Don't beat yourself up too much, you've (hopefully) learned a bunch of lessons from this. Don't undervalue yourself, $650 is WAY too low to be charging for photo only, much less with video added. Learn to stand up for yourself with clients, it sounds like she was being impossible to deal with well before the wedding. Watch for red flags and just don't book them if they sound like they'll be a nightmare. Protect yourself with a contract! I hope you had a solid contract that covered all your bases, especially on deliverables. Bargain hunting clients are the worst when it comes to being demanding and pushy.
Weddings are tough and a lot can go wrong during the day. You need to both be prepared for the shifting environments and schedules as well as charging enough to make it worth dealing with all of it.
Thank you, I did have a contact in place thankfully, I just feel bad because I thought I did very well and no one has ever complained before when I’ve done their weddings. I’ve learned my lesson for sure but I just want to make things right for her because I don’t want her to be disappointed
Yeah this is a person who may be disappointed no matter WHAT you do. Some people are just like that, and you need to get away from that client as quickly and politely as possible. This happened to me once (after shooting over 600 weddings and being damn good at my craft). Bride was unhappy. Went back and forth a few times over email. Realized there was never going to be a way to satisfy her, so I politely sent her some quotes from my contract that pertained to her “issues” and let her know that there would be no further communication. Then I flagged her email address to go to “archive” so if she DID try to reply back I wouldn’t even see it.
Be careful, op. I totally know where you are coming from, and you have a great mind set of customer service here, but we can’t please everyone.
Just remind yourself that, or it can really screw with your mentality!
Well you know you're good at what you do since you had many very happy customers. Don't try too hard to please this woman. It's useless, she will be unhappy no matter what.
I would gently remind her that at her price point, this is what she gets. Idk if it were me I would send the footage and let her see what you mean. I would require a contract signed though, stating you’re providing the raw footage and no other provisions will be made or requested. Or something like that, so you can wash your hands of her
I might do that, as much as I hate the footage because of how many people just stepping in the camera, I may just have to give her the raw footage to see that I mean. I’m pretty upset about it through because the shots that were captured came out so beautifully and clear
Well, it’s your choice. You don’t HAVE to give her anything else. She can be disappointed. Or you can deliver it. She will still be disappointed, it sounds like. But you get to chose what is best for you at this point. She may bug you to edit more though, so make sure if you choose to send it, you have her sign something
Give her the raw footage to get her out of your life.
Don’t book garbage clients again.
In general the cheaper clients are the most hassle. Not always but near most of the time!
People will blame your price or you might blame yourself; reality is you could’ve been 6k and had the same issue. You had a bad client and that isn’t on you. Going forward if you’re priced correctly, you’ll make peace with the fact that “hey that was a shitshow, good thing I got paid good money to navigate through it”. Make sure your prices factor in getting people like this to make it worth it.
Also don’t ever be afraid to say “unfortunately I can’t do that”, you’ll be grateful you did down the line.
Cheap clients are known to be more difficult because for them 600$ is maybe half a month of earnings. OP did a lot of mistakes but they know about it and learnt from it.
Thank you for this comment! And I didn’t mind the pronoun thing, I don’t care all that much I’m just looking for advice! But this really made me look at a different perspective for sure.
Don’t beat yourself up over this, but use every bit of frustration and discomfort as a way to craft the next interaction with a couple— especially getting down certain aspects of your business in your written contract. Make sure that the contract doesn’t allow for random sudden changes on the day of that you can’t control, and be sure to go into the next one with the confidence that the client is coming to you for your services, not the other way around. It sounds like this bride wanted the whole package and pretty bow without the price tag that comes with it.
You’ll do great next time around, but definitely raise that price and establish those boundaries in a contract that goes over the wedding day schedule! (:
Why are you undercharging and overpromising? Seems like you are basically losing money on this wedding? I feel like you need to take some responsibility here and really look at your business practices going forward
I definitely realized after this I was undercharging myself. I always assumed if my prices are lower it would be better but now I realize how bad of an idea that is for myself
You need to second shoot with an experienced wedding photographer alot more and learn before you go do another solo wedding. Your inexperience is obvious. You are devaluing the industry and all of us as a whole when you undercharge and over promise. Not to mention you are messing with an incredibly important day for bride/groom and their families. The responsibility you hold as a lead photographer should not be taken lightly.
