Create a Professional Wedding Photography Invoice for it Easily

Wedding photography invoice for IT

hey guys welcome back to my channel today we're talking about contracts I heard you loud and clear when I did a poll on my Instagram just a couple days ago asking you would you rather talk about this or this and is sounding lis you guys said contracts what do we need to have inside of our contract so that we're covered and were protected and we're not gonna get sued so I'm gonna go into ten things that you need to have inside of your photography contracts specifically a wedding photography contract but if you're a portrait photographer you're going to get a lot of out of this as well so stick around if you want to hear what you absolutely must have inside of your contract and then where to go to find a really really airtight contract that's actually legally binding now photography contracts are not just in place to protect us as photographers but they're also in place to protect your clients and make sure that everybody is covered and everybody's happy with the agreement that they're being and turned into so if you hire a photographer and they don't have a photography contract I would tell you that's not a professional be careful because you might not get what you want out of that exchange so the same goes for you as the photographer you need to be using contracts so first of all if you're not using contracts at all in your business stop it well I should say start start using contracts because it's just a matter of time until you run into some trouble like legal trouble that could cost you a ton of money if you're not using contracts now if you're using a contract and you don't know if it's good this is the perfect video for you because I'm gonna cover all the things that absolutely must be in your contract and even some places to go to make sure that you're using airtight legally binding contracts I feel like I should also say this is not legal advice I'm not a lawyer I can't tell you what the laws are in your state or in your country so you need to talk to a lawyer but I can point you in the direction of some really really talented professionals and some good contracts that you can get ahold of today all right so things you absolutely must have inside of your photography contract the first one is the names of your clients the date of the event and an outline of what they are buying into right so I can't tell you how many times I've actually been sent contracts or have clients that I'm helping other photographers go over their contracts and it doesn't clearly state who is involved what services are being exchanged and what date it actually happens on so that's the most important thing at the very top of your contract one Clause I think every photographer should have in their contract is a harassment clause this could be sexual harassment violence or anything in between where you feel unsafe on a shoot at a wedding day or anything like that and I think that this is so important to have inside of a contract because I think especially as women it's just a matter of time before we run into a situation where we do not feel comfortable but we don't feel that we're able to remove ourselves from a dangerous situation or something that's just uncomfortable for ourselves or our team because we're paid to be there so it's extremely important that you have a sexual harassment in a violent situation inside of your contract under harassment clause and so that you can so clearly explain what isn't is not acceptable and what images that you will be liable for if you have to remove yourself from a dangerous situation next is an inclement weather cause slash acts of God and I think this is important because none of us can control the weather but the weather greatly impacts whether or not were sometimes able to even be in a location let's say there's a hurricane or a blizzard or even an earthquake if you are physically unable to be somewhere your contract needs to state what exactly happens and who is held liable at that point so if you don't have something that pertains to rescheduling weather or things that you can't control like acts of God you definitely need that in your contract next you should have a cancellation policy now whether the wedding just doesn't happen or the client decides to go in a different direction you need to clearly state exactly how the client can cancel and void the contract that they've entered into and what money would be owed from either side of the party it should state whether or not they would get their retainer back whether or not they would be held liable for the rest of the money's paid if it hasn't yet been paid that kind of thing in your contract you should also have a model release clause right in ownership clause and something about editing now I put this all in a1 but these could very much be different clauses basically who owns the image copyright what can the client do with the image and what can you do with the image that's the model release part can you use this on social media you should very clearly state whether or not you are allowed to as the business owner use the images on social media or for any kind of marketing purposes and then of course what the client can do with the images can they edit the images can they alter the images and if you're not okay with your client editing your own images and putting them on Instagram with a filter for example you have to say that in your contract and very clearly outlined what they can and cannot do with the images next you need to cover late fees and payment schedules so it should very clearly state when the amounts that are due to you as the photographer are due and then what happens if they're late how can they pay you is it okay