Old Adverts and Bridezilla’s!

I was cleaning out my e-mail system this morning and came across a series of e-mails from a bride back in February this year. It reminded me of the things that can go wrong with old adverts and brides that expect to get fantastic packages for nothing….

The Background

I advertise on www.ourweddingmemories.com and I placed an advert on there early last year (2009)offering £250 for all day photography – no albums or CD or second photographer etc were included. That price was just for the me to photograph the wedding. Prints and albums etc are on top of that.

As business picked up I forgot about that advert until I received a response from the advert from a lady in Cornwall.  I responded with some info in an e-mail.

My first e-mail:

“I am updating the advert on OurWeddingMemories later this week as I have had to increase my prices for 2010; however I am more than happy to honour the £250 all day photography for you as it was my mistake!!  In addition I will also offer you a 10% discount on all the album prices on my website; which has been updated for 2010. “

The lady in question responded positively and asked for a price for the following:

“I am after all day photography with 2 photographers with photos of me getting ready and alsoones of my partner getting ready and f possible right up until the firt dance. I would like a story book album and a copy of all the photo’s on CD how much extra would this be? “

As this was totally different from what she had put down in the OurWeddingMemories e-mail to me I gave her a price for the above which was  two photographers, all day photography, CD with all the images and a Graphistudio album. The exact price came to a little over £1700, and I offered her a discount that brought the price down to £1500.

Her responce:

“That is quite a way out of my budget, what is the 250 pounds covering as 1500 is alot more than 250. “

My response:

“The advert said that the £250 was for all day photography with one photographer, no albums or CD packages etc. and I was happy to honour that.

In addition you have asked for two photographers plus an album plus a DVD option which actually comes out to £1725.00 and I am offering a discount of £225 as well as not charging for travel or overnight costs for two photographers. “

Her response:

“Sorry i didnt realise i wouldcost 1250 extra to have 1 more photographer and actually recieve my pictures. This is way out of my budget “

The final outcome…

Safe to say that I didn’t get the work. And to be honest I am glad. A bride that demanding would not have been a good bride to work with.

It is a shame that a small minority of brides do not seem to understand that professionals such as myself need to earn a living wage and are not here only for the pleasure of it or because we bought a digital camera from Jessops. I am more than happy to work within a bride’s budget and offer her the best service and package that the budget will allow.

I will leave you with this thought…

“You wouldn’t let your neighbor fix your root canal so why on earth would you trust your professional photography needs to just anybody with a camera?”

Thanks Andrew Miller