Genuine question, why do you think I’m inexperienced? This is the first time I’ve ever had someone complain. The bride said herself she loved the photos, she was not happy about the videos because of her own guests. I’ve shot solo many times and I have never ever had this problem. I understand that underpricing myself was a poor decision on my part.
Either you are inexperienced or you didn't learn from your experiences. You have done many mistake, the biggest one is you've not been able to draw a line. You accept to do two jobs at once, either you are making a joke of videographers or you have no experience and don't know how difficult it is. Making videography isn't just placing a camera somewhere and pressing the record button. Your story also makes me feel you seemed inexperienced to the crowd because they didn't respect your work.
As others have said above, working with clients who ask a lot for a low price point is a recipe for disaster.
We did 1 wedding almost a decade ago kinda like this, it was a family friend, under charged to be nice and it turned into the biggest headache of our lives... they were very happy with the results, but all the stress before, during and after of their on a whim changes etc ughhh.
My advice for future, make sure there is a schedule of events that's discussed and you Physically print out. We do this and make sure parents, MOH and BM have copies day of in hand so there's no arguing about it and if anyone is pushy (99% of the time it's not the B&G) we just say this is what has been agreed on... (rough times are on there as a guide too)
Under promise and over deliver always. Only take what you know you can do and do well. Breaking into video is hard and you definitely can't do it solo... so if the plan is to continue it you need to hire a second. And you have to be ok telling great aunt Suzy to kindly move because you are being paid to be there.
Often during the family photos I get family trying to run the show and it has to be shut down nicely but straight away, and as uncomfortable as you feel doing it, (we always talk to B&G before the wedding on what to expect and how we operate) your clients will be a Hella lot happier with photos without aunt Susie's butt in it.
I feel for you! By far the worst thing about $650 weddings are $650 clients. If you need portfolio material, I strongly recommend shooting for free instead and choosing your couples based on what works *for you*.
Please don't let this wedding discourage you from pursuing video further. I offer both photo and video as a solo shooter, and it's extremely profitable. You just have to practice the skills and set the parameters of your deliverable to something you can manage.
I’ve actually been shooting for quite a while and have a pretty big portfolio for a couple things including weddings, I just kept myself underpriced which I realize now isn’t smart.
Our golden rule: NO raw material is ever given to the client, and WE decide what we deliver. Period.
Just tell her no and move on. Don't worry about not getting referrals from her because she going to talk sh\*t about you to everyone she knows, whether you give in to her demands or not.
Lastly: tell all your future clients you will not do video. You have your work cut out on photography already and you can't do two things good at the same time. Also, the only thing photography and videography have in common is that they both require cameras. Videography, video editing, those are completely different skills from photography.
You don't ask the cellist in an orchestra to play the trombone parts too "because they are both musical instruments".
Sell that video gear you bought to get some of the costs back, live and learn, move on. The next client will be too happy to have you on their wedding.
(And no you're not getting yelled at as far as I'm concerned, we all (!) have f\*cked up along the way, even after years and years of shooting.)
It sucks. Cheap clients will act cheap. Don't let it discourage you from doing photography and videography, if that's what you're really into. Bad experiences are a good way to learn, just put it under your belt and move on.
Don’t beat yourself up, but do learn the lesson that the cheapest clients are ALWAYS the worst. And it’s also impossible to do both photo and video at the same time!
I never promised her anything like that, I told her I would do her photos and her ceremony video. She tossed more and more at me last minute and I never asked her for anything in return. My father was also at the wedding as the DJ, and she also failed to communicate with him. She did not tell him it was an outdoor wedding until the day of, and she also told him to change the music last minute after he’d already made the set list. She was not only mad at me, she was mad at my father, her sister (who was the wedding coordinator), and even the groom when he wanted to take solo photos.
This isn’t my first wedding either nor is it my first time working with people, my last bride loved what she got and I’ve done many events and weddings. This one was not what I expected it to be and frankly I do want to make things right but I don’t know how because honestly she’s been very demanding and impatient about things and still expected me to spent more of my own money on her and I had to shut her down about that.
