Wedding photographer

Lavendyr

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

Undervalued

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

Alderbank

Undervalued said:

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

It matters in this case though because you only have consumer rights against a trader. The definition in CRA 2015 is not particularly helpful (“Trader” means a person acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession). Very roughly that is someone who does it as their day job and is registered for VAT.
If the photographer is just an enthusiastic amateur (which is what they sound like to me - no proper contract terms, etc.) the OP has far fewer rights.

user1977

Alderbank said:

Undervalued said:

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

It matters in this case though because you only have consumer rights against a trader. The definition in CRA 2015 is not particularly helpful (“Trader” means a person acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession). Very roughly that is someone who does it as their day job and is registered for VAT.
If the photographer is just an enthusiastic amateur (which is what they sound like to me - no proper contract terms, etc.) the OP has far fewer rights.

Not sure where you get the idea that the photographer isn't doing this as part of their usual business. Lots of traders have rubbish contract terms - doesn't mean they can avoid consumer rights.

And plenty of bona fide traders have no need to register for VAT.

Sandtree

Alderbank said:

Undervalued said:

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

It matters in this case though because you only have consumer rights against a trader. The definition in CRA 2015 is not particularly helpful (“Trader” means a person acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession). Very roughly that is someone who does it as their day job and is registered for VAT.
If the photographer is just an enthusiastic amateur (which is what they sound like to me - no proper contract terms, etc.) the OP has far fewer rights.

Why do they have to be VAT registered to be a trader? Plenty of sole traders/one man bands have revenue under £85k and yet its a major part if not all their income.

Whilst I agree with the reality that someone can set themselves up as almost anything photographers seems to be one of those where people think its easy money and everyone loved the photos from the party the other night so clearly they must be good enough to do it as a job.

Undervalued

Alderbank said:

Undervalued said:

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

It matters in this case though because you only have consumer rights against a trader. The definition in CRA 2015 is not particularly helpful (“Trader” means a person acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession). Very roughly that is someone who does it as their day job and is registered for VAT.
If the photographer is just an enthusiastic amateur (which is what they sound like to me - no proper contract terms, etc.) the OP has far fewer rights.

So "roughly" that statement is more wrong than right.

A photographer just supplying their clients with digital files is a good example is a of where a perfectly respectable "salary" can be earned whilst staying below the VAT threshold. Particularly true for a one man (woman) band with the tax advantages of being self employed and able to offset a significant amount of their car costs, phone, broadband, plus some of their heat and light against their income tax.

Legally a contract is formed when two parties agree almost anything. With very few exceptions it doesn't have to be written down although obviously it is far easier to resolve any dispute if it is in writing.

Lavendyr

Undervalued said:

Lavendyr said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

kellymadgwick said:

well 60 were just the previews!! 

That still doesn't tell us how many the contract was for.  And how far away from the final product is a "preview"?  Could these previews amount to 60 of the photos you thought you were buying?

The previews may well be in compressed format - so not suitable for printing - or with a watermark over them. 

OP the situation you are in is something I can't stand about wedding photography in that anyone can set themselves up as doing it and you have very little comeback besides a refund - which doesn't at all provide redress for the loss of the record of your day. Huge sympatnies and I hope you manage to get something from her. 

That is true of the vast majority of occupations / trades / professions in the UK.

Obviously there are some where there is a legal requirement to be registered to practice and a few more where it has become customary. However there are far less than most people imagine.

Sorry, what I mean is simply that you can set yourself up as a wedding photographer with little to no experience -  and while most businesses can offer to rectify problems, if something goes wrong on your wedding day it isn't something that can be recreated. 

Sandtree

Lavendyr said:
something goes wrong on your wedding day it isn't something that can be recreated. 

Technically it can, or at least photographer insurance covers the cost to restage the event in the event of lost photos etc

Lavendyr

Sandtree said:

Lavendyr said:
something goes wrong on your wedding day it isn't something that can be recreated. 

Technically it can, or at least photographer insurance covers the cost to restage the event in the event of lost photos etc

Restaging isn't the same though, is it. You can't recapture those moments. I'm divorced now and I still see my wedding photos as a day of complete joy. While things went downhill after that, that was a day of happiness and that isn't something you can recreate after the fact. 

Sandtree

Lavendyr said:

Sandtree said:

Lavendyr said:
something goes wrong on your wedding day it isn't something that can be recreated. 

Technically it can, or at least photographer insurance covers the cost to restage the event in the event of lost photos etc

Restaging isn't the same though, is it. You can't recapture those moments. I'm divorced now and I still see my wedding photos as a day of complete joy. While things went downhill after that, that was a day of happiness and that isn't something you can recreate after the fact. 

I understand where you're coming from and that's one of the reasons that most wedding togs have two of everything, pro cameras record to two memory cards etc... much better to have redundancy and get it right first time than having to restage the event due to a stolen kitbag etc.

Did used to do a fair bit of photography and at one point thought of transitioning from a hobby to a sideline business with weddings being one of the easier to break into in a small way but didn't want the responsibility of potentially messing it up (give me a £3bn transaction to do in my day job above messing up someone's wedding memories any day)