Persistant Wedding Delivery Moms - Help needed

[desiraelynn]

I have been photographing weddings for seven years and really have never had to deal with a family like this. The

mothers keep emailing and calling me, asking when the photos are going to be done. The bride and groom are under

a contract for delivery within four weeks. I personally told them I would have them done in two. The calls and emails

started one week after the wedding. How can I tactifully stop the calls so I can finish my editing? I feel that I have

been as nice as possible.

Thanks - Des

[mrmel]

You may try emailing her one or two out of focus and bad color balance shots (even if you need to recreate them) and politely explain that the photos need to be professionally processed before they are ready for viewing. Explain the process usually takes a minimum of xx days and will be ready for viewing on xxx. Any thing sooner and she would be disappointed. Also send a copy of the email to the bride.

[btmuir]

let me guess..they also ordered one of your lower tier packages, correct?

[sherijohnson]

I would remind them about the details in the contract and that you are doing your job and that if they continue to pester you that it will take longer to get your work done which means they won't get them sooner by hassling you.

[matt_needham]

Give them a specific date.

[jay_m.]

Just tell her that they will be done and ready for them when you finish. And dont give a specific date if your planning to finish early. Before you know if your sick, or you get tied up with another project and then there mad its not done on the date you promised.

[wedding-photography-denver]

I would offer to take their email and tell them you will notify them IMMEDIATELY, when you complete the processing.

[picturesque]

Screen your phone calls and don't read the e-mails, if you've already told them what they need to know. Otherwise, I agree with Matt. Give them a date, ignore any calls and e-mails until that date, and then turn over the images.

[jo_dinning]

Get call-screening and don't take their calls; temporarily put their email addresses on your blocked senders list. You'll only waste time getting back to them and by doing so, you indicate to them that it's acceptable for them to pester you. Just don't entertain it. The images will be ready soon enough, and the first folk to get them should be the B&G, not the mothers.

[jo_dinning]

Sorry didn't mean to duplicate a post there - Nadine was typing at the same time it seems!

[desiraelynn]

Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions! It's made me feel a lot better about the situation.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Consider getting online galerries and selling reprints (such as smugmug). Load the images in stages over time to

give them a taste of what is to come. At this point they are excited and anxous to see some images, if you can, tap

into that emotion and you may be able to sell some prints. If you're simply doing "churn & burn" weddings and

turning

over the files to the couple then absolutely just ignore them and don't concern yourself with customer service.

[john_h.1]

Whatever you do, don't send some poor quality imagery as suggested above. It will just invite more problems and

phone calls ect. Giving a specific date would hopefully help to quiet things down but, make absoulutely sure that

delivery is made by then or the hassles experienced now will be minute in comparison.

[desiraelynn]

The bride emailed me this morning and I responded that I was still working on the editing and would try to have it completed today. Her family is hounding her too! I started my business in KS and my mom booked a CD package for the wedding. I couldn't start working on the wedding untill I got back to WA. I feel very rushed and I'm not giving them as much work as I would my other clients. So, they may not get an album but I still want them to be happy with my work.

[scott_b.4]

let the mom know you have an agreement with the bride and groom.

[markonestudios]

"The bride and groom are under a contract for delivery within four weeks. I personally told them I would have

them done in two. " - DesiRae

<p>In my opinion, this was mistake number one. If what you have in your contract is 4 weeks, stick to it if and

when asked. The couple doesn't need to know that actually you've given yourself 2 weeks' leeway. Always

underpromise and then aim to overdeliver. Don't promise you'll have them ready in two weeks because what will

sink in their minds is the two weeks, not the contractual 4 weeks.

<p>Also take pains to explain to the bride that in order for her to receive the best quality of work, she should

bear with you just a little bit longer, you're almost done. Don't ever deliver rushed work if you can help it.

The last thing you want is getting a bad referral...

<p>As for the mums, I think you've got enough advice on that already :)

[g.e._masana]

I always over estimate delivery time because print & bind is out of your hands and you don't know what delays may be encountered. I've also had it happen where I get the album and I don't like something they did and have to return it for repair.

 

But also, when you over estimate but then deliver quickly, that makes you look like super uber photographer in your client's eyes and it sure beats under estimating delivery time and then realizing it's going to take longer.

 

But for the clients at hand, I'm afraid the die is cast. Answer their calls, don't give excuses and keep your cool and bear with it until it's delivered. It's nice to know that you're so wanted.

 

But here's an idea anyway: ask mom if it's possible that, instead of getting multiple calls from everyone, if they could nominate one person to be your contact (like the bride), that would help make your communication with them much more efficient. Otherwise what happens is mom calls, you tell her something, but the message doesn't get passed along, so then the bride calls asking the same thing, yadda, yadda.