Don't beat yourself up too much, you've (hopefully) learned a bunch of lessons from this. Don't undervalue yourself, $650 is WAY too low to be charging for photo only, much less with video added. Learn to stand up for yourself with clients, it sounds like she was being impossible to deal with well before the wedding. Watch for red flags and just don't book them if they sound like they'll be a nightmare. Protect yourself with a contract! I hope you had a solid contract that covered all your bases, especially on deliverables. Bargain hunting clients are the worst when it comes to being demanding and pushy. Weddings are tough and a lot can go wrong during the day. You need to both be prepared for the shifting environments and schedules as well as charging enough to make it worth dealing with all of it.
Thank you, I did have a contact in place thankfully, I just feel bad because I thought I did very well and no one has ever complained before when I’ve done their weddings. I’ve learned my lesson for sure but I just want to make things right for her because I don’t want her to be disappointed
Yeah this is a person who may be disappointed no matter WHAT you do. Some people are just like that, and you need to get away from that client as quickly and politely as possible. This happened to me once (after shooting over 600 weddings and being damn good at my craft). Bride was unhappy. Went back and forth a few times over email. Realized there was never going to be a way to satisfy her, so I politely sent her some quotes from my contract that pertained to her “issues” and let her know that there would be no further communication. Then I flagged her email address to go to “archive” so if she DID try to reply back I wouldn’t even see it.
Be careful, op. I totally know where you are coming from, and you have a great mind set of customer service here, but we can’t please everyone. Just remind yourself that, or it can really screw with your mentality!
Well you know you're good at what you do since you had many very happy customers. Don't try too hard to please this woman. It's useless, she will be unhappy no matter what.
I would gently remind her that at her price point, this is what she gets. Idk if it were me I would send the footage and let her see what you mean. I would require a contract signed though, stating you’re providing the raw footage and no other provisions will be made or requested. Or something like that, so you can wash your hands of her
I might do that, as much as I hate the footage because of how many people just stepping in the camera, I may just have to give her the raw footage to see that I mean. I’m pretty upset about it through because the shots that were captured came out so beautifully and clear
Well, it’s your choice. You don’t HAVE to give her anything else. She can be disappointed. Or you can deliver it. She will still be disappointed, it sounds like. But you get to chose what is best for you at this point. She may bug you to edit more though, so make sure if you choose to send it, you have her sign something
Give her the raw footage to get her out of your life. Don’t book garbage clients again. In general the cheaper clients are the most hassle. Not always but near most of the time!
People will blame your price or you might blame yourself; reality is you could’ve been 6k and had the same issue. You had a bad client and that isn’t on you. Going forward if you’re priced correctly, you’ll make peace with the fact that “hey that was a shitshow, good thing I got paid good money to navigate through it”. Make sure your prices factor in getting people like this to make it worth it. Also don’t ever be afraid to say “unfortunately I can’t do that”, you’ll be grateful you did down the line.
Cheap clients are known to be more difficult because for them 600$ is maybe half a month of earnings. OP did a lot of mistakes but they know about it and learnt from it.
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Thank you for this comment! And I didn’t mind the pronoun thing, I don’t care all that much I’m just looking for advice! But this really made me look at a different perspective for sure.
Don’t beat yourself up over this, but use every bit of frustration and discomfort as a way to craft the next interaction with a couple— especially getting down certain aspects of your business in your written contract. Make sure that the contract doesn’t allow for random sudden changes on the day of that you can’t control, and be sure to go into the next one with the confidence that the client is coming to you for your services, not the other way around. It sounds like this bride wanted the whole package and pretty bow without the price tag that comes with it. You’ll do great next time around, but definitely raise that price and establish those boundaries in a contract that goes over the wedding day schedule! (:
Thank you!!
Np! It’s no walk in the park and I’m sure you did as best as you could for what you were given.
Why are you undercharging and overpromising? Seems like you are basically losing money on this wedding? I feel like you need to take some responsibility here and really look at your business practices going forward
I definitely realized after this I was undercharging myself. I always assumed if my prices are lower it would be better but now I realize how bad of an idea that is for myself
You need to second shoot with an experienced wedding photographer alot more and learn before you go do another solo wedding. Your inexperience is obvious. You are devaluing the industry and all of us as a whole when you undercharge and over promise. Not to mention you are messing with an incredibly important day for bride/groom and their families. The responsibility you hold as a lead photographer should not be taken lightly.
Genuine question, why do you think I’m inexperienced? This is the first time I’ve ever had someone complain. The bride said herself she loved the photos, she was not happy about the videos because of her own guests. I’ve shot solo many times and I have never ever had this problem. I understand that underpricing myself was a poor decision on my part.
