[texasshooter]

It is all well and fine to speak to an attorney which I do recommend, but he will work withing your guidelines. He has no knowledge of wedding photography or what to protect you from. Failing to direct him or her will result in a pretty sterile document. So know what you want before you get there, having said that I would address the following off the top of my head.

** The parameters of the agreement are..... How much will be paid, what they will get, and when, and the circumstances should the client fail to pay. address overtime also

** Unless you are providing a CD with the images, then instead of protecting the proofs, you should protect the images themselves.

** Get a clarification of the word deposit, instead of retainer.

** It is unrealistic to expect no other pictures by anyone else at the wedding. I have placed in mine that no one is allowed to interfere, obstruct, or compete with my efforts to capture and document the clients day. Failing to do this could result in non-completion of the agreement with no further liablilities against the studio.

** I do not understand that if you are retained by a client and, you turn down everyone else who calls for that date. This is your only booking for that date. You arrive and start to shoot then some bonehead in the kitchen, or some guest starts a fire, according to your contract you will give the money back for the date? Not me. If I didn't cause it, I'm not taking food off my families table for someone else's error.

** I also include: Valid request to alter or cancel the agreemnt must be submitted in writing by each of the undersigned, no later than 60 days before the wedding. Poseponements must be requested no later than 60 days prior to the event. No more than one poseponement will be allowed for this event. Poseponements will be subject to our availability.

** And believe it or not, I have a termination date of one year from the date of the wedding, after which the agreement is considered completed with no more liabilities. The agreement may be reinstated by compensating the studio for new / current fees which you may incur to complete the package. I constantly work to improve my product by upgrading my services. I may get a new lab, new albums, or have higher shipping cost, or whatever. A few years ago, I got a call from a clent who wanted to place his order after waiting 5 years to place an order. I now use a much more expensive lab with much more expensive album company. Why should this guy be rewarded because he was to lazy to place his order. There is no way I want to hold photos from clients, but I shouldn't be penalized by lazy customers. Also, I live in a hurricane zone, during one crisis, I was forced to try to remember all the outstanding events, many from years ago so that I could evacuate with them, as I had no limitation on the agreement. After that I did not want to deal with procrastinators.

Anyway, just some of the things I used on my agreement. Again, I do recommend an attorney, but know what you want before you waste a lot of time and money.