What’s common in a wedding photography contract
Finding the perfect wedding photographer can take months as you search different websites, Instagram, or Facebook pages. Once you have found who you think will provide the best service and capture the magical moments of your special day, it’s important that you schedule a time with them to sit down to discuss and go over your wedding photography contract in detail. A wedding photography contract is essential to ensure there is no miscommunication between you and your photographer. It outlines what you should expect to happen on your special day, you and your photographer’s guidelines and the price. Some common things that are included in a typical contract are:
- Compensation and Fees
This expresses what your photographer determines you will be responsible for outside of the pricing for your photographs. It includes their retainer fees, price for additional hours outside of the package, and if you must take responsibility for traveling costs for your photographer.
- Product Pricing and Order Placement
This part of your contract is of course one of the most important to go over, because it provides the details of what services included and the price. It also describes ordering timelines or when a product price increase. Since weddings are often booked a year plus in advance, your photographer is guaranteeing an album or products at a set price even though the price may increase. Ordering your album late means you’ll have to pay that price increase.
- Limitation of Liability
Photography is a subjective art and many things outside of the photographer’s control go into creating beautiful photographs. Sometimes images are missed or quality suffers due to these uncontrollable circumstances but the photographer cannot be held responsible. Examples are if the venue limits photographs, the environment prohibits the photographer from taking photos from being taken due to weather or lighting or makeup and appearance. It also describes your recourse if something goes wrong and you suffer damages. I encourage you to look over this part of the contract thoroughly.
- Copy Right and Usage
Photographers automatically own the copyrights to images as soon as they’re created. They may place some limits on how you can use them yourself. Be sure to look over and discuss how each of you will be using the photographs outside of personal use. For photographers, they often use and have the right to use your pictures for portfolios or commercial use.
- Change of Date/Cancellation Policy
We all know sometimes things don’t go as planned, and it’s best that you know what will occur if you have to change the date or need to cancel your services. Unlike what many people think, you aren’t due a refund if your event doesn’t occur because the photographer hasn’t does any work. There is a lot of prep work done before the wedding but more importantly, your photographer has likely turned away other couples for your date and is losing a significant portion of their income. Liquidated damages is a common clause included that outlines any cancellation fees so look read this thoroughly so you aren’t surprised if the unfortunate happens.