Photographer price change

[taratatata]

I enquired with a photographer for our wedding a month or so ago, we had a FaceTime and she seemed lovely. We only need a few hours of coverage

She charges by the hour, a slightly higher fee for the first hour and then the same fee for every hour after. Absolutely fine! I lost her original email, the reply to my enquiry, where she told me the prices. Searched for it in all my inboxes and it was nowhere!

I sent her another email to double check her prices before she sends us the invoice, and whilst waiting for the reply I found a screenshot of her original email that I’d texted to my friend to see if she thought it was a good price. Photographer’s reply came through and her hourly rate is £50 more than it was when I asked two weeks ago.

Is this a normal price rise or AIBU to think she might be trying to take advantage of the fact I forgot? My friend thinks I should challenge it now I found the screenshot of the original email, but it’s not going to end well if I do. Maybe I just quietly find another photographer…

I also think if I did challenge her then it creates a bit of tension/awkwardness which I don’t want. It’s just a huge shame as I really liked her style

As a freelancer the photographer is free to set whatever rates she chooses to. If her prices are too high, she won't get any work.

As for whether the price rise is normal, who can say? If you previously thought her price was good, perhaps she was too cheap and she's now repriced herself at the market rate?

The fact that you only need her for a few hours is irrelevant and could even have you paying a higher hourly rate as it's unlikely that she'll be able to get another job on the same day, so she might have a minimum price for the day anyway.

You could ask for her to honour the previous price, but she may have decided that all new bookings will be charged at her new rates. It will depend on how much work she has on and how likely she thinks she'll be able to get a booking from someone else. If your wedding is on a Saturday next June, she'll likely know she could sell the slot several times over, so won't worry about losing your business.

But with something as important as getting the right wedding photographer, price shouldn't be key factor when choosing - you say you like her style, so it could be that you need to pay the price she asks?

Either she's revised her prices since your enquiry, or she's received an enquiry from someone else for the same day for longer hours.

Just reply calmly with something along the lines of:

"hello, thanks for the reply. Can I just check the hourly rate, because in your original email two weeks ago it says £X, and this says £Y. Is this a typo? Thank you x"

When you enquired two weeks ago, did she take a deposit and/or did you confirm that you definitely wanted those dates at that price?

It was it more a case of "I would charge x for y" "great, I'll get back to you when I've made my final decision."

If it's the former then she's taking the puss massively, but if it's the latter then she's free to change her prices to whatever she's wants really - just as you're free to pay the new price or go elsewhere.

Taking the piss.

Not sure what the puss has to do with it 😂

Freelancers prices often change. I think this depends on their availability, general cost of living costs etc too.
The times I’ve booked photographers, the sooner in advance I’ve booked, the cheaper it’s been compared to friends booking similar packages but last minute!

Was the former

So you paid a deposit and the date was booked at the original prices she emailed you?

No didn’t pay deposit but she said it was fine to let her know once we’d decided on dates for sure

If you didn't pay a deposit then she wouldn't have reserved the space at those prices - it's a bit cheeky but she's free to set whatever rates she wants.

I’d just email her the screenshot and ask for clarification

As above I would just share the screenshot and ask - she'll either honour the original price or she won't

Freelancers are entitled to set prices as they wish based on what they think the job is worth and how much they can charge for it, it is completely reasonable behaviour

Yeah, I'd just ask for clarification. No deposit means she doesn't have to honour anything she's quoted previously.

If you like her work I'd book her and sign an actual contract. If you only need a couple of hours then it's only £100 more - you can cut back somewhere else

Sounds to me like she has realised that she underquoted for your wedding. Even though you only need a few hours, she needs it to be worth the full day since she can't be elsewhere at the same time.
You can challenge it but I suspect she'll just turn the job down rather than risk the "awkwardness". Never good to start a job with resentment, especially over money.