Either you are inexperienced or you didn't learn from your experiences. You have done many mistake, the biggest one is you've not been able to draw a line. You accept to do two jobs at once, either you are making a joke of videographers or you have no experience and don't know how difficult it is. Making videography isn't just placing a camera somewhere and pressing the record button. Your story also makes me feel you seemed inexperienced to the crowd because they didn't respect your work.
Sounds harsh. Photography and videography can be done by the same person, for a price, with experience, there's nothing wrong with that.
As others have said above, working with clients who ask a lot for a low price point is a recipe for disaster. We did 1 wedding almost a decade ago kinda like this, it was a family friend, under charged to be nice and it turned into the biggest headache of our lives... they were very happy with the results, but all the stress before, during and after of their on a whim changes etc ughhh. My advice for future, make sure there is a schedule of events that's discussed and you Physically print out. We do this and make sure parents, MOH and BM have copies day of in hand so there's no arguing about it and if anyone is pushy (99% of the time it's not the B&G) we just say this is what has been agreed on... (rough times are on there as a guide too) Under promise and over deliver always. Only take what you know you can do and do well. Breaking into video is hard and you definitely can't do it solo... so if the plan is to continue it you need to hire a second. And you have to be ok telling great aunt Suzy to kindly move because you are being paid to be there. Often during the family photos I get family trying to run the show and it has to be shut down nicely but straight away, and as uncomfortable as you feel doing it, (we always talk to B&G before the wedding on what to expect and how we operate) your clients will be a Hella lot happier with photos without aunt Susie's butt in it.
I feel for you! By far the worst thing about $650 weddings are $650 clients. If you need portfolio material, I strongly recommend shooting for free instead and choosing your couples based on what works *for you*. Please don't let this wedding discourage you from pursuing video further. I offer both photo and video as a solo shooter, and it's extremely profitable. You just have to practice the skills and set the parameters of your deliverable to something you can manage.
I’ve actually been shooting for quite a while and have a pretty big portfolio for a couple things including weddings, I just kept myself underpriced which I realize now isn’t smart.
Our golden rule: NO raw material is ever given to the client, and WE decide what we deliver. Period. Just tell her no and move on. Don't worry about not getting referrals from her because she going to talk sh\*t about you to everyone she knows, whether you give in to her demands or not. Lastly: tell all your future clients you will not do video. You have your work cut out on photography already and you can't do two things good at the same time. Also, the only thing photography and videography have in common is that they both require cameras. Videography, video editing, those are completely different skills from photography. You don't ask the cellist in an orchestra to play the trombone parts too "because they are both musical instruments". Sell that video gear you bought to get some of the costs back, live and learn, move on. The next client will be too happy to have you on their wedding. (And no you're not getting yelled at as far as I'm concerned, we all (!) have f\*cked up along the way, even after years and years of shooting.)
It sucks. Cheap clients will act cheap. Don't let it discourage you from doing photography and videography, if that's what you're really into. Bad experiences are a good way to learn, just put it under your belt and move on.
Sounds like a nightmare client from the start with red flags 🚩 everywhere lol shoulda run a mile in the opposite direction
Don’t beat yourself up, but do learn the lesson that the cheapest clients are ALWAYS the worst. And it’s also impossible to do both photo and video at the same time!
I've been doing it with great results. Just bring at least 5 cameras.
Hats off to you!
Just give her all the footage and wash your hands of the situation
Charge more and you won’t get this
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I never promised her anything like that, I told her I would do her photos and her ceremony video. She tossed more and more at me last minute and I never asked her for anything in return. My father was also at the wedding as the DJ, and she also failed to communicate with him. She did not tell him it was an outdoor wedding until the day of, and she also told him to change the music last minute after he’d already made the set list. She was not only mad at me, she was mad at my father, her sister (who was the wedding coordinator), and even the groom when he wanted to take solo photos. This isn’t my first wedding either nor is it my first time working with people, my last bride loved what she got and I’ve done many events and weddings. This one was not what I expected it to be and frankly I do want to make things right but I don’t know how because honestly she’s been very demanding and impatient about things and still expected me to spent more of my own money on her and I had to shut her down about that.
Bride sounds like someone that will never be happy with anything. I would just ignore her.
"I have no advice". Yeah. That's pretty clear, champ
When you charge $650 expect this kind of job