What’s Really Inside of Your Wedding Photography Contract?
Contracts are great to have, but you do need to be aware of what’s going on inside the labyrinth of words, signatures and fine print. I would say that there’s a few different things that you should look out for. The questions that I would deem “most important” would be: What happens if my photographer is forced to cancel due to illness, what happens if a natural disaster occurs on my wedding day, am I allowed to print anywhere I’d like, do I own the rights to my images, and what if I don’t “love” my photographs? I can’t speak for every photographer in Nashville, but I can at least answer them as it applies to my photography business.
What Happens If My Photographer is Forced to Cancel Due to Illness or Other Circumstances?
Due to Illness? Though very uncommon this does apply in a few different scenarios and isn’t exclusive to an illness. Something like a death in the family, a car wreck on the way to the venue, or even some other crazy “out of control” situation. In my particular business my contract states that you will be provided with another photographer on the same “level” as me or someone who I’ve particularly trained for these situations. In 12 years of photography, this has only happened to me once. I’m happy to say that the photos came out great. Also stated in my contract, the photos would still be edited and delivered by me. I do feel like this one is more universal and understood in the wedding world, if it’s not, it should be.
What Happens If A Natural Disaster Occurs On My Wedding Day?
Things happen, some of those things happen to be extremely unfortunate. I’m from Louisiana originally so things like hurricanes, flooding, and tornados are a conversation piece around wedding day. This is where I may venture off from other wedding photographers or vendors a little bit. Maybe not though, I’d be curious to ask other photographers what they would do here. I had to reference this part of my contract non-stop during the Covid-19 era for obvious reasons. My contract simply states, that in the event of a natural disaster, any date that I have available is yours to have as a substitute for the date that was lost due to this natural disaster. No extra charges, no weird fine print. The only thing that would vary would be if there was travel expenses that were already paid for ahead of time that weren’t able to be refunded. Luckily the only time I’ve ever had to reference this section of my contract was during that weird era we like to refer to as “the pandemic”.
Am I Allowed To Print Anywhere I’d Like?
When working with me? Yes. When working with other photographers, its a conversation that needs to be had in advance. I personally don’t recommend printing elsewhere due to quality control issues. However, it’s not my wedding day, is it? I do highly suggest to my wedding clients that anytime they print at sizes 16×20 and up, to go through me for best results though. I’ll often times bring prints to prove this point isn’t just a sales gimmick. I provide a print release upon request.
Do I Own The Rights To My Photos?
This one is a touch more complicated and does technically involve actual copyright laws around photography specifically. U.S. Copyright law gives the rights to the photographer, not the talent/subject/client by default. Upon signing a contract specifically for the release of those rights, at that point the subject/client/agency/etc can purchase rights to those images. As it pertains to ZakkShane Photo, we maintain the rights to any photos that we take but allow you to print, post, and do “almost” anything you’d like with these images. We just ask that you don’t place filters, additional editing, or sell your images without prior authorization to do so. This is pretty common practice. Especially since photographers marketing usually revolves around previously captured weddings.
What If I Don’t Love My Photographs?
This falls in the category of artistic expression and working in environments that may be completely out of our control. It’s pretty much common knowledge in this industry that a no refunds policy is the default rule. A few exceptions apply such as, losing the footage before delivery and not being able to fulfill the wedding day contract as agreed upon.
That’s “Not All” Folks!
To say that this is anyone’s entire contract would be silly. I have fine-tuned and simplified my contracts over the years to make sure that they have everyone’s interest in mind. There’s more to cover in a contract but this should give you several solid talking points during your wedding consultation.