to pay by cheque if so put an address is it okay to pay by credit card give them a reason or an actual explanation of how to do that so what are acceptable forms of payment when are they due and what happens if they're late that all goes in your fees and payment schedules section you should also have a summary of deliverables for both sides so this section would cover what exactly they're buying with you or how many hours maybe an album maybe digital downloads that kind of thing like what exactly is the party getting from you and then what are you getting from your clients so are they paying you and money are you doing an exchange of goods or time services any kind of thing like that so what is each side getting very clearly this would be inside of your deliverables I also think it would be good to have a mediation clause meaning if either side of the party you or your clients feel that the contract isn't being upheld and you have any kind of discrepancy on anything inside the contract that you would go to a mediator instead of court or that they could sue you just right off the bat and basically this would keep it a lot more affordable to you if a client felt that you had breached the contract and they decide they would like to take legal action they'd have to go through a mediator which would be a lot more affordable that's just my understanding again I'm not a lawyer but I think that it would help it from becoming this huge blown-up lawsuit where the contract would have to be dealt with under mediation I think ask a lawyer two other things I think are really crucial for wedding photographers especially our a meals policy inside of your contract so the meal on a wedding day are they going to feed you how many meals do they have to provide when do they provide them I always say ideally while the guests are eating this almost never happens but it's fine I put it in there because every once in a while my clients really do read that and take it to heart and they know that if they feed me when their guests are eating they're gonna get better pictures because I'm not gonna be off in some back room when speeches are happening because they fed me after everyone else so you have to put your meal requirements in your contract and then put in there you know if they decide not to feed you for whatever reason or they can't or they forget what happens are you allowed to leave are you being held liable for all the images while you're out getting yourself a sandwich that kind of thing so a meals policy is really important and then the next clause that I think you should have in your contract are other photographers this is a little sticky if you go to a wedding and then there's a bunch of other photographers around blocking your shots trying to get the images or also using those images to build a business I've had this happen you need to have something in your contract that clearly states that you'll be the only professional commissioned photographer and that gives you some rights for protecting that so making sure that like if someone's in the way of your shot that you can let them know that you're gonna need them to stop and that if a client does not tell their guests to stop you know getting in your way or taking pictures or putting them up on a website claiming that those are their images that they would be in breach of contract so making sure that you are the sole photographer and an event is also a good clause to have inside of your contract you should of course also have signatures at the bottom of your entire contract and then initials at certain sections now a lawyer could tell you what sections are absolutely crucial to have the signature and that's why I'm gonna recommend a site for you in just a minute on where to get a contract but you definitely want to make sure that you have both parties and yourself if it's a wedding there's a couple getting married so both parties sign that contract and yourself just so that everybody is on the same page and this is also another reason why I don't have parents sign or just one member of the couple getting married because I want to make sure that we're all on the same page you know you could have a bride hire you and their fiancee kind of doesn't know what's going on or what they're agreeing to so it's important to have everybody sign at the very end of the contract now if you're looking for a really well-written contract that has all of these clauses that we talked about here today but also a few more that we didn't even get into and you want them to be legally binding of course go to the legal page comm page is amazing she is a photographer but also a lawyer which I am NOT so go to her by her contract she's actually having some Black Friday sales I don't know if they'll still be going on at the time of this video but right now she's having some sales so this is a perfect perfect time to invest in a contract that's going to protect you and protect your client and I think that your contracts are one area that you definitely don't want to skimp on to make contracts a lot easier for my clients to sign and read and go through quickly and not have to scan and deal with all that stuff I use honey book I have a whole playlist on honey book this is a client management software that I use for my questionnaires my brochures my contracts and it's also how I get paid I find that I get booked a lot faster because I use honey book I'll put a code down below for 50% off your first year but you can also click this video and hear a little bit more about what all I do with honey book but I would say getting contracts signed faster and easier is probably the best thing about honey folks so definitely check it out thank you so much for watching this video and I will see you next week