my business is you are there to make money. It's nice to get comfortable with the client and make them feel like you are best friends but you have to remember that it all boils down to money. If you want to make more money charge her more. What would you do if the situation is reversed? If it were would do you think the CD is worth it? If so then charge her for it.
If you prices have changed from the time she ordered her package to now then she should have to pay the current price. Think of it like gas prices. If you pull into the pump and the price changes before you pull the pump off the handle you have to pay that price.
Message edited by author 2008-09-01 11:15:01. |
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09/01/2008 01:56:58 PM · #4 |
I guarantee my prices for year after their wedding date so I have a policy on stuff like this. I also use it to help book weddings.
But to your current dilemma - you charge them the current price. They buy or not, it's on them. If you go to a store and want something and last year or last week it was $50 less what do you pay for it today? Today's price of course. They had an opportunity to buy at a lower price and didn't. Their choice.
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09/01/2008 02:08:03 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by robs:
I would at least give her the new price... and if you like (reading between the lines, you seem to want to give her something off the current price) have a recent customer discount or something (just make sure they know it's a once off). That way she sees the new prices but feels special. The other thing you could do is do the full price but throw in some free images for the next session.... birth of kid or anniversary e.t.c. |
I like this idea the best. I know its a business but if I was quoted one price for something, booked the service then the price went up? I might be a tad cranky. And that's not just for photography. That's for anything.
I just had my own wedding and my wife and I had a good budget in place. If someone told us we were going to be spending significantly more on pictures we would be having a "discussion" with our photographer. Its not just the extra cost. Its the fact that you budget X amount for this and Y for that. You skimp on one part so you can put the money somewhere else. And if someone distrupts that balance....God help them.
Message edited by author 2008-09-01 14:25:43.
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09/01/2008 03:00:52 PM · #6 |
Since she turned down the package originally and elected to foregoe the DVD for another $100 credit towards pictures, I don't think you owe her the old price.
A lot of things have gone up since then. (Gas just being one of them.) I'd recommend the current price with discount, as previously mentioned. You already went the extra mile earlier. |
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09/01/2008 04:28:32 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Citadel:
[quote=robs] If someone told us we were going to be spending significantly more on pictures we would be having a "discussion" with our photographer. Its not just the extra cost. |
But..... you offered her the price a year ago. I doubt you'd go into the Gap and tell them their t-shirts were $12.00 a year ago and you'd like their now $17.00 shirt for last years prices. Better yet try it at a gas station! You're in business -- act like a business. Give her the current pricing and a discount on a future session. |
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09/02/2008 12:02:57 PM · #8 |
I missed the part about the wedding being in May.
In defense of my original point:
Keep in mind though that
a) Photography is a service. So if services were rendered at a certain agreed upon price? That's the price.
b) It ain't cheap. We're not talking saving 20 bucks at Gap or a few cents a litre. We're talking hundreds of dollars difference.
That aside, the photographer for my wedding asked for a deposit during the initial booking then another amount about a month out. (i.e the "drop dead date". If you cancelled at this point you get your initial deposit back. If cancelled after this date? You were out some serious dough).
Then we paid the balance when the results were completed. No ambiguity. Every thing was clear. Of course she's being doing weddings for at least 5 years and probably had problems at the beginning too. I think we paid $2500 or so.
And rereading the original post? If she just wants to get the CD? Yeah. Charge her the new price. She had her chance at the lower price. (I thought we were talking about the actual shoot.)
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