How do you quote for this?!?? Wedding in Italy

[jenni k. - vancouver, b.c.]

Hi everyone,

I've just been asked by my friend's brother and his fiance if I would consider

coming to Italy with them to shoot their wedding there... May 2008. WOULD I???

I'd love to do something like this! But I have no idea what to tell them in

terms of costs etc... should they pay for all my expenses? I have no idea what

this may end up totalling... maybe just my flight? I mean, it is a wonderful

opportunity... and I've always wanted to go to Italy... it would be a lot of

holiday time as well.

Any insight much appreciated.

[ellis_vener_photography]

airfare and hotel up through the night of the reception, and any meals from the timeyou

leave your house thrugh the night of the reception. After that you areon your own --except

for return airfare.

[tonylarcombe]

....and if you can't do it, I'll do it !!

[d_gillespie]

Track it as a business trip, but consider the value of your time outside the normal shooting, or 8 hour work day. I am sure you probably work more than 8 hours on some days, so make sure thats in there as well. Door to door while and as the poster above after the shooting you are simple a tourist. Also toss in a few bucks for trip and equipment insurance as well as other incidentals you may not have thought of.

[lb-]

Figure out your airfare/transportation, hotel, a per diem for food and incidentals and add your rate to it.

 

if you want to reduce or eliminate your rate as a gift that's ok I guess, just make sure you don't end up going out of pocket on the expenses.

 

if this is a package wedding being handled by a coordinator I'd also suggest you have the client check with the coordinator first. There can be issues with traveling to other countries to work and you want to make sure you're not going to cause any problems. the coordinator may have deals on hotels and other expenses as well.

 

cheers

[zofia]

...just make sure you don't lose any money...

[steve_levine]

If someone flew me to Europe, and paid my room & board. I'd find it in my heart to shoot their wedding for free.

[michaelging]

If you need someone to hold your lights, let me know.

[doug_axford1]

Add up all your costs carefully.

 

I had a couple offer to send me to Aruba this June all expenses paid for 1 week for their wedding. Nice couple too. Problem is that i added up all my lost revenue for the week I'd be away and it was nearly 10 grand. June is insane busy here. I turned them down - in January i'd have gone without thinking.

 

BTW, make sure you have a signed contract with ALL details on it before you dream about packing.

 

Doug

[William Michael]

This falls into one of two categories.

 

1. Professional engagement

 

2. Engagement outside normal professional work because it is for a friend.

 

I mention how we approach the former: the latter has too many complications and permutations.

 

For location work we cost and charge:

 

a) travel and incidentals to the shoot to be cost neutral (i.e. the client pays for all fares, tolls, local licences, venue fees, visas etc).

 

b) travelling time to compensate for loss of productivity (shooting or earning more revenue elsewhere). Travel time is between ? to ? of our hourly location fee.

 

[For an engagement that would take our primary photographer out of action for a week, (most likely in your case) we would have to evaluate the total impact of loss from other jobs (i.e. not just charge a fraction of 168 hours) for that week at THAT TIME OF YEAR and take a percentage of that (logic of taking a percentage is that a job in the hand is worth two in the `maybe` file)].

 

c) Expenses fee which is assessed equivalent to living away from home allowance. (We use a standard structure available from our Government, using the figure a Government Executive Officer earning $60,000 plus can claim. It is relative to the cost of living in different cities: your Government Officers would probably have a similar structure. We have found taking this scale shows the client that we are not making up an `allowance` but it is based upon some data.)

 

d) Cost of planning, site inspection, shoot and post production, are at our normal rates.

 

e) Unforseen expenses directly related to the performance of our contract. (This is like a retainer we take in advance and it is used for, as an example, the cost of the Ferry Trip to get to the location which was not known at the time of the original contract, or for a local fee or charge that was not known to us etc) This amount less any unforseen expenses is refunded promptly upon return.

 

Having outlined how we do things. I read your website:

 

> Planning a destination wedding? We can arrange a custom package to suit your needs! Located in the Lower Mainland area, but travel is welcomed! <

 

Therefore I assume you have some structure already in place for costing `Destination Weddings`

 

I further assume that Italy is a Location Wedding farther than you have previously travelled, so putting on my `if I were in your shoes` hat, I would consider the `value` to your portfolio as a Location Wedding Photographer` this job might have.

 

I do not mean you should shoot the Wedding gratis, but you might consider reducing your hourly Location Rate for this job.

 

Ciao

 

WW

[Jerry_]

...just make sure you tell the nice person at the custom's-immigration stop that you are in Italy for sightseeing. If you go in as a professional photographer, you are competing with the local photography businesses. Might be fun and it might not be fun getting your visa stamped quickly.

[fotografz]

Jenni, destination weddings are an absolute blast, especially if you know the people.

 

I would agree with Steve, just have them cover your out-of-pocket expenses and make a deal

with them to include a few extra days lodging beyond the wedding days for you to enjoy

Italy. Maybe set it up to spend some time together with your friend after the wedding.

 

Go for it !!!

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

There are potential legal/tax issues since you won't be a tourist. I'd check those out before you agree to go. Assuming you're going to be bringing a bunch of your gear, you may not look like a tourist which could raise questions.

[conraderb]

Jenni - if your gut feeling is "yeah! italy! fun! great portfolio material!", then you can go easy on them.

 

if your gut feeling is "darn. italy. I hate great food and high culture." then you will probably want to charge them.

 

if you want to do the latter route and if you want to be 100% safe on this, by the way, check out the labor rules for working in the EU. You may need a permit to work there. Of course, you could try to just be a tourist, and unless you have an obvious amount of gear, I imagine that it wouldn't be a problem. many tourists have high end photography gear now...

 

(on the other hand, if you DON'T charge them much or at all, you will have no problems at the border. countries can't ask you for a permit just for shooting, right?)