Wedding Photographer Cancellation - unreasonable?

[Bunny44]

AIBU to think this is greedy and unreasonable of the photographer?

My sister was due to get married this summer however 7 months before the wedding her fiancé unexpectedly broke up with her, which she was devastated about. She was also left to deal with cancelling the wedding vendors. To alleviate the burden on my sister, me and my family have been helping her with it all. I wanted some advice and thoughts specifically on the photographer.

She booked them a year ago and put down a £500 deposit. When they were informed of the cancellation (straight away 7 months out) they weren’t very nice about it and basically said she’d lose the deposit (somewhat expected) but that their policy was to insist on the full payment of £1800 for any dates less than 9 months out as they said wouldn’t be able to re-book the date and they had no exceptions.

We exchanged some curt emails in which we underlined several CMA policies including that they must re-advertise the date and try and get a booking and if failing that they could re-coupe for possible losses where reasonable. They said they would do that and we didn’t hear from them.

My sister’s friends took her away for her would-be wedding date to take her mind off it. The photographer emails her on the would-be wedding day with the invoice saying they’d not been able to book and needed payment, which she was obviously extremely upset about. Personally I cannot believe the lack of tact! Considering the industry they work in surely they understand how upsetting this sort of situation can be. It makes me think they really really don’t care about the couples they are dealing with. I did call him and told him to stop messaging my sister and really he didn't seem like a nice man at all.

I worked out that he must make at least £200k+ out of this business a year based on rough dates he said he was booked up for the year. Surely they have some leniency than to insist someone forks up such a large amount for him to do nothing with so much notice, he’d already be getting £500 out of her. Seems incredibly greedy.

As a side note, I should mention I’m a small business owner myself and have a rental property for short term lets. I have built into my business model cancellations with reasonable notice because it’s just part of doing business. I’m a bit shocked about the T&Cs in the wedding industry. I think a lot of couples just agree because they’re naive and caught up in the moment and they get taken advantage of.

Any advice on fighting this also welcome, if you think we should.

Was there a contract when the deposit was paid?

Personally, I wouldn't pay it. It doesn't sound reasonable.

Has he given any indication he intends to take it to court? Has your sister signed anything?

Wonder if it could be argued it’s an unfair contract term.

their policy was to insist on the full payment of £1800 for any dates less than 9 months out as they said wouldn’t be able to re-book the date and they had no exceptions

Was this in the contract your sister signed? If it was, then obviously there’s sadly not going to be any goodwill, and your sister is probably stuck (bar going to court to define their actual reasonable losses).

If it wasn’t in the contract, then they can obviously stick their unwritten policies.

Yes there is a contract but I was reading the CMA guidelines and seems like the T&Cs could be deemed unfair or unreasonable. And also advises them to only recoup actual losses in profit. He can't rightly claim the full £1300 remainder is profit - I'm sure he doesn't to HMRC!

I went on a wedding photographers forum and they were advising other photographers to let cancellations go but not give the deposit back saying it was impossible to enforce but I'm worried he'll try and take her to court.

When they were informed of the cancellation (straight away 7 months out) they weren’t very nice about it and basically said she’d lose the deposit (somewhat expected)

This bit obviously seems entirely reasonable - that’s what deposits are for.

Id have asked a friend or two to email posing as a couple looking for a photographer. See if they even had that date available….

Yes it all depends on the contact.

I had a wedding cancelled ten weeks before and lost a lot of money in lost deposits. The worst was the wedding dress - they insisted someone collected it immediately so it wasn’t in the way in their shop. No empathy at all.

I think that bit (the deposit) is reasonable but he's now asking for the full amount because he couldn't rebook. That's not reasonable.

Let him take her to court.

Yes I didn't dispute that

He didn't mention court. She signed the intial contract.

It's not going to make much difference if he does take her to court. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. What would probably happen is that it wouldn't go to an actual court - a mediator would try and resolve it between the two of them before it happened. She might get ordered to pay his costs, but they won't be very expensive.

If she's signed to agree to these terms, that's not great. But also, he has recouped losses through the cancellation fee and he's had the opportunity to make another booking. He also hasn't actually done the work he expects to be compensated for. So the terms don't sound fair. If you've also researched it and found other photographers saying they've found it unenforceable, that again is positive.

Bear in mind that although he may win, it will cost him around £100 to take her to court in the first place. He may decide that it's throwing good money after bad. Plus she can always settle it at any time so he no longer has a case.

If it was me, I'd ignore him.

Two points- your sisters ex finance should bloody well pay up. Why should your sister be responsible for everything?!

Secondly- the wedding photographer emailed on the would be wedding day with an invoice saying he couldn’t cover that day ( and lost out?)

But how do you know he’s telling the truth? What if he’s lying and he did indeed get a booking that day , and is making double money by saying to your sister he lost work ?

Also I'm asking AIBU for thinking he's being unreasonable to demand the full amount? Not keeping the deposit. That bit I understand.

Yes we don't know TBH. He's a well-known photographer in the area so is 'reputable' and advertised the date but we don't know for sure if it was genuine.

The whole ex thing is a whole other saga I won't get into.

Have you had a really good snoop to see if he was actually working on the day of the booking / was on his holidays etc to see if you can avoid paying it by catching him out .

I would personally tell him to contact your sisters ex fiancée and get the money off him. And to not contact your sister again .

But I would t say it was reasonable for him to expect your sister to pay the full amount for a service she didn’t receive.

Fair enough she loses the deposit- but nothing else.

Again , tell him to go after the ex fiancée. After that I’d just let him go to court. It would cost him more time and money so wouldn’t be worth it. He hasn’t lost anything.

Very unprofessional and unreasonable on his side.

I'd ignore.

The contract was in my sister's name so I guess she's legally the one liable. We are hoping to recoupe the costs from the fiancé via their house sale but that's further down the line. He'd not have dealt with all of this either way.

I kind of don't want to get sidetracked on this though about the issue. The question is more about whether it's reasonable that the photographer is asking for full payment and also him sending that email to my sister on her cancelled wedding day :-(.

So he's technically been paid £500 (£40 an hour for a 12 hour day!) to do nothing... And now expects the £1300 extra for what exactly? He has used no equipment, no travel, no skills or editing afterwards, no planning! Absolute bullshit, weddings made businesses mad!!

So, for clarity, did your sister sign a contract saying she would pay in full in the event of any cancellation within 9 months of the booked date?

I am keeping an eye out but think it's too soon for anything to be published. I did speak to him on the day so doubt he would have picked up if at a wedding.

Did she sign a contract with the photographer? Was it in the terms and conditions that she had to pay the full amount?

Yes I said that further up but there was also discussion whether the T&Cs could be deemed unfair as per the CMA's guildlines.

I commented there seems to be a general issue with wedding vendor contracts being overly onerous and unfair on the customer when you compare them to similar services in other industries (I've worked in events before). Seems to have gotten worse.