Second marriage price

[stephaniesaniga]

<p>I'm being considered as photographer for an acquaintence's second marriage.<br>

Not quite sure what to charge due to the nature of the wedding (smaller, shorter) and the fact that I know them. (My daughter says, Mom, you're friends with e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e)<br>

My normal fee would be around $1,000-$1,500.<br>

What do you think?</p>

<p> </p>

[marisa_leanne]

<p>I don't charge less for 2nd marriages. However, I would usually give a discount to somebody who falls under the "friends & family" category. That would be the only thing that I would use to consider giving them a discount. Be it smaller/shorter, a second marriage is still a wedding, therefore if you do it, that is one less day that you would be able to book any other work. Hope that helps.</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Stephanie -</p>

<p>You don't say how much shorter or how much coverage you provide for the prices you've listed. </p>

<p>My general rule of thumb - if they are more than acquaintences - I gift a portion of the coverage to them - whether it's a 1st or 2nd wedding... If they are acquaintences and it's a 1st wedding - they pay list (less any discounts that I'm running at the time) if it's a 2nd wedding and they don't need / want full coverage (smaller event, smaller ceremony, reception, etc...) then I take a percentage off.</p>

<p>What ever you do though - keep in mind that they are going to share the deal they got with friends - so others may expect the same in the future.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[picturesque]

<p>Do as you wish, but I'd suggest that whatever you do, you have a strong contract in place. Also, I have found that what my photography instructor told us (students) years ago is very true. He said that for family and good friends, do the photography for free, because if you don't (and charge some discounted price), they will think that somehow, you didn't bring your A game to the party.</p>

<p>For mere acquaintances, it may be another story. For this particular case, I'd charge less for the smaller coverage, but be sure you make it clear to the couple that 'anyone' would get the same deal for smaller coverage. If you wanted to give a discount, I'd 'hide' it in the smaller coverage fee.</p>

[stephaniesaniga]

<p>Ha ha! Guess what! The bride called me and said "When I googled your name, I found a question you had submitted to your fellow photographers about second wedding prices..." Slightly awkward! She said she was using a budget guide for her wedding which allowed 9% of total cost for pictures, and told me what that was, and asked what I would do for that amount. Obviously, I'm not going to say what that was, but I wanted let y'all know what happened. :-)</p>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>Maybe photo.net would allow us to start using "usernames" like eBay does, for privacy on these posts!</p>

[stephaniesaniga]

<p>Or not post our forum posts on our main page.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>You can change your user name, Stephanie--just not to something nonsensical or un-namelike. You can do so on your member page. Look to the right side of the page--there is a utility to request a user name change.</p>

[cathy_and_david_bock]

<p>Do you not work just as hard for every wedding you shoot? Don't get paid less! That's silly.</p>

[stephaniesaniga]

<p>Nadine, I want my clients to be able to see my work. If i change my name, they won't be able to, I assume? Unless I tell them that name, which would still show all posts on a search, right?</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Stephanie--if you mean your work on photo.net, yes, you'd have to give them your user name, if different from your real name. Photo.net is very searchable, as you found out. This can be very good and very bad, depending upon what you post. Obviously, if you use your real name, and post about clients and sensitive topics, they can stumble upon your posts doing a search on your name. Since you already have a website, I'm not sure why you'd need to have clients look on photo.net.</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>Definitely charge less for repeat customers. If they turn out to be like Liz Taylor and Larry King, think about the business you can get from them through a life time.</p>

[steven_crist]

<p>Would the baker charge less for the cake? Do the hotels give a break for a second marriage? Why should you? If you're friends with the couple that might complicate things, but you still need to keep a line drawn between friends and business.</p>