Payment terms on weddings?

[Fishn2photog]

I am just really getting started good in the photography business and am curious as to payment terms on photography sessions and right now a wedding I have coming up.

Do you require down payment up front and if so how much of the total price?
Also, when is final payment on the shoot usually required?
I have so far required payment for the shoot itself up front.
However I have a possible client making terms for himself of
$100 booking fee, half at the time of the wedding, and the remaining amount when they get the photo CD with copyright.

Is the normal?

Any advise you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Kelly

[suerenee]

My contract states 40% down to book the date and the balance due 1 month before the wedding. They also don't get any prints or CDs until the entire balance is paid in full. By the time you are giving them a CD you have done all of the work and if they flake on you you're out $. I can see where clients want to protect themselves but my wedding vendors all expected to be paid in full a week before the wedding--not after the food/cake/flowers/etc was delivered. Photographers should be no different.

[Fishn2photog]

Thanks Susan. That's my thoughts too. I just wanted some feedback on it.

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

1/3 down when I put them on my planner, 2/3 remainder 2 weeks before the wedding date! Hopefully your getting paid well when handing out a CD of your images?

[WarrenG]

I would suggest not letting the client dictate the terms of your business. I require 30-50% down depending on the wedding, with 100% of the balance paid in full 30 days prior to the wedding.

It sounds like the client is "nervous" so you need to put them at ease. You might offer an option to pay for your services to provide the wedding coverage (your time), and then explain to them that they can meet you to purchase the CD after the wedding date. This option should cost a little more though, as you need to interrupt your standard workflow to accomodate the schedule of the client yada, yada, yada.

W

[Fishn2photog]

I agree I should not allow a client to dictate how I should run my business.
He called it an "offer" lol
Being new to this whole game, I was really just wanting to get an idea of whether this is something common that people try with you And mostly, what IS acceptable and the norm in payment terms.

Thanks for the feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

[lyncca]

I require 20% down and balance is due 14 days before the event.

[Fishn2photog]

I explained a few things to him and he finally decided to see it my way :)

Thanks everyone for your responses.
I appreciate everyone's willingness to share from their own experiences and to help a fellow photographer out. :)

Have a great weekend....

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

Kelly, There's lots to learn in the wedding business. One is how much time are you really spending on that wedding, what is your overhead, equipment expenses, etc. etc.
Another thing is some of the Red Flags that come up and for me it's when the Groom calls to find out who you are, what the price is and here's my offer! ;-)

[Fishn2photog]

Truth is, I'm wondering if I should have opted out when he started making offers.
You live and learn I guess.

Thanks again.

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

Yep, When you get that gut feeling you should always listen.

[Aric C. Hoek]

33% at time of contract signing. 33% half way between the signing and the wedding date. Balance is due five days before the event.

This accomplishes two things. Consistent cash flow throughout my year, and it ensures that I will have money when it comes time to produce my client's album.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Do not be taken in with the latest statement "well every body else is getting a CD of all the pics", brides are trying that all over the country/world and the better photographers are just saying no to it and they can come back with did your parents get all the film that their wedding photographer shot? (or in fact any of it!).

I was at the WPPI convention this past early spring and this topic was discussed all over the place, DO NOT GIVE THEM DVD/CD's of your unedited works! ALSO if you supply a CD of finished edited images be sure to put PROOF across the images so they can't just run off a bunch of copies of the images on their printer to hand out to everybody-that is lost revenue for YOU!

Back in the film day some wedding shooters would give the couple a small stack of photos for them to choose from but the images would have PROOF stamped on the image so the couple would then come back and choose which ones they want to order copies of so why stop that practice now just because the media is different?

ALSO 99.99% of the professional wedding shooters are paid IN FULL for the primary shoot and album to be supplied at least a week before the event. Now they may have it arranged that additional photos past the album of X # of shots may be ordered after the wedding is over-you never can know in advance what actually will happen at any given wedding or who may show up.

[Fishn2photog]

Thanks Paul. I appreciate your advice nd feedback on this.

[Fishn2photog]

UPDATE: I was getting increasingly more uneasy about taking this job. So when the groom came back to me wanting to negotiate again and wanting the same package for less money, on top of him already wanting to set his own terms for payment I decided it was time to say thanks, but no thanks!

Thanks for everyone's input. Greatly appreciated,

Kelly