So you got a wedding booking! Pop the champagne! You go to bed giddy and proud. But when you wake up the next morning, anxiety sets in because you think “now what?”. The wedding may be over a year away, and you’re wondering what to do in the meantime. I’ve been there, and after 5 years, and over 200 weddings later, I’m going to share with you exactly what to do.
First, know this: there really isn’t technically that much to do. The nature of our job is a little weird in the sense that you get a booking and then don’t really do the majority of the work until over a year later. So take a deep breath.
However, there are a few things to be done leading up to the wedding day, so let’s dive into those. First, you need to send over a contract and an invoice for them to pay a deposit. You need a contract. I don’t care if it’s your friend from kindergarten. Trust me on this. Most clients are delightful to work with and will love you and their photos. However, you will get a client every once in a while who will nitpick everything, or their mother will. I’ve even heard stories of clients getting into financial trouble down the road and making stuff up about the photographer just to try to get some money back. You need to protect yourself with a contract. When preparing a contract, you will want to do some research to make sure you’re getting a good secure contract that will actually protect you. You should consider buying one that’s been prepared by a lawyer specifically for wedding photographers or working with a lawyer on a custom contract for your business.
You should also require a deposit. You will want to word this to your clients as a retainer fee as deposits can be made to give back if the service is not performed; however, a retainer fee is non-refundable. You may be wondering why you would keep the retainer fee if the service is not performed, so let me explain. The point of a retainer fee is to “hold a date” for someone’s wedding. What this means is that you are essentially turning other potential clients down in order to keep that date solely for the booked client. Therefore, if they cancel on you a month before their wedding, you should be compensated for the fact that you’re losing out on that day that you could have booked someone else. Also, although most people don’t think of this, marketing to get that client in the first place, messaging with them back and forth, writing up a contract and invoice, etc is time and work, and if you don’t keep a retainer fee, and they cancel, then you’re not getting paid for any of that. Now the amount of the retainer fee is up to you. I know photographers who do a set fee for every wedding or photographers who do a percentage ranging all the way up to half of the total wedding.
If you are doing an engagement shoot for the client, after the contract is signed and invoice is paid, you will want to begin setting this up. You can work together with your client to find a date and time that works for both of you and give them guidance as to a good location. You can even help them with their wardrobe. I sell a customizable client wardrobe guide at this link.
If you’re not doing an engagement session, it will feel a little odd as you may not talk to your client for many months at this point. Just make a point of telling them that you will be sending over a questionnaire to get all of the details nailed down prior to the wedding, and they can feel free to reach out if they need anything or have any questions. This lets them know that you do have a plan moving forward, and it sets expectations.
That brings us to the questionnaire. I usually send this to my clients about six weeks prior to the wedding. I have found this to be a sweet spot for when they have pretty much gotten their timeline nailed down, so that they’re able to answer all of your questions, but it’s also not so close to the wedding that they’re super stressed and won’t have time to fill out your questionnaire. The questionnaire is imperative as it provides you with all of the information you need to be prepared for the wedding day. If you’re unsure of what to include in your questionnaire, I go into detail of what mine includes in my wedding masterclass here if you’d like to check it out.
After receiving the completed questionnaire, I look over it, and then I message my client. If I have any follow-up questions, I ask them, but even if I don’t, I still send them a message acknowledging that I received the questionnaire, I’ve looked it over, and I’m good to go for their big day. However, I also let them know that they’re more than welcome to reach out to me at any time if they have any questions for me.
That pretty much sums up my pre-wedding process. The main goal is to get a signed contract, a paid retainer fee, and all the details for the wedding day in the questionnaire. The other goal is to show yourself as a professional to your client and build a trust factor, so that they trust you with their photos on their wedding day. I hope this was helpful, and if you’d like to join our facebook page to get more helpful tips, you can follow along here.
