Quote:
Originally Posted by Phyllisva
I worked a wedding yesterday and during the formals i had several of the guests taking photos behind me . I had asked the Bride BEFORE the wedding to ask them not to and the Mother asked them not to when it was happening . Well it seems that there was a young lady that continued to snap away -- I was busy trying to get done --( we only had 20 minutes before the next wedding was going to kick us out . ) So I did not notice her . At the recpetion I saw her showing all of the family her ( MY ) shots on her Nikon D70. And then told her that she would make CDs for the entire family. 
so my question is .... since there is really nothing I could do short of wrestling her to the ground -- how do YOU handle this ??  I just lost a lot of reprint sales . People would rather take a mediocre photo for free than pay for it . (I did't want to come off as a complete jerk and ruin the day by stopping and demanding her to put away her camera .  ) |
I suggest that you change your perspective. If you continue this strategy, you will look bad to the guests, no matter how polite you try to be. In addition it is more aggravation than it's worth.
Get your money up front. Full package price one week before the wedding date. That way you won't be too concerned about a couple of follow up print orders that you may lose. Believe me, if you charge what your work is worth, anyone who will accept a point and shoot image will not pay you for a 5x7, even if the image is ONLY available from you.
Here's what I do: I let the snappers shoot BEFORE I shoot. That embarrasses them just a bit because they are now the center of attention and I am waiting for them to shoot. It makes me look like a hero because the last photographer who photograhed their neice's wedding (that would be Bill above), told them that they could not photograph the groups that they were lining up.
If I have to worry about a couple of 5x7's then my pricing structure is all wrong. Try not to depend on follow up orders. Be as wonderful to everyone as you can be. The only people who will give you follow up orders are the parents of the bride or groom. Everyone else is of little consequence.