Initial Wedding Contract Made Easy

Initial wedding contract

[Music] hi and welcome to another installment of shooting star this particular week we're going to focus just on weddings and specifically we're gonna break it down into beginning middle and in and have a question representing each of those segments and I hope you find it interesting if not we'll try it again in a couple weeks we'll start off with Jillian Zamora she asks would you mind walking us through what your what a typical wedding photo client meeting looks like I have a tendency to jump right in out of nervousness and I just talk about photography if you have any tips about breaking the ice and said going into wedding photography I was also wondering what you covered during the initial consultation basically the number one thing I want to stress to people who are trying to connect meetings early on and something that I struggled with in the beginning was being confident in who you are this also parlays in ideally listening to just what the client says when a client walks into the studio they sit down and I'm not immediately talking about myself I really just want to know everything about them I want them to start talking because I want to get to know who they are but independently and as a couple one of the very first questions I ask is how did you guys meet and usually the girl will have a version of the story and then a guy will have a very different version of the story it's really important to not only hear what they're saying but read in between the lines ask them questions show that you're interested in in in who they are and then this segues into kind of showing who they are is their like their personality sharks start shining through then I don't even get into wedding photography yet I then say or ask tell me about your wedding specifically I ask who are the vendors that they're working with where they're getting married if I don't know these things in events usually I do but it's always nice to have a refresher just to create conversation once I know all of these things I've listened to them and up until this point it's probably 15 20 minutes into the conversation where it's just about them then that once I have a good feeling about what they want and who they are I can then tailor my conversation to fulfilling their needs and desires and then I just go on in and give a very basic description about what the day looks like my very first interaction with them would be the engagement session I described what the engagement session would look like I tell them that in a few if we decide to work together I'll send them some engagement session tips then I moved into the wedding photography aspect what should they expect on the wedding day I walked him through who is my second shooter how I approach the day what's my technique what's my style things like that I asked them do you have questions I also have albums out I have a projector and a screen showcasing imagery it's just a conversation it's not a sales meeting for me as much as is as much as it is an opportunity to hear who they are and what they want that's kind of a long-winded answer but I hope it kind of gets you right where you want to be I'm Errol your Quran asks can you share your thoughts on how much you move around during the actual ceremony for example do you move freely during the ceremony and capture pictures in spite of potentially being a distraction or do you stay in one place during the ceremony while JD or your other second shooter it's only average 80 covers the pictures on the opposite side of the ceremony um every wedding is different my goal anything it's early on somebody give me this tip don't get stressed out when you're shooting the ceremony have a list of pictures in your mind that you know you need to get then once you have those challenge yourself to think outside of the realms of things that you've already done for instance I know that I need to get a picture of the groom looking at the bride the bride looking at the groom the father walking the bride down the aisle the exchange between the father and the daughter going to the groom I need to get reaction shots from both some of the parents I'd love ideally to get a shot if the bridesmaids going down this way the groomsmen coming down this way the exchange of the Rings but first look at me the first kiss the recessional all of those things I know I need to get once you actually identify those pictures then you can work within the parameters of what you've been given sometimes churches don't let me move other times if it's a garden ceremony I can put on my 7200 I could stand in the distance and get the nice tips and detail shots that I want so there isn't a hard and fast rule but I do take creative Liberty to move arm about but I'm always always conscious to know ideally a photographer should it be seen because you don't want to be a distraction you want to be in mm an element and an added element to the day I actually think that it's a great compliment when somebody can come up to you and say you know I didn't even know you're there during a ceremony that's great that's what I always try for it I think that we should all strive for that same thing too lastly Laurie Carbone Capaldi asks I'm curious how you would handle a situation where a potential client wants to remove a part of the contract specifically related to the model release because they do not want their photos used in online capacity would this be something that you're interested in or compromised or what it cut into your business model too much well I actually just dealt with this not too long ago I actually do explain to the clients in advance that part of the experience part of what I want to parlay to them is the ability for them to share their images on an online capacity if I don't think that they want the same things that I want clearly it's not a match for us if I can't use clients images online I don't think it's a good move for me I'm not saying for other photographers but for my specific business model how I move my business how my trajectory what I ideally want is a client who wants to share their images the same way that I would want to share their images if we're on that if we're on different pages it's up to me to educate them well in advance this is a conversation that I should be having with them far before the booking is even happened if if for instance you've already booked the wedding in the client does not want their images online totally adhere to what they want but use it for future reference that ever before you engage with the client and having to sign a contract you should not be taking out things from your contract that you're not comfortable with as a business person I hope this helps I hope you have a wonderful week and stay tuned for a next installment shooting star being stay fabulous [Music]