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Over the past several months I have heard an all to common phrase: The Price Was Just Too Good to Pass Up.
Last month, Jason met with a bride who was heart broken about her engagement pictures. The photographer she had hired had also canceled her bridal appointments 5 times and now was not calling her back. When she talked to Jason she wanted to fire that photographer and have us do the photography for the wedding. When she finally got in touch with the photographer he told her that not only was her $500 deposit nonrefundable but there was another $500 cancellation fee. She told Jason that he had offered her “a price that was just too good to pass up.” Now she was stuck with a price that was too expensive to get out of.
Last October we had a bride booked for a November wedding for photography and video. Her friend offered to do the pictures for free and she couldn’t pass up that deal. Since she had told Jason how important her pictures were he tried to help her work through her decision. He said, “how would you feel if your pictures didn’t turn out?” She told him she would be devastated but thought her friend would do a great job. After then wedding they came in for their video proofing and the first thing they asked was “is there any way we can get pictures from your video?” Their worst nightmare had come true all because “the price was just too good to pass up.”
We are seeing more and more people being lured into the same low price trap. Most good photographers are going to be close in price; usually within a couple hundred dollars. The extreme low price packages are generally offered by photographers who don’t have the experience to know that they are losing money on every wedding they have. In the long run their only choices are to raise their prices or go out of business. Over 90% of them go out of business.
Unfortunately this is a very sad subject for me because usually by the time the bride and groom figure out they made a mistake it is too late to fix it. My hope is that by writing this article there will be fewer brides and grooms regretting their decisions. My advice is if photography is important to you make sure you make your decision carefully. You do not need to spend a fortune but weigh your options carefully.