Real life MMD: Can I up my quote for a friend's wedding photos?

Ebenezer_Screwj

Your colleague is presumably hoping for a preferential rate by virtue of the connection with yourself and in addition is expecting you to peg the rate for a future date. It is not sound business practice, is it ? You need to tell her so and that you will provide a new quotation a month in advance of the date.

Tali_2

You have to decide whether this is a friend or a customer. You do things for friends; you sell things to customers.

tallgirld

£250 sounds very cheap.

Tell them the price has gone up with inflation and stuff. If they dont like it tell them you can only take 10 photos for £250 :-)

desperatemumof6

At the end of the day theres such a thing as been a decent person. Only up your costs if you really need to cover higher expenses. Would it really kill you to spend a few hours of your time for a few less pounds than usual? Been in the photography business your reputation goes along way, do you really want to be remembered as the photographer 'who ripped us off?' Even if the quote was 2 years ago and your skills have grown, people are funny creatures they won't see it as black and white as you will. If you don't put a time limit on your quotes beware......

geoffo11

Personally I don't think you should ask for an increase because
if you are an experienced wedding photographer you can use the day to your advantage by showing how competent you are at organising people for the photographs, come rain or shine.
As a retired photographer myself a good photographer is very important and has to be prepared to handle any situation quickly and smoothly.
Its the brides special day first and foremost and her mothers the 2nd.
Build up a good raport and do a good job and you will find you'll
get further bookings from it.
Even if you are out of pocket consider it as a marketing exercise and give out buiness cards and leaflets letting people know of your other services such as portraiture etc.
Good friends are worth looking after!!!
Best of luck hope all goes well.

Aldahbra

When you say friend. How good a friend?
Best Friend you should do it for costs only,
Very good friend keep the price,
Next door neighbor or good friend - increase cost in line with inflation, Normal friend up the price inline with inflation and your increased skill level
acquaintance a low market rate

no quote is valid for two years after the expected date.

aintshesweet

It's a business deal, even if it's for a friend, so you need to be clear about your terms.

You tell them, "As a mate, I'm happy to honour the quote I gave you 2 years ago, but I want you to know what this includes so you can decide what you would like to do. For £250 I can cover X amount of shooting hours, the DVD with X amount of photos will cost X extra due to X amount of time spent post processing. I know a printer who can do us a deal for a nice album, but it is a lot of money, at X extra. I usually charge £XXXX for my clients and the above are of course all extras above and beyond that. As a friend, I still want you to have great memories of your day and am really happy to help you out, with a huge discount as you can see!! But I'm aware you are under a tight budget so want you to know what it includes, in case you want to ask another friend."

That is what you do.

aintshesweet

OR, maybe explain to them that as you're trying to do this full time now as you're getting more popular, is it okay to use their photos ./ their wedding as a PR exercise, considering you are giving them a huge discount If they are not happy with that, then... they can ask someone else.

MaryMay

You do not say if you are actually a professional photographer or if this is a hobby. My son is a professional photographer and will not touch weddings, it is a very specialised skill.For most brides this is the most important day of her life and should be treated as such. I am appalled when you say your skills have improved since you did your first wedding - I wonder what the photos were like!
One poster said 'book for an event not a wedding you will get it cheaper', this is underhand for one thing, many professional photographers do not do weddings at all, then where would the bride be?
My niece got married a while ago, she asked one of her friends, a keen amateur, to do the photos, she did not have a clue what she was doing. My son was there as a guest and for our own family took lots of photos which were then sent on disc to the bride (free). Which photos do you think she put in her album?

radio_hack

Depends exactly what the quote was for. I wouldn't charge extra for your additional experience and skills - if the colleague asked you then presumably they were happy with what you could do at the time anyway. However, materials are likely to be more expensive and you should definitely not have to take the knock for those. If the £250 was for your time AND the photographs then it's incredibly cheap and you were already doing them a huge favour. I'd talk to them and explain that your own costs will be much higher two years after the original quote. Do it professionally (after all, we assume they want a professional job even if they're paying peanuts) and give them the choice of staying with you or looking for another quote. They postponed, not you, so it shouldn't be you who is out of pocket.